PAN-CHAN'S REVIEWS

Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie




RAMBLING
Right now, when I think "Yu-Gi-Oh Movie", I have this horrible vision of flaming wreckage. This isn't a review. This is a bunch of thoughts, masquerading as paragraphs, masquerading as a review. Kinda like the movie's plot.

The Saturday after it opened, a few friends and I went to go see the Yu-Gi-Oh movie in costume. But I'm not here to talk about the looks on children's faces, or the kid that screamed, "Yugi's a girl!?" I'm here to review the film as best I can, or at least ramble about it for awhile.

The Friday the movie came out, I spent a good portion of the day reading reviews for the film. It got more bad reviews that I can count. Not one critic liked it, and some critics who liked other movies of this caliber, such as the Pokemon and Digimon movies, did not like the Yu-Gi-Oh movie. This made me edgy, but I kept telling myself that it couldn't be that bad.

Yu-Gi-Oh is a great series. I watch it faithfully and enjoy ever minute of it. One of the reasons Yu-Gi-Oh appeals to me is because everything seems to happen for a reason. All the little piece of plot come together to create arcs and an epic storyline. The manga and anime share this trait, which is one of the many reason it became a hit anime series.

Too bad the movie lacked any signs that this trait ever existed.

So, my friends and I went into the theater and sat down. The movie started and the narration began. We looked at each other for a split second before we collapsed laughing at the dialogue.

A part of me that's a diehard Yu-Gi-Oh fan wants to gives the movie a really really good review because it was the Yu-Gi-Oh movie and I love Yu-Gi-Oh. But that part of me is being drowned out my every logical bone in my body. As a huge Yu-Gi-Oh fan who was willing to go to the theatre in costume to see it, it pains me to say that the movie was rather disappointing.

I usually encounter a problem when I write reviews. I find myself wanting to write about everything I liked, and since I usually like a lot, I find it difficult to resist writing about everything. But for the Yu-Gi-Oh movie, I'm having trouble thinking of parts I liked. That's saying a lot.

The movie was basically a series of pointless duel with an ancient Egyptian villain and mummies thrown in for no apparent reason except maybe to fool younger viewers into thinking the movie had a plot. I don't want to recite the "plot" here, because it was that painful.

Kaiba plays the "villain" in this movie. He wants Yugi's title and to defeat his three god cards. He's willing to do anything to beat Yugi. Considering all the time spent in the series convincing us that Kaiba isn't as bad as he seems, I found his part in the movie as an eccentric nutcase (and fighter pilot!) really amusing.

The plot holes boggled my mind. I don't like games where people change the rules halfway through. This film was filled with little in continuities, not just for the card game, but for the characters. For example, to fit in their crazy plot about Anubis, they changed the story of how Yugi put his puzzle together. OK, so the movie is stand alone, but still.

Anubis was a horrible villain. He didn't have much of a role, and barely made any sense. It felt like he was added to the story as an afterthought. The entire battle with him made my friend and I want to bang our heads into the seats in front of us.

I like the duels in the anime. It's well done, and I can watch numerous episodes at a time without getting bored. The storytelling was different in the movie. It was as if the writers were trying too hard to make the card games make sense and were paying more attention to the card game rather than the story being told.

To be honest, the duels (which make up most of this film) were boring. Really, really boring. My friends found it boring, and judging by the row of people snoring in front of us, we weren't the only ones.

It's no lie that this movie was a marketing ploy. This movie doesn't currently exist in Japan. 4Kids Entertainment, which wanted to release a Yu-Gi-Oh movie, had the movie made. It was written by an American team of writers, given a Japanese director, and then (as was quite obvious from the credits) shipped it off to Korea to be animated.

The animation itself wasn't anything great. It was just like episodes of the TV series, just blown up to big screen size where it was easier to see the imperfections and jaggedness of it. I shudder to think how little money was spent on this film.

When I first read a review saying the film was just like an infomercial, I wanted to disagree, but after seeing the movie, I have to say that's exactly what it was. It was three or four episodes of plotless duels put together and put on the big screen to sell cards. This is not what Yu-Gi-Oh is all about. Yes, the anime was made to sell the card game, but it at least has depth and is enjoyable at the same time.

Sadly, many of our favorite characters only got short cameos at the beginning (Mai, Duke, Rex, Marik), while others didn't appear at all (Bakura).

The movie wasn't all bad. Scenes with the supporting cast were entertaining. The movie had some good lines and some really funny moments. It also kept a lot of things that would have normally been cut out of the TV series. For example, they left Pegasus drinking wine and didn't change it to some sort of juice or anything. Not sure why the American writers put them there, but I'm not complaining.

What little plot there was was unexciting. For example, the Shining Blue Eyes White Dragon Card was summoned at least three times. After the second time, one of us whispered, "Wouldn't it be funny if they brought that card back again? It only came with our movie tickets." And sure enough, it was summoned again.

The mummies were amusing. Useless (I'm pretty sure they were there only for the sake of action sequences, and to a lesser extent, humor), but amusing. Yugi, Joey and Tristan had some great moments running around in Yami's "room". Why they were brought there was never explained, but it was such a small plot hole that it's worth overlooking.

The saving grace of this film was Pegasus. He was amusing, and the only character that didn't seem to see the need to end every sentence they spoke with an exclamation mark. He had some of the best lines, the best interaction, and despite his random helicopter, was the greatest part of this movie. So great that I'd venture seeing it again just for him.

That being said, when everyone was escaping Kaiba's imploding dome (the one with the "sealed exits"), my friend who was dressed as Duke, pointed and the collapsing roof of the dome and said, "That's what my brain is doing right now." I couldn't agree more, and if that wasn't enough, the movie got even worse at the ending.

Yugi said clichéd lines about friendship and how Kaiba has money and would never have friends like him. I know it was supposed to be taken seriously, but that line was so cheesy that we broke out laughing.

As the lights came on, the parents began to wake up and the kids filed out, I couldn't help but quote a line from a review that summarized the movie perfectly:

"I sacrificed 90 minutes of my life points to sit through this and nothing I can summon is going to make up for that." - Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone, THEMOVIECHICKS.COM

I worry for those that don't know the series and will think all of Yu-Gi-Oh is like the movie. The series is good. The series is really really good. The movie could be used for canon fodder, but the series is excellent!

Yes, the movie was that lame. Even stand-alones could be better. Heck, 4Kids could have done sooo much better. I hate to say this again, but I'm really disappointed.

Hey, 4Kids, I want a real Yu-Gi-Oh movie next time. I know you're capable of writing much better storylines than this. Next time, concentrate on the plot more than the cards. You know, it might just make you more money.

The younger fans of the show loved the movie, possibly because they don't stop to think about it at all. Alas, that's one thing I hate about getting older. Mind you, I don't think a younger version of me would've loved this movie.

If you're not a Yu-Gi-Oh fan, don't see it. It'll seem as if the characters are talking in an alien language. If you're a huge Yu-Gi-Oh fan, go see it. You'll enjoy it, but you might find yourself laughing when you shouldn't be.

RATING

• 4 out of 10