There is also a whole television series (on which the movies are based); and an miniseries from which the television series came. (Plus manga behind all that, iirc. But I'm ignorant about the manga.)
The movies are as clean as described above (the third movie having been loosely based on an ep from the original miniseries, btw.) The plot of the first movie involves some biblical references, but no real theology to speak of (pro or con) that I can recall.
The first two movies are artistic marvels, especially for the time in which they were made; hyperrealistic and extremely detailed. In fact they look a lot like animated _paintings_. I don't recall being as artistically impressed about the third movie.
The main problem any person may have with the films, is that for movies about giant robots they tend to be kind of boring. They're very serious mood-films about Deep Themes (typically technology, culture and politics.) If you've ever watched the Gasaraki miniseries (a hyperrealistic Neo Genesis Eva kind of story and presentation, without the problematic and discussion-banning thematic problems
): take the action (such as it is) from that story, and divide by two. Maybe three.
The miniseries (and OVA preceding it) are in some ways much better, in the sense of being more entertaining. There's more fun involved, and generally more action, too. They don't take themselves altogether seriously.
For those who don't know about Patlabor: the series takes place in a present-day (or extremely near-future) Japan (keep in mind this was in the 90s) where giant robots are fairly common industrial tools. (They're colloquially called "Labors.) But because criminals are beginning to use them for their own purposes (and of course the military has its own fingers in the pie), Tokyo has instituted its own branch of the police department based around a pair of modified Labors (patrol Labors, i.e. Patlabors). There are actually two such squads, the first of which doesn't have much screen time because it's the older squad, and only makes use of specially modified industrial Labors. The series begins with the Patlabor-2 team being formed, who are being assigned the first Patlabors specifically designed from the ground up for police work. (The robots have no overt personalities, btw; they're just big machines, although there is some serious pondering about whether the love which one of the pilots has for her machine is wakening it to life. Nothing ultra-special ever comes from this, however.)
Unfortunately, the Patlabor-1 team turned out to be a public relations disaster, due to the inherent destructiveness of their operations (not their fault--it's just that having the equivalent of humanoid tanks as police vehicles tends to be problematic for buildings, populations, etc.), so the existence of Patlabor-2 at all was a bare political victory--and a very brief one. The team begins (and remains) assigned off to a hangar as far away from Tokyo population (out on an island in the bay) as feasibly possible, and they're always struggling against doing their jobs and being decommed _for_ doing their jobs. (This also means the team isn't an elite sort of force. Politically everyone knows that the whole concept is likely to be scrapped asap, so disavowables from the police force are assigned out there, partly to help generate political excuses for tossing the whole idea. Think _Irresponsible Captain Tyler_, but somewhat less rowdy and more realistic.)
The miniseries has no particular underlying plot that I recall (though the two-parter at the end about a military coup hints toward where the writers originally thought about going); and the main series more-or-less reboots from scratch. The tone and execution are much the same, though, and the first eps are still worth watching (if you're into a mix of serious concepts and goofy behavior--not unheard-of in anime, oro?
) So if you can find a collection of the original series, you might consider getting that first as a test for whether you think you'll like the main series.
The main series also doesn't _exactly_ have an underlying main story going on; but over time there's a recurrent plot that crops up on occasion, featuring a rogue military developer trying to set up super-combat robots specifically to sell on the free market (i.e. to criminal organizations and rogue states who can't afford the development costs--other nations are doing this, too)--and naturally he targets the Patlabor groups for testing purposes. Otherwise, one of the charms (or annoyances) of the series is that you can never be sure just what kind of ep you're going to watch when you tune in.
(Oh--there's a second miniseries, too, but it's in continuity, and the quality is the same overall.)
The first Patlabor movie happens more-or-less in continuity, and takes place between the first and second seasons (as I recall). The second Patlabor movie happens after the second season (only two seasons, I _think_. Maybe three.) Not sure when the second miniseries happens. The third movie almost has nothing at all to do with the Patlabor-2 squad, mainly focusing on a popular secondary character (inspector for the mundane police force--he has nothing against Patlabors, btw, that I recall) investigating a series of murders which ends up involving a giant monster (and thus, near the end of the film, the Patlabor-2 team, kind of as cameos!
)
Thus endeth the Patlabor report.
)