| Wonderful Days | |
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Movie poster for "Wonderful Days" |
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| Hangul | 원더풀 데이즈 |
| RR | Wondeopul deijeu |
| MR | Wŏndŏp‘ul teijŭ |
| Directed by | Kim Moon-saeng Park Sun-min |
| Produced by | Hwang K. S., Kyeong Hag Lee (Tinhouse) |
| Written by | Park Jun-Yong Moon-saeng Kim |
| Starring | Marc Worden Cathy Cavadini |
| Music by | Won II |
| Release date(s) | June 17, 2003 |
| Running time | 86 min |
| Country | South Korea |
| Language | Korean, English |
Wonderful Days (also known as Sky Blue) is a South Korean animated science fiction film, released in 2003, written and directed by Kim Moon-saeng. It features backdrops rendered using photo-realistic computer-generated imagery, comparable to those in the film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, along with the use of highly detailed models for some of the backdrops into which the cel animated characters were then animated. However, convincing CGI animation of humans (especially human movement) was not attempted. The backgrounds in the film were shot with traditional motion control techniques, then processed to look like CG. The vehicles were all rendered, and the characters were cel animated.
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The film has been released in numerous Western countries such as the U.S. and Great Britain under the title Sky Blue. These versions have been slightly distorted, with the loss of two minutes' running time compared to an original Korean cut. Other Western countries such as France and Finland have kept its original title—which is a Hangul transliteration of the English phrase "Wonderful Days" (it would be rendered in Revised Romanization as "Wondeopul Deijeu"). The film was scheduled for release in the US on Blu-ray disc on June 28, 2008. As that date neared, it was re-scheduled for June 23, 2009, however the financial situation of Palisades Tartan in America has thrown a U.S. domestic release into doubt.
In Japan, the film was adapted by Gainax. According to adaptation director Hiroshi Yamaga, Gainax changed the direction of the film to make the dialogue less "alien" to Japanese viewers.[1]
Wonderful Days is set in 2142. Environmental pollution has led to a breakdown of human civilization. A technologically advanced city named Ecoban was built and it harvests energy from the DELOS System, which uses pollution in a carbonite catalyzed reaction to generate power. Carbonite extraction is carried out by people who live outside the city in the surrounding wasteland. Among them is an enigmatic young man known as Shua (Marc Worden). He ends up in a love triangle with his childhood friend, Jay (Cathy Cavadini), and her superior, Ecoban security commander Cade (Kirk Thornton).
Jay chooses Shua over Cade and destroys the thick clouds over Ecoban, allowing blue sky to show through over the city.
The movie deals with environmental destruction, pollution and class struggle.
Wonderful Days was screened at the following Film Festivals: