This is a sequel to the 2003 anime Full Metal Alchemist but in movie form, it attempts to follow on from the events of the shows finale and perhaps answer a few unanswered questions.
Sadly truth be told it creates new ones and delivers a highly underwhelming story that utilizes the weakest points from the anime itself.
I won't break down the plot as it will cause spoilers for the anime for anybody who hasn't seen it. I will just say there are some inconsistencies, it's a pretty lame plot and it does absolutely nothing for the FMA universe.
Sure, it was nice to see the characters back and it was nice to see several get the finales the anime didn't give us but ultimately it should have been a lot better than this.
Not good, not bad, but considering it's a follow on it's sad to say I wouldn't even call this essential viewing for fans of the franchise.
The Good:
Some great social commentary
Wraps up some story arcs/characters nicely
Follows on from the anime relatively well
The Bad:
Some contradictions from the anime
Story is pretty weak
Things I Learnt From This Movie:
Science that doesn't benefit people isn't science at all

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First off, after watching all 51 episodes of Full Metal Alchemist, i was excited at the prospect of a Movie to conclude the series. All the cast are back, and slightly older than they were in the series.
Since the dramatic turn of events, we are brought up to speed with whats been going on in the time we were gone. All the favourite characters are back, and this movie takes a interesting spin on its location. The plot is a fast paced, actioned packed affair with even better fight sequences than the series.
So if you liked the series then this is the desert you deserve. It rounds things up nicely, and does it with style to boot.

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Now I won't spoil anything for anyone, only that 'FMA - Conqueror of Shambala' is worth looking into. Thankfully the characters are pretty much the same. Anyway, it starts off with Ed and Al visiting this one scientist who has discovered Uranium (kinda sub-plot) and he ends up on the other side of the gate. The rest of the story picks up were the series left off; and takes place both our world and Ed's world. The overall plot was fairly good and and the director and writers did good job paying respect for the characters and the series. And the animation out does the actual show, there were some instances were they used CG (and looked bad) but that doesn't ruin the viewing qualities at all. I liked it, but don't take my word for it. Try it for yourself and be your own judge. I like said, it's worth taking a peek.^_^

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This movie continues right where we left off from the final episode of FullMetal Alchemist. 2 years afterwards to be correct.
It's 1923 in Germany. Edward has made friends the Alphonse of the Real World, who is 19, tall, and a rocket builder. They're heading to a carnival and met up with some Gypsies. One of the gypsies is named Noah who can sense that Edward isn't from this world.
While the other Alphonse has accomplished more of his alchemy training. And is wearing the same outfit as his brother.
Little does Edward know is that the secret society that his dad's been involved with for sometime is planning an invasion in the Alchemy World.
You're unable to use alchemy in the real world so they wait for someone from the Alchemy to perform a transmutation circle that'll be a gateway between each worlds.
And when that happens it'll be a battle to the finish. The fate of both worlds are in the hands of the Elric Bros.
This movie features a lot of familiar characters from the series, including alter egos in the real world. Those who like the TV series might like this movie. It has action, suspense, and it ties up all the loose ends that were left off in the last episode.
I really liked this movie. Most people dislike it, due to the idea of the story or for containing several CG elements on hard to do animation sequences. It has the same animation and it was done by the same people who did the TV series. I think it's worth checking out for the die hard FMA fans. Those who aren't familiar with the TV series won't like it when you're not sure what is going on.
Plus the English dub does do the movie justice, thanks to Funimation people, who succeeded in bringing the TV show to the US.

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As a devote fan to the series, I got very excited when hearing that there was going to be a movie made. Part of me was worried that it wouldn't be made with the same meticulous perfection that the series was created with...I shouldn't have worried.
The movie itself is absolutely awesome. I found it very enjoyable and (unlike a lot of anime movies) find myself able to watch it over and over again.
And to those who complain about the ending. If the end of the movie had been *any* different, it would not have been FMA's style. I thought the end was brilliant. So, check it out!

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FMA is a great anime (on par with Cowboy Bebop), which made the movie all that more of a letdown.. It wasn't bad; the animation is good and the story was okay, however the plot was severely lacking. After I finished watching the movie, my first impression was that someone had made an excellent movie, removed a fifth of it, and replaced it with fan service. The plot simply does not flow; there are a number of instances where plot devices are randomly introduced and just as quickly dropped (e.g. the spear of longinus), where the story progression seems horribly contrived (Ed's conversations with Fritz Lang-especially the talk about parallel worlds), and where important scenes have simply been removed without compensation (most obvious in the opening subplot-why is Ed wearing that shiny helmet?). My other major gripe is the fan service. A little fan service is OK, but this is ridiculous. All of the popular characters from the anime had cameos, regardless of whether or not they offered any significant contribution to the story. Rather, they are just dropped in for a couple of scenes, did their trademark thing, and left. This wouldn't be nearly so bad except for the fact that important scenes were probably sacrificed so old favorites could have a minute of screen time.
That said, the movie is still entertaining. A lot of people disliked the ending, and while I don't think it was amazing, I believe it was consistent with the anime. My final recommendation: if you know nothing of FMA, watch the anime (which is far superior to the movie). If you've seen all 51 episodes, the movie is definitely worth watching, if for no other reason than that it significantly progresses the story.

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I expected more. And by more I mean much much much much more. That's an understatement, but you get my idea. I finished watching The Fullmetal Alchemist in like two weeks and was so psyched by the ending and wanted to see the movie as soon as possible to tie the loose ends and finally give some closure to it all. I didn't expect, as someone put it before me, 'an evil Nazi movie'. I don't like spoiling movies so I won't give you anything in detail, but I feel some aspects were not thought through completely and some characters deserved way more space than they got, not two minute sequence after which no one seemed to remember them. If I had a time machine, I'd probably go back and told myself: 'Don't watch the movie, imagine how the series could have gone on and you'll be much happier.'

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I'm all prepped to start FMA: Brotherhood on Hulu, but I have to get this review out of the way first. I wasn't expecting anything legendary when I started watching this movie, but I was relieved I didn't have to let the old series go right away. This movie is awesome! It has a bunch of things I liked about the FMA series (Mustang being awesome, Ed wisecracking during fight scenes, and HUGHES OMG), and combined it with new ideas (World War 2, for example). I would recommend it to EVERYONE who watched the FMA series. I realize people seemed to REALLY hate this movies's ending, but I was fine with it (I wasn't until Al came with him that I was really OK with it...). It gave me a sense of closure I didn't have before about the series. And I liked Noah a lot for some reason (am I the only one who noticed that she looked like rose??).
9/10

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First of all, I watched The Sacred Star of Milos and it was a wreck. Animation was bad. And the funny thing is there is a question on their web-site if we liked it or not. It was horrible. I bought a blu-ray in order to see details in The Sacred Star of Milos. I just liked the animation of background but Ed was weird. His hair was like a jelly. And I wonder the people whoever watch The Sacred Star of Milos and liked it if they can really see or not.
Anyway, The Sacred Star of Milos was bad. I couldn't feel the soul of FMA. I was thinking about this one. And I saw that everything was great. The story, quality of animation and the soul. I recommend everybody to watch. In terms of FMA's atmosphere,you can still feel what you felt before thanks to this the movie. It made me happy in brief.

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Conquerer of Shamballa shows what happens when creators of an Anime fail to understand what their fans want. I as a fan did not want a 1920's Evil Nazi movie. What I would have liked to see is a real final showdown between Ed and Dante, as we don't REALLY know what became of her. I also would have liked to get Ed back to his world much sooner and have him stay there, to finally get a chance to be normal. You know, raise a family with a certain blonde mechanic, that sort of thing. No, instead I got a convoluted plot involving Nazi mystics, Fritz Lang and about ten minutes of Al, a joke of a Cameo by Roy Mustang and only one Armstrong joke, one short joke and no Winry hitting Ed with a wrench. Above all, it just didn't feel like Fullmetal Alchemist to me.

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After watching the original FMA series and feeling disappointed with it's ending I immediately watched this movie which was suppose to bring the series to a conclusion. However I feel that the conclusion to this movie left me feeling even more unsatisfied than what the series offered and had me feeling confused with more unanswered questions. The problem with this movie is not only the ending but the writing and run time. It was dull, boring, dragged on too long and felt like a poorly written fanfiction. Nothing interesting happens and the action is lacking. What a waste of nearly 2 hours.

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I absolutely love the anime series! Everything about the series was awesome. I needed something to watch so I decided to pick it up one day and I love it. Its got a great story, excellent characters, character development, and the animation is awesome. I recommend it to anyone that likes anime or if you are just looking for something to watch.
Now....when I finished the series I just had to know what happened next! So I paid 5 extra bucks on shipping and handling to get the movie faster.....it wasn't worth the 5 extra bucks...
I don't really want to ruin anything for people that haven't seen it. The story line was only okay. it seemed like it was missing something though. Like some of the characters weren't right and the relationships didn't seem right or something. I guess I expected better reunions and stuff and like some stuff seemed like it was just thrown in there. I didn't like how Al stole Eds original look either. ANd they should have had more of Mustang, Winry, and some other the other characters. i don't know. And they also used CGI in with the drawing. I personally don't like when they use the computer stuff with the normal anime. If you know what I mean. I didn't like the ending either. Its not the way I would have ended it at least. Ed and Al should have ended up in their side of the gate. And Ed should have ended up with Winry.
Its not like super terrible though. There were some good fight scenes and still the good animation(except for the CGI stuff). Edwards look is cool and he looks older.
It was disappointing I guess is the way to sum it up. The series was just so awesome that I expected so much from the movie and it was just a letdown. Not the ending I wanted :( But you should see it and form your own opinion.

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I will say this now - I thoroughly enjoyed the Full Metal Alchemist series. This makes me biased, but I think my bias is because it was well written, acted and brought to life.
I enjoyed The Conqueror of Shamballa for many of the same reasons. The plot is believable (yes, there was a Thule Society, and yes, they were into the occult), and the characters have additions that would naturally occur over two years.
However, I felt that while this is the story of the Elric brothers, I did feel that Mustang, Armstrong, Winry et al could have been used a lot more. Eckhart was a decent bad girl (she had the prerequisite maniacal laugh when she shoots down Ed), and provides plenty of food for thought (methinks she and Yoda should have a talk about fear - watch it if you don't know what I mean).
The story could have also been explored in more detail. For a 100 minute movie though, it did quite well. A longer movie might have allowed more screen time for the minor characters too (you could count on two hands the number of lines some of the minor characters, including the military ones, actually got).
I did also like meeting the Earthly equivalent to King Bradley (he played a fairly big role, including a reflection on the pros and cons of science), along with cameos by Lyra, and we see how Hughes would have ended up if he had never married Gracia (they're getting set up by the end).
All in all, with good music (as always) and fairly good animation (apart from a few minor lapses), it was a very good show. If its the end, its a good one, and if its one of a series of movies they'll come out with (we can always hope :D), then its going to be a much better addition. Either way, we're all the better for it in my opinion.
PS - I have watched the English dubbed version; I'm not sure how the original Japanese looked, so any inaccuracies may be due to the translation.

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The ending was disappointing in my opinion. I won't say what happens, but I was really enjoying this movie being a fan of both TV series and the manga until this movie ended. I mean, really, the ending is everything to a movie. The greatness of both anime series is almost beyond words, and it's up there on the list with Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and Gin Tama of top twenty anime series of all time.
So why did the ending of the movie leave me unsatisfied and somewhat depressed? Because it was unsatisfying, I wonder what the writers were thinking?
Well, I'm done complaining about the ending, now for the positive: the story is STILL good in my opinion (until the ending), and the animation is awesome and seems to improve from the first series (please note that this movie is a finale to the first animated series ONLY and is in no way associated with Brotherhood) animation. Seeing the characters grown up a bit was neat and the plot revolving around two alternate worlds is always good if it's done right (which it was, until the ending), without being too damn confusing to follow.
Now, for the basic outline of the story: Ed and an alternate world Al are now studying rocket science, since in that world alchemy doesn't exist. But then a certain 'nice' lady wants to open up the portal to Ed's original world where alchemy DOES exist to find the legendary Shangri-La, opening an opportunity for Ed to get back home.
Overall, 7/10. If it wasn't for the ending it would get another point added.

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'Conqueror of Shamballa' serves to conclude the original anime after that series ended on a bittersweet note. I was excited when I first saw this film back in the day to see how everything ended and it didn't disappoint.
All the characters who lived are back and everything is different. The characters are a few years older and more mature. The story does an interesting take on the idea of parallel universes and we get to see alter egos of characters in Ed and Alphonse's world in the real world setting of Europe cira 1925. Ed and Alphonse are separated on both sides of the gate and both are attempting to return to each other. In the midst of all this a fringe group of the Nazis is studying alchemy in an attempt to pass through the gate and conquer the alternate world in order to fuel their supplies for war.
It moves at a brisk pace and has great action sequences befitting of FMA. The animation has much better production value than the show (although some of the CG used hasn't aged well) and makes great use of color for both worlds. The film has a good villain but not as good as in the series.
I can't recommend this film to people who haven't seen the show because it requires prior knowledge of the show to understand the events of the film. If you liked the original 'FMA' then you will most likely enjoy this film.

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I loved this movie. It was not only very interesting, but was also a good conclusion to the original series.
The movie is truly great, takes an homage to a lot of already seen characters, for example, I appreciated Wrath and Gluttony's appearence.Even Dante (?)'s little cameo was enough to smile.The unique cameo I didn't like very much was Scar's, because it felt just random.
I really like the plot, it feels like a New Great War is going to start, tensions are everywhere, and there is a lot to cover.I liked when the characters talked about Hitler and the Nazis.I liked the main antagonist (she actually didn't feel like the big bad until the climax of the movie), but I didn't like Hughes' alter-ego, because it looks kind of a bad guy, but I love King Bradley's alter-ego, instead.
I speculated about the main antagonist's true motives, and I thought my thoughts were a bit more reasonable and logic than the true ones, but it isn't a major let-off.
I loved the art style and animation, I absolutely like it!I just didn't like the CGI elements (the armors, the battleships), but other than those, everything is perfect.
I would recommend this movie only to someone who already seen the original series and loved it. You won't be deluded by this Pearl of animation!

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Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa is a 2005 Japanese anime based on the Fullmetal Alchemist series and manga. The movie is a direct follow-up of the series and gives resolution to many of the conflicts that remained at the end of the show. The story follows Edward Elric, a young alchemist, stuck in a parallel world and trying to find his way home. Driven to be reunited with his friends and family, Edward must face new adversaries who also want to travel to his home-world, but for much more nefarious reasons.
This movie is a fan feast, with characters brought back from the series along with answering a lot of the questions we were left with at the end of the show. Full of fun action scenes, great animation, some funny moments, and a story with a surprising amount of depth, Conqueror of Shamballa is a great movie to top off the series. The story ties into real-life history, making the story all the more enjoyable. The movie also ends strong with a very exciting climax.
Despite this, Conqueror of Shamballa suffers from a common problem with anime: melodrama. Over-the-top, obnoxious personalities occasionally contrast from the serious story line. Another problem with this movie is that it does not stand alone. You must watch the series, otherwise you're just seeing the last chapter to another story. This prevents outsiders from enjoying this anime. Also, while fun for the most part and having an exciting final act, the movie is boring and drags on through the second act.
Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa is a fun movie overall, and a must-watch for any who enjoyed the series. With a great story and plenty for the fans, watching this movie is a perfect way to finish the series. If you have not yet seen the show, come back to this anime later. You're meant to know the events from the series and this movie builds on that. The series is excellent and will be well worth your time.

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Before the two anime adaptations, 'Fullmetal Alchemist' was originally a manga (Japanese graphic novel) written by Hiromu Arakawa and published in Square Enix's monthly magazine 'Shonen Gangan'. It was the story of two brothers who used the ancient arts of alchemy to perform a risky taboo: to transmute their dead mother to bring her back to life. As a result, the younger brother lost his entire body, while the older lost his leg. At the last minute, the older brother bounded the younger brother's soul to a suit of armor, sacrificing his right arm. With the older brother outfitted with artificial limbs made of steel (called auto mail), they then set out on a journey to find the legendary Philosopher's Stone and use it to get their bodies back to normal.
While the manga was still being written, an anime series would be produced by Bones and Aniplex with Arakawa's approval. When it was released internationally (in my case, being a selection on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block), the popularity of the franchise soared, and critics took notice, with one saying that it was a perfect blend of action, comedy, and hard-hitting drama. They weren't lying in that regard. When the series ended, it was not the end of the story, so a feature-length movie was produced. This is where 'Fullmetal Alchemist - The Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa' comes in.
Directed by Seiji Mizushima, who also directed a majority of the episodes of the television show, the film takes place two years after the events of the last episode of the series. It's 1923 in Munich, Germany, and since his sacrifice leading to the separation from his younger brother Alphonse (Aaron Dismuke), Edward Elric (Vic Mignogna) has spent his time in our world studying rocketry with his friend Alphons Heiderich (E. Jason Liebrecht). One day, Ed saves a Gypsy girl who has the power to read minds, which throws Ed into a devious plot by the Thule Society and the Nazi party that could start a war between the world he's in and his home world, all while his brother Alphonse sets out on a journey to find his brother at the same time.
Going in blind, the average moviegoer would barely understand what the hell is going on in this movie, if at all. This is why I would say to people when discussing the series as a whole to watch all 51 episodes of the original series before watching this, despite being an original story derived from the show (according to anime critic Ryusuke Hikawa). As for the movie itself, story-aside, the film captures the action, comedy, and drama of the show just fine, and also includes the show's musical score blending with tracks made for the movie. As someone who is a fan of the franchise, I can say that it's a definite plus. The downside is that the film is geared toward a limited audience. Again, if you haven't watched the entire series (the original, not 'Brotherhood'), pretty much all of the movie won't make a lick of sense.
While I do agree that 'Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood' is a much better work with a superior ending, the original series and the movie itself is actually not too bad either. I kinda like it, and would give it a recommendation to fans of the series. Is it the best ending they could come up with? No. But it'll suffice.

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Both among devoted FmA fans and critics, 'Conqueror of Shamballa' is often criticized, with some going so far as calling it an unworthy film in the franchise. Personally, I am having a hard time seeing why anyone would dislike it that much.
I consider it far superior to 'The Sacred Star of Milos', as it manages to keep the feel of Fullmetal Alchemist despite mostly taking place in our world. It's not a perfect movie (for example, the antagonist leaves a lot to be desired, and the CGI is at times quite annoying), but highly entertaining. It also works very well on an emotional level, with the characters from the manga/anime undergoing both physical and spiritual journeys. The filmmakers weren't afraid of making difficult choices, and the end result is a gorgeous film that certainly satisfied my desire for further Elric adventures.
I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoyed either of the two anime series or the manga.

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There are massive spoilers ahead for the show, if you haven't seen it - I would suggest watching it, it's probably the first 10/10 I've given a show in years, I'll also say you probably will be extremely lost in this review regardless. Well, if you're like me and thought the ending of after about 15 hours of the show ended terribly with Alphonse looking for a way to bring his brother back from beyond the gate, learning nothing from his entire experiences on the show because they wiped his memories and having one of the best sibling relationships ever conveyed in a TV Show ending with them separated across worlds and Edward still having a prosthetic leg and arm that looks too advanced for the technology back then and asking no questions about it at all among many other things. Here, this is the ending for those that pretty much said 'WHAT THE F#CK!!!!!' to it, I'll say the ending in general is passable but underwhelming.
Edward casually tells our world's version of Alphonse (I'll get to that later) about his exploits across the gate and ensures that yes, it was where he came from. When going to a carnival Edward saves a psychic gypsy from the ever-growing Nazi's but the Nazi's go full-on comic book super-villain when they decide to walk through to the world Edward is from to conquer it and bring back whatever weaponry they have so the Nazi's can take over the world. Meanwhile Alphonse (as in Edward's brother) is a trained alchemist looking for a way to get through to the other side of the gate to get Edward back.
Okay, the story is very convoluted and... well, dare I say terrible? I'd say this is passable if you're a fan of the show but if you haven't seen the hours and hours and hours of the 2003 show beforehand, this would be about as easy to follow as a moth in a snowstorm. I'll also say that the whole other versions of the same character in the show popping up makes no sense to me. It just seems like service to the fans to say 'Hughes is in this, and so is Edward and Al's mom, Alphonse and pretty much every character that dies makes an appearance in this movie.' I'll say seeing the relatively minor characters make an appearance is very good because it gives a much better moment of closure than the show did. I also might not call the real world counterparts service to the fans because the dead characters seemingly have the opposite personalities that are in the show and they do NOTHING with it! And while I'm on the subject I don't really like the new ending of 'They're in pre WWII Germany hanging out with gypsies but at least they're together'... To me that is not satisfying.
Onto the compliments, the animation is much better here than at any other point in the show, it looks so good. The same with the voice acting as well, it's basically top notch. I'll also say if you are a fan of the show like I am than there are moments of drama in here that work so well. I love the scene where Edward says he has to pilot the Nazi-zombie spaceships (no... really, I said I don't like this movie's plot!) back through to the real world and destroy the portal from that side is really well done seeing Alphonse's reaction to it. If you think too hard about scenes like that however, it doesn't really work (especially considering Edward was the only one who could open the damn portal from that side! Whoops!).
So... If you're a fan of the show this is a step down. I will say because of my love for the show and it ending in a way that was less awful than the show itself, it's a guilty pleasure of mine. I am glad I saw it but hearing the fan community be polarized on this movie is hardly surprising to me. I can see why some people don't like it but for me, I actually do.

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I've watched the series and played the games, but this movie was almost made to perfection in regards to Fullmetal Alchemist. To embrace realistic history and expand in another direction is extremely clever. Truly a story of respect for family and devotion to civil duty. Every character was spot on with no lack of intensity. Even with the addition of new characters and more common elements I thought it was a brilliant move to take equivalent exchange to a whole different level. If I wore a hat I would take it off to the writers, animators, and director(s). I'll do my best to finish 'Brotherhood' as soon as I can. Well done sirs.

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This movie came as a huge disappointment. The anime series ended with a relatively stupid plot twist and the rushed introduction of a pretty lame villain, but I expected Shamballa to tie up all the loose ends. Unfortunately, it didn't. It added more plot holes than it resolved, and confused more than it clarified. The animation and voice acting were great, but with an idiotic plot, dull setting (most of the movie doesn't even take place in dull WWII Earth rather than the Alchemy world), and disappointing ending (Ed is useless for the rest of his days in a world with no alchemy, and he ditches Winry?), it was altogether pretty lackluster. Do yourself a favor-- disregard the last half of the anime as well as this movie, and read the manga.

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First off, I am critical of this movie because I really had high hopes and instead, this movie sucked.
*possible spoilers* (if you haven't seen the TV series) Where to begin??? Well, let's start at the quality. The movie was barely better than the original TV series and the two fight scenes were very nicely crafted. However the CGI was horrid.
Then there is the plot holes and questions that still remain after the whole movie is all said and done. This movie does not close off as a successful conclusion to a very broad universe known as FMA and only returns to expand the universe more before leaving us with nothing but our imaginations to decipher what would happen in the future.
And then there is the stories biggest fault. Adding WWII and Hitler... WHY ?? The series was perfect... and didn't need Hitler. It didn't even need Germany.
Overall the entire movie was sorely lacing in what a true FMA movie could have been and if I were the directors, I'd scrap CoS and make a new, more 'ending', ending.

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Fullmetal Alchemist is one of my favourite manga series of all time, written and drawn by the brilliant Arakawa Hiromu and published monthly in Shonen Gan Gan. So, I was expecting the movie to make up for the lacklustre, morbid anime series. Unfortunately, my expectations were not met.
The movie picks up where the anime left off, with Edward trapped in post-World War II Germany. He's found an alternate version of his younger brother, Alphonse, and is staying with him in his flat. Around this city are several other look-alikes, including alternate versions of Fuhrer King Bradley, Maes Hughes, and Hughes's wife Gracia.
So far as I could tell, Alternate King Bradley is searching for a dragon so he can help his crazy Riza Hawkeye-looking employer open the gate to Edward's world, and that's about where the plot seemed to disappear. From there onwards, the movie seems to get itself muddled in complicated dialogue and poetical, nonsensical statements, as well as the depressingly large number of plot holes. The ending in particular annoyed me; Edward Elric's choice to return to Germany, abandoning his girl Winry seems so completely out of character and a pointless gesture of idiocy to boot. As well as the bit about Al somehow appearing on the other side---the half of the ship he was standing on fell to the bloody earth! There was no WAY he could have jumped that gap, not without Edward noticing. Important secondary characters such as Riza Hawkeye and even other main characters such as Roy Mustang are pushed into the background, treated more as props to try to support the sagging plot line of the movie.
On the plus side, the fight scene between Gluttony and Wrath is rather enjoyable, if gory, as well as Armstrong's shenanigans in Lior. Even if the plot is hackneyed and mildly confusing, at least the meaning in the movie is fairly obvious; humans fear what they cannot control. The lady who opened the gate feared Edward's alchemical world because she didn't understand it. Also, the animation is very well done, as well as the voice acting (in the Japanese version, anyways), and the music (composed by Michiru Oshima) is undeniably beautiful.
Overall, it's worth tracking down a copy of Shamballa if you enjoyed either the anime or the manga, just to say you've seen it. I wouldn't buy it, but I'd at least borrow a copy from a friend.

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An excellent film ending to Fullmetal Alchemist, featuring the Elric Brothers trapped in different worlds trying to find a way to reunite after a two year separation. The older brother Edward is in Munich Germany in 1923, mixing with historic figures and Nazis, while the younger brother Alphonse is wandering around his world to find a way to reach Ed. Various characters, both old and new appear to either lend a hand, cause trouble or just be there to please fans.
However, I strongly recommend moviegoers who have not watched the television show to watch it first before watching this movie. Although the opening five minutes and the opening credits do explain the story of the show, later parts in the film may confuse viewers who have not watched the show beforehand. This film has excellent voice acting, animation and an awesome soundtrack!

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