Metropolis

Seeking to fill the void in animated films about urban planning, director Taro Rin and writer Katsuhiro Otomo have brought us Metropolis, a visually dazzling discourse on proper civic engineering. Metropolis teaches the following important lessons: First, when building your city, lots of art-deco architecture will get you nowhere unless the center of your city is an enormous tower that is easily four times as tall as any surrounding building. Next, said tower should contain a super-weapon that you can use to control the world (I know, "duh!" but sometimes it’s good to review the basics). Third, in order to keep things flowing nicely, you’ll need hordes of robot civil servants. Finally, and most importantly, do NOT put one of these robots in charge of the super-weapon tower! In spite of the fact that this lesson that has been learned over and over again by such cities as Marana and Green Valley, it still needs to be stressed: If you give them the power to shoot lightning bolts from their eyes and re-shape reality itself, Robots will attempt to usurp their human masters. If you’re planning your own city-state, and any of these lessons haven’t hit home for you, and you’d like to see them illustrated by means of some of the finest animation ever produced, then you should definitely check out Metropolis.