Some manga/anime series should never be adapted to live action and Fullmetal Alchemist is one of them. While Japanese-speaking European characters are not uncommon in anime, this poses a big problem when done in live action. Asian actors wearing blond wigs and pretending to be Caucasians are not the least bit believable. They look like a bunch of cosplayers wearing badly styled cheap wigs. Hiromu Arakawa created a complex world where alchemy is used as if it were magic but treated as a science. She meticulously explains her concept in the manga and it was translated faithfully to its anime version. However, the film fails in this when it uses merely one scene in which Al awkwardly explains the process of alchemy to a bunch of townspeople. If you're a fan of the series, then you wouldn't have any problems getting into the story. If not, then you'd have difficulty understanding equivalent exchange, the gate of truth, and such.

Even though the costumes, sets, and visual effects aren't terrible, the majority of the casting is. Ryosuke Yamada, for all his good looks, simply does not embody what Edward Elric is all about. I just couldn't see the loudmouthed midget with an attitude in him. His acting is tolerable at best. Winry has always been a bit annoying but she is an automail genius and certainly no damsel in distress. She actually plays a vital role in the brothers' lives, something the film fails to show. Also, the actress they've chosen to play her cannot act to save her life, let alone build an automail arm. Al may look exactly as he does in the anime, thanks mainly to the special effects team, but he sounds more like an effeminate male teen than a child who never really got to grow up. Dean Fujioka makes a handsome Roy Mustang, but he plays him too seriously that he ends up looking woody and awkward most of the time. The Flame Alchemist is humorless at times, yes, but he is also one of the most complex characters in the series who pretends to be a self-absorbed womanizer to hide his vulnerabilities. Perhaps with better writing, Dean could have done the character justice.

The homunculi are passable with Yasuko Matsuyuki's Lust standing out of the three that are included in the film. But it is Sato Ryuta's portrayal of Maes Hughes that is most memorable for me. Hughes is a fan favorite and I've always hated the idea of him being killed off. Ryuta made me care as much about the character as I did in the manga/anime that his death bothered me all over again. All in all, the movie is entertaining but not nearly as good as the original series. It got some things right, but it got a lot of it wrong that it just doesn't do the original manga/anime justice. Fullmetal Alchemist is one of my all-time favorite series and as a fan, I am disappointed with this live action version. Like most live action films of Japanese manga series, this one fails in most aspects.