This movie would have been much better as a short OVA released on Youtube to tease the Blu-ray remastering of Macross 7. Instead, for some inexplicable reason the production staff decided to make what amounts to a 90-minute clip show with some original Macross Frontier scenes mixed in. What we have here is an object lesson in how not to produce any motion picture, let alone anime. First and biggest mistake is the idea that remastered clips and nostalgia would ensure an epic production at minimal cost. Visually, there are several places where you could see that they did little more than convert the original footageto widescreen and scaled up to Blu-ray resolution. Sometimes it worked, owing to the quality of the original material, but when it didn't work it was about as distracting as the dated sound effects.

Additionally, the editing of the footage for the movie is all over the place-- there is only so much Macross 7 one can show in less than 90 minutes (Kawamori's original idea was apparently 2 hours), so a lot of cohesion is sacrificed in telling the story. For example, in one clip Mylene is thrashed around in her VF, in the next she's at Basara's side yelling at him to wake up, and the viewer is left wondering how that happened (a seasoned editor would've cut the first clip). Even if it's meant to be an introduction to Macross 7 for those who never saw the series, I found the story difficult to track.

Second mistake is keeping Alto out of the production altogether. Of course, he isn't exactly a particularly compelling Macross lead, and he wouldn't have contributed anything to this scenario, but since he is a central character to Frontier it would've been nice to at least explain why he isn't shown anywhere (he might be in there as an Easter egg, but I'm not about to play Where's Waldo?).

Third mistake is doing a cover of Dynamite Explosion from Macross 7 Dynamite in the final medley, but never working in the other epic song from the OVA, Angel Voice. Since two generations of Macross have done Angel Voice (Minmay and Basara's singing voices), omitting this song is a missed opportunity that is most tragic.

It's not all bad-- the cover/medley by Megumi Nakajima and May'n is easily the best part of the movie, but you need to slog through about 9 minutes of a paper-thin Frontier story and 80 minutes of Macross 7 clip show to get there... or just skip to that spot, defeating the purpose of the movie.

In the interview extra for The Wings of Goodbye, Kawamori said that "Getting a show like Frontier going is really hard." in response to "Will there be another Macross?" Connecting Frontier and 7 is a brilliant idea, but the way it was executed here left much to be desired.