Created by a western production company, this was Gundam's "great experiment". How did the experiment fare? While not the worst movie I've ever seen, it is by far the weakest Gundam release by a great margin.
The acting is "passable", nothing noteworthy and certainly on par with other direct-to-video and cable movies.
The visuals are impressive when viewed as still screen-shots. The mecha look great, and so does the set design and costumes. However, once things are put in motion it becomes apparent that this is not a quality Gundam release. While the animation is nice, and well rendered, it's just not Gundam-like in feel. Gundam shows (even the most "realistic" of them) have high-speed mobility and very exciting dogfights. Not so here. The mecha move very slow and almost clumsy, which just doesn't feel right.
Also consider that this is set in the future of the UC storyline. The last we saw of UC was in Victory Gundam, which had extremely fast and maneuverable mobile suits. Here, however, it seems as though technology has regressed so that mobile suits are slower and clumsier than even the first Mobile Suit ever invented in this time-line. I've seen astronauts adrift in space with no propulsion that move better than this. And these are essentially robots covered in high-performance thrusters?
UC Gundam for the most part also focused on Newtypes, except that they are missing here. Newtypes are essentially the next evolution of man. They are much like powerful "psychics" with incredible natural piloting talent, and are a core element to most of UC story lines. I can however, forgive the lack of Newtypes, as later UC Gundam shows tended to try and top the psychic powers of the previous shows, resulting in excessive mental powers able to turn people into vegetables by mere thought alone. So I don't mind a refocusing of the franchise on piloting and dogfights over mental attacks.
However, as mentioned earlier, the dogfights are just terrible. Gundam shows are not new to chapters that are light on action. Gundam 0080 had very little mecha fighting, yet it made up for it with character development, story, and compelling drama. This doesn't have any of that either.
This would be fine if it was some late night cable movie, and had all references to Gundam removed and replaced with generic robots.
All in all, it is an interesting thing to watch, as it is Gundam's "great experiment". A live action Gundam film made by western production companies. Beyond experiencing the magnitude of the failure, there's not much going for it.
If you want to see CGI rendered Gundam in all it's glory, find a way to get ahold of "MS Igloo". It is a fully CGI UC Gundam story set during the One Year War of 0079. And it certainly puts this to shame.
As a side-note, Gundam Wing fans may enjoy the appearance of Enuka Okuma as Cynthia Graves. She is the voice actor of Lady Une, and performs a live-action role in G Saviour.
