Byline: Jason Anderson Special to the Star

Evangelion 2.0: Anime may have attained great popularity outside of Japan but it remains a largely small-screen phenomenon in these parts. It didn't help that Hollywood's few attempts to get in on the action were mostly targeted at under-10s (such as the Pokemon movies) or else stiffed at the box office (like 2008's live-action version of Speed Racer).

Over in Japan, feature-film spinoffs of popular anime series routinely draw big numbers. In the movie's first weekend of release there in 2009, Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance beat out all other contenders - the DVD also broke the record for pre-order sales for Amazon Japan.

It's unlikely to repeat those feats here but anime devotees will still get the rare chance to see it on the big screen on Jan. 20 across Canada at select Cineplex theatres.

The second of a planned quartet of movies based on Neon Genesis Evangelion - which ran as a TV show in the mid-'90s and remains a bestseller in manga form - this is one of the genre's most dazzling recent examples. A blend of teen soap opera and post-apocalyptic science fiction, it may be...