Forum - View topicREVIEW: One Piece Film Red
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jroa
Posts: 546 |
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This was an fairly interesting review, particularly because any anime movie that performs so well at the Japanese box office usually needs to have a degree of general audience appeal.
In other words, it's not only the super hardcore One Piece fans who are busy making Film Red such a success. That helps, sure, but you also have to break outside into the mainstream. I have also heard that it's an excellent movie if you're into the emotional aspect of One Piece. Not so much if you're mainly looking forward to the battles themselves, because apparently that isn't the focus of the film. Which is a fairly bold creative choice, at the end of the day. Personally, I can enjoy a hot-blooded and optimistic shonen fight sequence as much as anyone else, yet I'm still a fundamentally romantic and emotional individual at my core. From that perspective, the movie seems rather suited to my tastes. At the same time, the review does leave me wanting more of a perspective from those who have a greater familiarity with the One Piece characters. Even though the movie is focused on Uta, she still has relationships with the likes of Shanks and Luffy that are, at least thematically, relevant to the people following the main story. It's good to know we still get enough information during the film to establish and understand the necessary emotional connections along the way. Whether the film is "too tragic" or not, that's probably going to be a matter of personal preference. |
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Everlasting Coconut
 Posts: 316 |
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While the movie's plot and twists were pretty easy to predict just by watching the trailer, the execution was solid. Some of the promo material put a lot of emphasis on Uta trying to convince Luffy not to become a pirate, but thankfully, that's not the actual conflict of the movie. It's all about Uta, her suffering, and her daddy issues, and it's all good.
There was a lot of fanservice and cameos that I'm sure made a lot of people happy, and while it got a little distracting at times (spoiler[Katakuri teaming up with Shanks? Um... okay?]), it was never too distracting. Also, don't watch this movie if you're an anime-only viewer and want to remain free from manga spoilers. There are minor spoilers here and there, and one HUGE spoiler near the end of the movie. P.S.: DAMN, Kizaru looks so good in that black and yellow suit. Make it canon in the manga, Oda.
Huh, I'd say people who are more into Fight Piece will be pleased as well. There were a lot of fights and unexpected matchups/teamups, and they were all gorgeously animated. |
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residentgrigo
 Posts: 2579 Location: Germany |
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I might be able to put this 1% above Film Gold but that´s about it when it comes to the Oda-involved films. It's the lowest-rated modern OP film (3.0/5) on the IMDb-esque eiga.com and Japanese fans got it right. This feels like watching an ad and the film is even more disconnected from the manga´s basic identity than usual. Stampede placement in the "anime canon" now seems reasonable. Production values, the song Blacklight (the rest of the 8 Ada songs are fine to mediocre) and a bit more of the Red Hair Pirates than expected save the film from being a total slog. The 3rd act is kinda good actually. My favorites Law, Borsalino and Fujitora also got a decent amount of screen time. The reason Uta goes coo coo for coco pops made more sense than I expected and is the reason my opinion of her went from hatred to ambivalence but why isn´t her power based on imagination and not music? She would make much more sense as an always-on Green Lantern instead of a music ex machina. Google Emerald Twilight. Oh yeah, we need to sell an album so who cares if any of this makes sense.
The best thing to come out of this was the 2nd of the 2.1 movie lead-in episodes. The only good movie tie-in ep so far! Jikes. Film: Red belongs in the lower middle of the very mixed One Piece filmography and will age rapidly once the real Red Hair Pirates arc will play out in the manga. The top 3 films starting with the best are: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island, Dead End Adventure and Film: Z. 5/10 |
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jroa
Posts: 546 |
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If we're going to speak about "Japanese fans" as a collective, then you probably shouldn't be relying on community rating websites. Why? Because they're easy to manipulate with duplicate voting accounts and other tricks. In this case, there was early review bombing by people who were vocally anti-Ado, giving 1.0/5.0 scores to the film with rather weak arguments such as wanting to leave early due to too many songs. I can accept that as someone's opinion, as a general feeling, but it's not a convincing enough reason to justify giving such a low score. By the way, even on eiga.com, the three "pro" reviews listed for this film, from dedicated reviewers who wrote under their real names, at least range from 3.5 to 5.0. Nonetheless, since you seem ready to give so much weight to user ratings on such websites, there are other places where the score is higher. For example: 3.8/5.0 on Filmarks, 3.7/5.0 on Yahoo (which was also initially review bombed, but the average score has settled over time). Personally, I don't blindly trust user ratings even under the best of conditions. I've disliked a number of anime with high ratings on MAL or ANN and, naturally, sometimes the opposite has also been true for me. Furthermore...I wouldn't normally want to mention something like this, but there's an illegal version of the movie going around that is missing like 20 to 30 minutes in the middle. In addition to the legal or ethical issues involved, anyone who watches that is simply not going to get the whole story. Yet another reason to be skeptical about online scores and rankings. Ultimately, there is no perfect substitute for your own direct experience.
I don't agree, especially after reading several interviews with the creators regarding the production process. Of course, there is certainly going to be synergy in a commercial sense, we live under global capitalism after all, but I think the use of music suited their creative needs. Specifically, the staff requested the songs and their lyrics with detailed instructions for the composer and the singer, not the other way around, since it was important to have them reflect the character's own emotional state. Rather than feeling out of place, the music was properly integrated into the storyline. It wasn't, say, a situation where Ado's agent somehow ran up to the top floor of the Toei offices with the goal of selling an already completed album. At the same time, if you didn't like the songs very much, then I can easily imagine that their effectiveness will be dulled. I've listened to the music on my own and it's quite good for my tastes, so I wouldn't have any complaints in that particular area. In any event...everyone will have his or her own personal perspective about what is the manga's basic identity, so there is plenty of room to debate such claims. That said, I can see why someone could have another set of expectations in mind when they watch a One Piece movie. For me, I think there is enough flexibility within the setting of One Piece to showcase different takes on this world and its characters. For instance, the Baron Omatsuri movie may have felt too far removed from One Piece for a lot of people, especially in terms of tone, but it was an interesting experiment. I'm glad they were willing to do it. In a way, Film Red also reflects the desire to do something new, but this time Oda himself was part of the development of the film. In fact, Oda is the one who expressed the intention of focusing on a new character who wouldn't be another "legendary old man" like in most of the previous movies. Without that decision, we wouldn't be talking about any of this. I guess not everyone will be interested in seeing a more music-centric One Piece movie, but I believe that goal isn't in conflict with the core of the property and, one way or another, it seems to be resonating with a lot of folks despite a few criticisms.
Really? Maybe in a purely chronological sense, but to be honest...I thought Stampede was a much more emotionally hollow movie. It surely went out of its way to satisfy the fans with many winks and nods, plus it was clearly a more action-oriented production, but for me the heart of One Piece, so to speak, was lacking from that previous movie.
I'd say the concept could work just fine either way. After all, music is also a medium that artists can use to express their own feelings and the output of their imagination. |
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