Cleopatra is a work which is filled with as much good as it is bad. It is based on the life of Cleopatra, which it paints with very broad strokes. Parts of it are incoherent, especially in the first half, while others are genuinely good historical fiction. The opening scene, which mixes live-action and animation, is the worst thing I have ever seen. It was directed by both Osamu Tezuka and Eiichi Yamamoto, and you can see the signature of both of them here. It has Tezuka's trademark humor, which mostly is just inappropriate and jarring here. It's strange to see Tezuka's typical over-the-top slapstickstyle used in the service of a rape joke. The first half of the movie in generally is often tasteless. There is also an entirely unnecessary science fiction subplot that can be removed without losing anything. When it gets serious and emotional, however, its actually worth watching. Some of the best parts are those which evoke the later psychedelic scenes of Belladona of Sadness. There's something in the idea that this movie would have been better without Tezuka directing. Overall, Cleopatra is a very uneven movie, with as much good as bad. I wish I could be the first positive review, but considering the admixture of plenty of flaws into the film, it doesn't really deserve one.