Review of Dororo (2007) by Tina . — 30 Sep 2009

I do not follow Anime and but can say I am a passing fan. Some are great but I believe most sacrifice story for effect. I did find out more about Dororo when I found out about the movie. And it does sound like an interesting story. So, here comes this movie. SPOILER ALERT. And here comes the interesting part, the little boy is now a younger adult woman and the protagonist is also younger. So, naturally, I expected them to couple up. To my surprise and the betterment of the movie, they don?t. In fact, the girl, who is the great Kou Shibi-something, acts the role as a young boy ? forget about biology. And Satoshi-er something acts as the whether old man. So, the marketing stab does its best to be neutral. END SPOILER.

The movie is a fun romp. It takes the jolly elements of those older monster action movies (think pre-power ranger type) with the rubber monsters and scales up. Some are still in that vain, others are more polished. All of it is slightly camp, but much of it with adult themes. And the story behind it is classic martial arts. The actors are good. Kou is both annoying and endearing, which is the point. Satoshi is both stoic and empathetic. And it keeps it interesting throughout the journey. I hope they do make more as it is alluded to.