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DVD Gekijouban Yuugiou: Chouyuugou! Jikuu o koeta kizuna
 Run time: 49 min Rating: 6.5 Genres: Animation | Fantasy Director: Ken’ichi Takeshita Writers: Kazuki Takahashi, Shin Yoshida Stars: Gregory Abbey, Matt Charles, Dan Green |
| Storyline After falling through a time-slip, Yusei Fudo (who has just had his powerful card stolen by a mysterious stranger) meets with Judai Yuki and Yugi Muto, who agree to help Yusei defeat the evil Paradox, who is planning to destroy Pegasus before he can invent Duel Monsters. Written by Anime News Network |
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| Plot Keywords: monster, anime, time travel, 3d in title, 3 dimensional | |
| Details: Country: Japan, USA Release Date: 14 May 2011 (UK) |
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2 comments
Alright, the theatrical release was given an extra 11 minutes, but this time is simply spent recapping both shows and showing us what the 3 lead duellists are capable of. I mean, sure, they could have spent that time coming up with more interesting things, like Yugi and Jaden interacting with their friends, who we NEVER see in this film, by the way, but instead they just waste our time with that… still, at the same time, at least this intro seems like it's attempting to give newcomers an idea of what's what so they don't have to watch the entire series in preparation for the film.
As for the movie itself, it's what I expected it to be: a contrived plot in which the 3 main characters come together to duel some big out-of- nowhere one-shot villain who no one's gonna care too much about while spending little time on actual story and more time promoting the card game. This is especially disappointing as this one throws in 5D's, the only duel monsters-related series that actually focuses more on the plot than the game itself. With the movie only being 49 minutes, though, they could have added so much more. Even the Kinnikuman Nisei movies tried better than this. Maybe it's because I saw the vastly superior Trigun movie in a theatre first, but I was let down by this.
The big duel itself was okay but not what I'd call spectacular and the film barely does a thing to try and justify its right to be shown in 3D. The first movie may have been a long commercial too, but at least that one gave us a good amount of character interaction and attempted to give us a reason to care about what was going on. This one doesn't even try that hard. If it was made for TV, I could forgive it more and just see it as a lengthened filler episode, but no, it was given a theatrical run meaning people actually had to leave home, go all the way to the theatre and PAY to see it!
As for the animations, little was done to improve them from the show's, but that's okay because honestly, I wasn't expecting too much from that. Most movies directly tying in with anime shows tend to do this anyway, so I'm not really taken aback or surprised by this.
For what it's worth, there's some entertainment value to be had but nothing more. If you're a huge fan and want to see this movie, see it for free. I don't care how you do it, just do because it's not worth paying for.
I remember watching the first movie many years ago when it first came out in the theaters. I was a fan of the series when I watched it, and even back then I wasn't too fond of what I had just watched. I didn't hate it, however. It seemed like a bad film that could have been A LOT worse.
Years have gone by and I've slowly lost interest in the series. But throughout my final days as a big Yu-Gi-Oh fan, I heard the news of another movie being made, this one guaranteed to be a lot better than the first. I got excited, but not that much. Regardless, I told myself I would check it out after it was released, just to see how things turned out. The result… a pretty decent flick.
The movie does the audience who is unfamiliar with series a huge favor by showing them what has happened throughout the three different series in the begging of the film. Huge plus, but unfortunately, this part goes on for a little too long… by the 5 minute mark you'll already find yourself overwhelmed with all the information they're throwing at you. Not that you'll really need it, since the film doesn't really delve deep into the past events explained in this portion of the movie. Nonetheless, it's great to be informed of whats happened so far.
Unlike the first film, which was really just an hour long duel, this one takes it's time to put us in a heated situation where our heroes must face-off against the villain to save their world. Another plus, but I'd be lying if I said that it was done really well, because much like the first film, it's not.
So, that brings us to the negatives of the film. I won't try to totally rip this movie to shreds, so I guess I'll just state my main problem with this movie: the dialogue.
Now, before I continue, let me state that I am well aware that the English and Japanese versions of this movie are different in various aspects, and that I'm sure the dialogue on the Japanese version is probably much better than the English version, and seeing as how I've only watched the English version so far, I can only criticize 4Kids for the absurd phrases our characters are forced to say. Now with that that's out of the way…
The dialogue is horrendous. There really are no words for me to describe how bad it is in this movie. Although it can be pretty good at times, 95% of the time you will feel like the voice actors couldn't stop giggling at the atrocious lines they were forced to say. It reaches a level of camp that is probably only matched by Battlefield Earth and Batman & Robin. But that may not be such a bad thing, especially if you feel like having a good laugh throughout the film.
But now lets talk animation. The animation is actually really good at times, and the character designs range from being clever to just outright goofy. There are times throughout the movie were some monsters are animated using some sort of CG program. Much like the tradition animation in this film, the CG effects can be really spectacular at times, but to the film's demise, they tend to shift towards crappy-ness various times.
Before I reach end, I guess I should comment on the center-piece of the film: the big duel. Well, it's a tad bit confusing, especially for someone like me who doesn't remember much about how to play the game, but I got the gist of it.
But to answer the question that you're wondering: is it a good movie? Well, it's pretty decent. It's light years ahead of the first movie, which isn't really much, but I'll give credit where credit is due. The fans of the series will no doubt love it, but others might struggle in taking the movie seriously. If you can endure all the crappy dialogue and occasion animation errors, then odds are you'll like it okay. Or maybe not, you never know.
Personal Score: 6/10 (Pretty Decent)