The first Detective Conan movie feels like a lengthened episode, but the red thread which connects the whole story makes it a nice addition to the conan universe.
The animation is a bit better than in the series and there are some special effects used, such as explosions, there's also more action than in the most conan episodes, but overall it's not good enough to be worth a movie budget. It can be seen as an experiment, made to see how well recieved a Conan movie would be among fans and another audience.
We have the same character cast as in the beginning of the series, Conan, Ran, Kogoro and some other minor characters, so that leaves little scope for development. The story is a bit too obvious for a movie, I already knew after the first quarter the culprit's motives (there wasn't any need to guess who it was since there was only one person in all who could've done it all) and could predict what's going to happen. The most interesting thing on the story was the additional background about Shinichi and Ran. The development and the idea with the Red String of Fate was a nice addition. The last minutes were well done and the reasoning for Ran choosing the right thing in the end was unexpected and nice. The insert song played at this occasion was slow and melancholic and emphasised the situation.
All of the character's voices are again the same and the used music is also the same as it was in the show, that and all the other things make this movie recognizable for fans. Every Conan movie has its special theme-song which is at the same time the ending for the movie, here it was Happy Birthday by Kyoko, a nice j-pop song. The outro also featured some real life shootage from a city in the night, which overall was fitting to the song. Another mentionable thing is the short scene which comes after the ending, it's a custom for all Conan movies that it resolves something unanswered from the movie in a really funny way.
Overall this movie doesn't offer much new, except for the relationship between Ran and Shinichi. Still, even as a lengthened episode it's worth it and belongs to the better ones in the series. Conan fans should check this one out and for people who haven't seen the tv series so far this movie offers an easy and understandable access.
Personal Conan Rating: 73%
- Stretched episode
- Red String of Fate
- Easy and understandable plot suited for all kinds of auddience