Dante's Inferno is one of my favorite semi-forgotten games. Loosely adapted from the seminal Italian poem, the Divine Comedy, this game reinterprets the original plot into a grand, gory and action-packed tale of Dante, a Christian crusader, descending into the literal Hell to rescue the soul of his beloved, Beatrice. Replete with insane and over-the-top moments like Dante killing Death himself and stealing his scythe, Dante's Inferno is nothing short of a thrill ride from beginning to end.
Visceral Games, the studio behind both Dante's Inferno and Dead Space, were experimenting in the late 2000s and early 2010s with direct-to-video animated adaptations and spin-offs of these two specific IP. In 2010, Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic was released, which served as an animated retelling of the video game. While An Animated Epic stuck much closer to its source material than the game did with the original poem, this film adaptation still changed some key elements of the story. For instance, Dante's iconic cross tapestry that is sewn into his chest. In the game, Dante sewed that into his own skin as a form of self-imposed penance for his sins, while in the film, demons hold him down and sew it into him. I took issue with this alteration, as it removes a crucial step in Dante's attempt at reconciling his past. Another major departure from the game came in the way that Dante received his scythe, which obviously is of critical importance to the plot of the game and how Dante ventures into the afterlife. In the animation, Dante doesn't fight Death and steal his scythe, he obtains the weapon from some random winged demon that he defeats early in the film. These changes don't necessarily ruin An Animated Epic, but they certainly don't enhance the story beyond what we already had in the video game.
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The standout feature of Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic is the inventive approach of its presentation for the different layers of Hell. They had six different animation studios design the individual layers of Hell, so that each layer had a distinct aesthetic and style. This style of storytelling gave the movie the feeling of an anthology. I think this was a really neat approach to showcasing the myriad nightmarish regions through which Dante must travel, though I have to admit that some of the animation and art styles fit the world of Dante's Inferno better than others. Some of the studios chose to closely follow the game's visual style, while others took the opportunity to really take their own unique spin on the design. I'm also a huge fan of Dante's design in the game, so the chapters of the movie where they heavily changed Dante's design were a bit of a disconnect for me.
If you've never played Dante's Inferno, it is incredibly graphic, and this animated adaptation holds true to that trait. The shocking level of gore is ever-present. Heads are being split in half and limbs are flying at a constant clip, as Dante is regularly dismembering, beheading and vivisecting all manner of hellspawn. There is also a great deal of nudity in this film, both of a sensual nature and not. As you'd expect, the "Lust" layer of Hell is quite explicit. Beatrice is also often depicted as nude, though rarely in a sexual way, more so shown to be naked like in a pure, angelic sense, like something you'd see in a Renaissance painting. So, please be aware that Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic is absolutely aimed at an adult audience.
Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic is a fine film. If you're a diehard fan of the game like I am, you'll probably enjoy this. Even with the occasionally clashing art styles, all of the animation looks to be of a very high quality. The vocal performances are all phenomenal as well. I think playing the game is a much better way to experience this story, but with Dante's Inferno being stuck on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, you might have an easier time watching the movie instead.
VERDICT: Recommended
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