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REVIEW: Yatterman (live action movie)




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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15552
PostPosted: Sat Feb 07, 2009 3:09 pm Reply with quote
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Making a live action movie of Yatterman is a lot like making a live-action Scooby Doo (and we all know how that turned out).


I heard those don't actually suck, just the LA Garfield and Chipmunks stuff.

Quote:
Miike, seeming to realize that he's losing us, tosses in a few moments of self-referential humor (I particularly enjoyed the team's dramatic pose on their mobile dog mecha Yatter-wan as it speeds across the ocean... for days) and shock-silliness. It's those little touches that make the film almost worthwhile.


Miike's, unfortunately, not always reliable with narratives. He's more of a character motivation kind of guy than a story motivation kind of guy.

Quote:
The humor is so crude, though (there's a really surprising amount of really obvious phallic symbolism) that I can't imagine most parents would feel too comfortable taking their kids to see it.


Well, they seem to be fine with Cutey Honey, so I guess Yatterman should do alright.
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R.G.



Joined: 16 Nov 2003
Posts: 687
PostPosted: Sat Feb 07, 2009 5:32 pm Reply with quote
It could have been worse.


It could have been done Robot Chicken style.
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Andrew Cunningham



Joined: 01 Feb 2006
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Location: Seattle
PostPosted: Sat Feb 07, 2009 6:56 pm Reply with quote
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The result reminds us of other similarly ambitious projects that have also been unsuccessful: Yatterman is as removed from reality as Speed Racer and as dopey as Cutey Honey, and in live action form both are significant barriers to enjoyment.


Since both Speed Racer and Cutey Honey were unbelievably awesome from beginning to end, I suspect I will enjoy the shit out of Yatterman.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 07, 2009 7:30 pm Reply with quote
Andrew Cunningham wrote:

Since both Speed Racer and Cutey Honey were unbelievably awesome from beginning to end, I suspect I will enjoy the shit out of Yatterman.


I sort of grudgingly enjoyed Speed Racer (and appreciate it more now that I've got the Bluray version) but Cutey Honey was torture. 2 hours of some chick mugging right into the camera. Yeesh.
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Andrew Cunningham



Joined: 01 Feb 2006
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 07, 2009 8:00 pm Reply with quote
Zac wrote:
I sort of grudgingly enjoyed Speed Racer (and appreciate it more now that I've got the Bluray version) but Cutey Honey was torture. 2 hours of some chick mugging right into the camera. Yeesh.


I'll grant you Speed Racer was significantly better than Cutey Honey, and the lead performance was singularly grating. But I'd also argue that stuff doesn't work in anime either.

I do appreciate the comparisons in the review - it makes it easy to see how my mileage will vary. But it definitely doesn't sound like it lives up to Miike's work on The Great Youkai War.
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 1:03 am Reply with quote
Speed Racer would have been better if it had speed and racing. Razz As for Cutey Honey, I also posted a review.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 2:57 am Reply with quote
GATSU wrote:
Quote:
Making a live action movie of Yatterman is a lot like making a live-action Scooby Doo (and we all know how that turned out).


I heard those don't actually suck,


Yeah, it made a lot of introverts fall in love with Linda Cardellini. Laughing
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fuuma_monou



Joined: 26 Dec 2005
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Location: Quezon City, Philippines
PostPosted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 7:06 am Reply with quote
GATSU wrote:
Quote:
Making a live action movie of Yatterman is a lot like making a live-action Scooby Doo (and we all know how that turned out).


I heard those don't actually suck, just the LA Garfield and Chipmunks stuff.


Scooby Doo without Don Messick's voice just doesn't work for me, animated or live-action. Matthew Lillard as Shaggy was pretty good, though.
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Ari-chan



Joined: 05 Feb 2005
Posts: 215
Location: Florida
PostPosted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 9:44 pm Reply with quote
GATSU wrote:
Quote:
Making a live action movie of Yatterman is a lot like making a live-action Scooby Doo (and we all know how that turned out).


I heard those don't actually suck, just the LA Garfield and Chipmunks stuff.


I actually liked the LA Scooby Doo movies. I especially appreciate the treatment of Scrappy Doo in the first one. LA Garfield wasn't horrible either, just rather.... eh, at least there were cute animals. The LA Chipmukes movie can rot in hell though. It's punishment being mostly for it's terrible music.

I was actually looking forward to seeing LA Yatterman. I probably still will since even if I'm older than 10, I still remember enjoying the series.
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mrsatan



Joined: 06 Jul 2005
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 4:42 pm Reply with quote
GATSU wrote:
As for Cutey Honey, I also posted a review.


You have the Re:Cutey Honey cast listed there.
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 5:20 pm Reply with quote
satan: Yeah, that was someone else's lay-out.
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Empathy



Joined: 12 Oct 2007
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Location: San Diego
PostPosted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 9:20 am Reply with quote
I was only going to watch this for Sho, but now I'm mildly interested Smile
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nobinobita



Joined: 07 Mar 2006
Posts: 75
PostPosted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 4:13 pm Reply with quote
For anyone that's interested in another take on Miike's Yatterman, here's a good review from twitch:

http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/yatterman-review/
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 11:31 pm Reply with quote
Saw the L.A. screening, and Justin's review seems about right. [I did dig the music numbers, however, but only because they gave me a much-needed break from the slow pacing of the rest of the flick.] Though I'd say Yatterman is like Speed Racer combined with every sentai show ever made topped with a dash of Kick-Ass, while hopped up on 'shrooms. Zebraman's a better homage, and Casshern's the only good LA Tatsunoko film, IMHO. [Plus, it'll help MB out.] I don't think this thing would do that well here on home video, outside of the Miike fanbase, but the audience for it was laughing more than I would've expected, so who knows?
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