First, yes, I realize the picture says 1.01 and I put 1.11; they are two slightly different versions of the film. 1.11 is the director's cut. Evangelion 1.11 is the beginning of a new series of movies to tell a new tale of the classic anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. You Are (Not) Alone (I'll just call it YANA for the rest of the review) is the first of four films designed to retell this story.
YANA begs to be watched in high definition with surround sound. I have seen the series previously, and even 1.0 in standard definition and watching the new version in high definition is simply breathtaking. It's nice to see an alternative to the standard computer generated graphics we see in typical films in the states (although there did appear to be some CG elements used, but not many). I watched the film in Japanese despite knowing that the English dubbing is good. The Japanese voice acting is so good that you really never discern the character from their voice, it's as if the characters in the movie are actually talking to you instead of just thinking to yourself 'Oh, that's clearly Christian Bale's voice' or noticing the inflexion of the voice doesn't match up with the character's emotions or actions. Of course all the explosions sound and look great also.
The plot of the movie is the struggle of mankind to overcome opposition from a force known as Angels to prevent the Third Impact which would bring about the destruction of mankind. First Impact is supposed to be the moon breaking away from the Earth some four billion years ago. Second Impact was caused by an Angel being tampered with on Antarctica that caused two billion people to die as a result of flooding the Angel caused. It is said in the film that the Angels partook of the Fruit of Life, whereas humans ate the Fruit of Wisdom.
The main character, Shinji, is somewhat unlikeable in how timid he is. Shinji is called upon to pilot an Eva (basically a man made Angel) for a secret U.N. run organization known as NERV to fight against the Angels, though it is not revealed why he was chosen other than that he is the 'Third Child'. He encounters several other characters including Misato, who tries to act as a guardian for Shinji, but discovers that to be very difficult; Rei, a very stoic and distant pilot of a different Eva who Shinji tries to befriend (foreshadowing in the title? Hint hint) but has trouble getting through to, and Shinji's father Gendo, who abandoned Shinji as a boy to focus on work. Gendo is also at the head of NERV, and therefore has command of Shinji. Gendo shows completely apathy while repeatedly risking Shinji's life, and seems to treat Rei more like his offspring while completely disregarding Shinji.
As the movie progresses, character development and background stories are woven very well into the overall rhythm of the film. The movie ends at what is clearly the beginning of the next movie, though I won't give away what happens.
This movie demands your attention, it's not a background movie or even what I would consider a casual movie. If you're not paying attention and actually THINKING, you will miss a lot of what's going on both in the storyline and in the character development. This movie is hard to place in a genre as it has psychological aspects as well as drama, comedy, horror, and spirituality.
If you don't have the ever-popular anti-anime sentiment that most Americans have and are willing to really watch this movie (it's only about an hour and a half) it is definitely worth your time.
Grade: A-
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