This is a movie you skip 10-15 seconds, watch for about 2 seconds, skip 10-15 seconds, watch for about 2 seconds... until the end of the movie. I finished it in about 10 minutes. That's all I feel it deserved.

HALFMETAL ALCHEMIST I'm not a confesed fan of live actions, and see some one at least... decent, but this could be the wort and most biggest shit someone else did.... **Music**: wrong, poor and insignificant during all the film. **Effects:** Meh... alchemist effect have a pass, but the CGI?? what the f**k?? I hope that one was fired. **Characters:** Hughes excellent. Tucker... bad. Mustang, meh. Hawkeye very good. Ed extremely bad. Al bad. Winry bad (except one moment at the lab no5), Lust meh, Envy f**king bad, Gluttony.... the worst from far .... the best? Alexander (Nina's dog). **Story**: Half invented... I understand this part due the omission of some character that I don't understand why... but, ok. No problem. No Armstrong, no Bradley, no Lee, no Hoemheim, no Homunculus, no Greed.

I expected to be disappointed but I'm glad that wasn't the case. I was pleasantly surprised it used some of the original FullMetal Alchemist (2003) approach instead of going 100% FMA: Brotherhood (2009). Some storylines being dropped or crammed were to be expected and people who loved the side characters as much as the leads have to be prepared. [spoiler]The beginning with the kids threw me off a little. The acting seemed awkward between Trisha and them. Luckily they didn't dwell on it. The CGI didn't seem that good in the trailers, so the next scene got bonus points from me for being funny (including the gag with that poor cat) on top of it. The '03 Mustang, being almost hostile towards Ed is a plus for me as well. I didn't really like the casting choice for Winry at first but she grew on me. Hughes, on the other hand, seemed perfect from the start - too bad his appearances were all too short. Nina's story didn't have much time to hit that hard but I guess just a reminder is already too much. Tucker's story being closer to '03 aligned with the story they were going for - it's a shame they didn't have Nina being the one to stop Ed from killing him. As for the rest, it's the final hurdle, not much to examine there though I was pleased by the final scene setting up a sequel.[/spoiler]

So - it appears that some of the other commenters here didn't like this movie. I on the other hand enjoyed it. I also have never seen the anime series or movies, so I had no preconceptions about the characters or story.

I'm unfamiliar with the source material, but as a standalone film, this was enjoyable enough. Perhaps needed a little more alchemy to make it something truly special, but it's not a waste of a couple of hours.