Lupin III: Prison of the Past

Quick TL;DR: the movie has terrible writing, a boring story and terribly cheap animation. It seems like a waste of potential which does not bring anything new to the table of the illustrious Lupin III franchise.

Now, let's get into the long-form review. I wasn't kidding with that title; this movie is really the worst Lupin III movie I have watched. At least it's comforting to know that the worst it gets is only a 3/10, right?

So let's divulge this movie's string of misses by beginning with one of its' few hits. I have only watched the English dubbed version, as the English VA's always do a superb job conveying the emotions of their respective characters. I don't believe they have messed with the script all that much, unlike in some earlier Lupin appearances. With that in mind, I have no criticism towards the VA's; they did outstanding work with the material that they were given.

This brings me to the second point however; the writing is downright awful, with characters spelling out the literal plot to the audience and sometimes entering the role of a very poor narrator while still being in the picture. Characters will take many actions that do not make any sense within the context of the movie, and I have seriously questioned my sanity throughout this film as I struggled to comprehend the logic behind them.

The story itself doesn't help, as it feels very contrived and coincidental at times. Many plot points seem to just happen "because the character needed to see this/make this realization/just be in this position", taking all the suspense and investment out of the whole ordeal. The movie tries to be unpredictable and striking, but ends up failing into being somewhat directionless and questionable in its logic.

Adding to that, the animation quality is nothing to write home about. Even though it is on par in terms of detail and superficial quality to other modern films, you can clearly see the low budget seeping through with the many un-animated background characters and held frames. The worst example of the latter being when a character took off in a flying suit, with one frame being held for half a minute while being sloppily moved around the screen with some "speed effects" applied to simulate "flying".

I however cannot deny it had some good moments in regards to comedy and a couple good call-backs in its conclusion, which were however overshadowed by the amount of jokes that it simply misses. Honestly, if you want to enjoy this movie to the fullest, watch an Out of Context video on Youtube.

In conclusion; do not watch this movie. Without even mentioning the egregious amount of misplaced sexualizations and modern "technologies" which have become all too common in modern Lupin III, the factors discussed above should deter you from ever watching what is rightfully becoming the forgotten child of modern Lupin III films.

Lupin III and the gang plan on breaking out a famous thief named Finnegan out of a notorious prison. They want the thief so that he can show them where he stashed all his ill-gotten gains. Complications arise when it is revealed that Fujiko has likewise corresponded with several other criminal groups who are trying to break Finnegan out of jail.

The jail is a very unique design and has a creative back story. It used to be a castle but has been now repurposed to be a stone prison complete with secret passages and trap doors. The other criminal groups who try to break Finnegan out are a bunch of fun and colorful characters.

The setting is creative, the characters are fun, the animation, music and voice acting are all good.

However, it does has its fair share of negative qualities. The movie just has a few character decisions down the line that do not add up. One character makes one of the stupidest decisions towards the ending, just for the sake of making a thrilling finale.

There isn't much suspense in the situation. At this point we know Lupin is going to end on top, but the situation should at least be intimidating for him. As Fujiko herself says, "Lupin couldn't even die if you killed him."

It does little to make this stand out from the other Lupin movies. Of the 26 that I've seen, this one falls at spot number 14. So, in general, a middling Lupin adventure.

If Lupin wants to do better, it has to start looking forward. The film's biggest problem is that it is too stuck in the past.