ManyGentleCuttlefish

This film was astounding, an utter tour de force. Remember the scene in Brazil where Jonathon Pryce's mother gets the plastic surgery that literally stretches her face out? Remember the scene in Invasion of the Body Snatchers where Kevin McCarthy tries desperately to warn humanity, before succeeding? Remember the scene in End of Evangelion where Shinji, completely in despair, masturbates over the comatose body of his fallen comrade? Remember the scene in Walt Disney's The Sword in the Stone where Merlin defeats Madame Mimm in the Wizard's Duel by turning into a germ, thus proving that knowledge and wisdom is the real power? This film will make you remember all of these things and more, bringing back these tender emotions while still making us laugh. This is an utter triumph of the human spirit. Ingar Bergman would be proud. Joss Whedon is green with envy.

The master who directed this beautiful film, Carl Rinsch, has recently been tapped to direct a new Alien film. Judging by this film, his understanding of subtle humor and brilliant musical numbers make him the perfect match for the material. Kudos to him.

Yu mo gwai gui fi di zow.

That would be my one sentence review of this movie and the TV show that it is based on, but I'll go more in depth. This movie is likely to weird out and drive away anyone who's not a fan or a casual viewer of the series. But if you haven't seen anything relating to Keroro Gunso, the plot is not very hard to figure out. The movie assumes that you already know who the characters are, so you may be left in the dark in that respect, but it's about a frog-like alien and his companions saving earth, so you shouldn't be in too much trouble. As a film version of Keroro Gunso, it probably delivers for fans, since it has all of the main characters in it and even a few minor ones. The humor during the film is a bizarre combination of cutesy little kids jokes, pop culture references to Anime and well known films, and occasional stream of dark, apocalyptic creepiness. The deadly serious tone that filled much of it confused me, sort of like if The Simpsons Movie was about Homer dying of cancer. But the grim tone of the x- marks as well as the many forms of the creature Kiruru (filling in the role of boring villain created solely for film version of TV show) inspire some "aw, cool" moments. The voice work is serviceable. Standouts are Takehito Koyasu, who manages to carry the same detached sleaziness that made his character Kururu stand out as the most interesting in the TV show, and Haruna Ikezawa as Momoka, which isn't really surprising for those who've seen the series. As for Gunso himself, Kumiko Watanabe screams and wildly acts, which promises to be a fun portrayal, but as in the TV series, there is some sort of passive blandness to our main character, probably due to his 3-note personality. So, the movie manages to translate the series to the silver screen fairly unchanged. Like the show it is diverting and fun, but goes by so fast and leaves such little impression it's hard to care. Watch it with beer and friends and it can pass the time (assuming you and your friends are alcoholic otakus).

EDIT(2008): Wow, this review is horrible. I did it when I was, like, up at 3:00 in the morning, but that doesn't make it any more tolerable. I still stand by most of these opinions, but JEEZE, my writing style was god-awful. Turn away, folks.

This is a great film. Don't be put off by the long running time. It flies by and is over before you know it. It really leaves you wanting more. Despite the fact that I often call him Decrapio, Leo really shows that he's a very capable, even (gasp) good actor. He really brings out Hughes' personality (whether this movie is an accurate portrayal of Hughes or not, I don't know nor do I care) from his start in the film business with hints of odd behavior to his aviation skills to his descent into paranoia and OCD. I daresay that this is Scorsese's best-looking film. The crash sequence is simultaneously beautiful and deeply disturbing. It gets a little artsy here and there but overall it's breathtaking. It loses points for two things. First, I never felt much sympathy for Hughes for most of the film, except for the end, where his disease overtakes him. I don't know if this is the fault of the character, the script, or the actor, but I felt an odd detachment throughout this film. The other is Cate Blanchett's role as Hepburn. It struck me as more of a parody of her than a portrayal. But this should not stop anyone from watching this film. It's not a classic, but it's still a great and memorable film.