Many years ago, there was a massive battle between two powerful aliens that engulfed the entire universe. Cherno, The Destroyer, had forged a weapon called The Wave Eater, which could unleash concentrated balls of energy, powerful enough to destroy entire planets. The Great Belo (Evgeniy Mironov) assembled a team of warriors to help him take down Cherno. These warriors had the ability to teleport, and they used this to attack Cherno’s ship and destroy it. However, Cherno had managed to launch an escape pod at the last minute, which crashed down on Earth. Belo and his team wrapped the pod in chains, trapping Cherno deep underground in the Earth’s core, waiting for the last of his power to drain away. Cherno’s Wave Eater is now nearly depleted, and when it is gone, so will be Cherno. However, as Cherno’s fell to Earth, he managed to unleash one final weapon, the protogen, which may be the key to his escape. It is hidden inside an unsuspecting human, just waiting to be activated.

It’s been 20 years since Belo and Cherno’s cosmic battle, and in that time, the Earth has suffered greatly. The moon has cracked into pieces, deserts had frozen over, and all sorts of new diseases have arisen. People must line up for water, have barely any food, and only have access to electricity for an hour a day. The main thing that keeps people happy and entertained are the Cosmoball matches. After the battle, Belo’s ship landed on Earth, and became the home to a stadium where athletes from across the universe come to compete. These athletes are the same teleporting heroes who assisted Belo in the battle. Teams of four compete in a unique fast-paced soccer-like sport where a bright red glowing ball zooms around the field and must be kicked five times before scoring a goal. The players appear to float in mid air above the field as they chase after the glowing orb, and the crowd loves every minute of it. While each team is supposed to have four players, Earth’s team has only ever had three—Natasha, Pele, and Fan—since only three Earthlings possessing the ability to teleport have ever been identified. They are in desperate need of a fourth, and their wish is finally about to come true.

Anton is a hard-working Earthling, but he seems to have the worst luck—bad things always seem to happen around him. He’s also not a very experienced young man, and still gets nervous and awkward in the presence of girls. Anton doesn’t understand why everyone is so obsessed with Cosmoball (though he does stare dreamily at the posters of Earth’s team captain Natalie). He says that people have become like zombies, watching this stupid sport all day long— he has more important things to worry about. Anton is in desperate need of a job—his mother is very sick and in need of expensive medicine. One day, while resorting to theft to obtain his mother’s vitamins, Anton crosses paths with quirky rebel Anya. What he doesn’t know is that Anya is actually Cherno’s daughter in disguise, and that this meet-cute was just her latest attempt to try to activate the protogen that resides inside of Anton. Cherno needs his daughter to activate the protogen so that he can escape from his prison and once again rule the universe, but his time is quickly running out and he grows weaker by the day. Once Anya finally succeeds in activating the protogen, Anton gains the ability to teleport. Almost immediately, Belo is notified that a potential fourth player has been identified, and so he and the others recruit and train him to fill out the Earth’s Cosmoball team. However, Anton still has no interest in the game, and only agrees to play in exchange for helping his mother. Meanwhile, Anya becomes the Eve to Anton’s Adam, whispering into his ear trying to influencing him down a dark path—she wants to turn him into a Trojan Horse to take down Belo and free her father (I know, I’m mixing two completely different tales). However, by the time Anton discovers the truth behind Anya and the real purpose of Cosmoball, it may be too late to fix things.

Cosmoball combines CGI and live action, and blend magic, fantasy and aliens to create a really unique and even charming post-apocalyptic world. Over the twenty years since Belo landed on Earth, the world has changed, merging alien population and culture with that of the Earthlings. While Belo comes from a more advanced alien civilization, things are ruled by a galactic council, which has put limitations on what technology and knowledge he is allowed to share with the humans. And so, even though many diseases, such as the one suffered by Anton’s mother, can be cured, his hands are tied. He is in charge of Cosmoball, which serves a deeper and more important purpose than any of the spectators realize.

Cosmoball feels like Power Rangers (though not in a campy way) mixed with The Last Starfighter or Enders Game, and even some Aladdin. It is a story of an unlikely hero who must join the fight of good versus evil, mixed with a bit of space sports. Cosmoball is also somewhat of a family movie. There are the wacky (mostly animated) alien characters who comprise the other Cosmoball teams, and also the sentient, cute, almost pet-like creatures who turn into the athletes’ uniforms/armor. The film also has a lot of humor—there is this running gag of a pair of bumbling cops who are after Anton for stealing the medicine. And surrounding all of this are alien space battles. Overall the film is an exciting and fun mix of humor, action, fantasy and sport that takes place in a colorful and fantastical world.

Cosmoball is a Russian film, and Well Go’s Blu-ray release offers both the original Russian soundtrack as well as a new English dub. With foreign films I always prefer to try out the English track first so that I can be more immersed in the film rather than reading. Dubs can sometimes be a bit bland or poorly acted, but I found the English performances to be excellent, sounding quite natural. At times, the English dialogue is not the same as what appears in the subtitles, and I actually preferred the audio over the text in most of these scenarios. The audio track makes excellent use of the surround channel during the Cosmoball scenes to immerse the viewer in the action and the roar of the crowd. However, at times the sound mix is a bit aggressive, with the heavy, loud soundtrack slightly drowning out the dialogue coming from the front channels. The video presentation is excellent. This is a beautiful-looking film, and the sets really come to life with a really pristine, clear and bright picture that looks nearly flawless. The CGI is blended nicely with the live action to make this fantastical world and its characters feel real. Though, some of the big battle or Cosmoball scenes that are almost entirely comprised of CG characters come off a bit like a cartoon or videogame.

The Blu-ray disc is packed in a standard HD keepcase with a cardboard slipcover. The disc does not include any bonus material, except for a few trailers, and there is no digital copy included.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:58:03)

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / Widescreen 2.39:1
• Audio: Russian DTS-HDMA 5.1, Russian Stereo, English DTS-HDMA 5.1, English Stereo
• Subtitles: English

Extras:
Bonus material plays back-to-back.

• Trailers
  • Trailer (1:59)
  • Trailer (English Dub) (1:59)
• Previews
  • Russian Raid (1:39)
  • Max Cloud (2:09)
  • Jiang Ziya (1:48)
  • T-34 (2:28)

Final Thoughts:

Cosmoball is a fun sci-fi action/adventure/comedy that the whole family can enjoy. It does a great job of blending CGI and live action to bring a fantastical new world and sport to life while telling this story of good versus evil, and the rise of an unlikely hero. Well Go’s Blu-ray looks and sounds great, and offers both the original Russian soundtrack for purists as well as an excellent new English dub for those who prefer that option. Unfortunately the disc is barebones and doesn’t include any supplemental material. However, this entertaining film is definitely worth picking up for fans of things like Power Rangers, The Last Starfighter, Ender’s Game, and so on.