Tombstone of the Fireflies (2008) User Reviews

A different, and also very good, interpretation

[thewakinghour · 8/10 · 23 January 2010]

Given the unfair, and to my mind rather stupid, review that people now see about this film, I offer my own review.

The live-action version is almost as touching, and fury-inducing, as the animated masterpiece (which I urge everyone to watch, despite the fact I feel an odd sense of dread when I choose to watch it again!) The acting is very fine. It is well-directed and beautifully shot, with a slightly washed-out, almost sepia-like look that adds to but does not distract from the story.

This version of the book has a slightly wider focus, unlike the anime's very tight focus on the brother and sister. It shows how other characters besides the children face the war. The aunt, shown in the anime to be just another simply callous, neglectful character (e.g. the doctor who quickly dismisses Sayaka's dying of malnutrition), is here more than simply neglectful: she is willing to lie and steal from her own niece & nephew, partly out of concern for her own children but largely out of greed.

Two other story lines show other takes on the effects and reactions to the war. One involves a kind and honest schoolmaster and his family, who befriend the orphans. The schoolmaster's honesty goes for naught as he is forced to kill his wife, daughters, and himself for the sake of his "duty to the Emperor." The other follows a cynical young man evading war duties because of asthma, advising the boy to do the same.

I'm afraid the movie is just as bleak, but also beautiful. It also ends on a note both bleaker and stronger than the anime. It is far less sentimental* and just as clear an indictment of the mindset that war produces.

I rather wish it had been a three- or four- part TV mini-series, since many of its episodes go by too quickly for me, but it is definitely worth watching.

*Sentimental, in the case of the animated "Hotaru no Haka" is very great praise.

Sad, But Not As Sad As The Animation.

[DarkSpotOn · 6/10 · 4 July 2023]

There's much more details in the animation... From the Navi American Troops actually bombing Japan, to the brother bringing his little sister to the doctor... In the original, the little girl gets sick, and you can feel the struggle. Here, she dies from not wanting to eat, which just isn't as impactful.

I can say that the acting is okay, and the story is fine i liked the film it was alright, but it's no where near as good as the original Grave of the Fireflies, that truly made me cry for 10+ Minutes. This didn't because we just didn't have as much development, and it's too similar to the original animated one.

I can recommend you sure go watch this one, but first watch the original, the original is a masterpiece that will break anyone's heart. I'm not saying that this movie is bad, it's just not as impactful as the original. The original hits you like a truck.

I am not saying that this movie won't make you sad or cry, but if you already seen the original, you kinda how what's coming and you are sort of ready for it to hit smack you in the chest.

Watch the 2005 version instead, or the original Anime

[r-n-openshaw · 2/10 · 7 January 2013]

After having seen the 2005 NTV version "Grave of the Fireflies", this one was somewhat of a disappointment.

The storyline had been altered greatly and the beginning and ending had been trimmed and thus losing the poignancy of the movie. The use of modern upbeat songs is inappropriate for the tentative and moving moments. The storyline was less developed and the acting was far from convincing and even wooden at times. I can't understand why they made this version so soon after the NTV version.

If you want to watch this title (I wholly recommend you do), see the 2005 version and the original anime. Both are extremely poignant and deeply moving testaments to those who suffered under similar circumstances.

Tombstone of the Fireflies: Ridiculous rushed remake

[Platypuschow · 3/10 · 2 November 2017]

I cannot figure out for the life of me why just 3yrs since the last live action remake of the 1988 they remade the classic again.

Grave Of The Fireflies is such good literature I firmly believe it should be taught in schools, its a work of art and it's anime was a masterpiece. Ontop of that the 2005 live action was a roaring success and an outstanding piece of cinema despite being a straight to television movie.

This much not needed remake is a compacted version of the tale that had trimmed the beginning and changed the ending altogether.

It all looks so very rushed, incompetently made, amateurish performances (Which is unforgivable for something like this) and the changes outright killed it.

I'm a huge fan of Grave Of The Fireflies but make no mistake this isn't it.

Watch the 1988 anime or the 2005 live action and forget about this pathetic excuse for storytelling.

The Good:

It's Grave Of The Fireflies.....kinda

The Bad:

Compacted story

Much of the story has been changed altogether

They changed the ending!

Poor performances

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Mass graves can be respectful to, right?

Not so good adaption of a novel that was turned into a classic of world cinema 20 years earlier

[dbborroughs · 3/10 · 26 April 2009]

Live action version (or is that revision?) of a novel that was turned into one of the greatest animated films (and possibly any sort of film) ever made. The original is one of the most heartbreaking touching films I've ever seen. the original is a masterpiece. This new version is considerably less.

The film is set in Japan in the closing days of the Second World War where a teenage boy and his his young sister must navigate the war ravaged country after their mother is killed in a bombing raid and their father is off fighting the war. Its based on a semi autobiographical novel by Akiyuki Nosaka.

The thought of a live action version of the classic story seemed to me to be a natural idea. Unfortunately hampered by what seems to be a limited budget and rewriting (or perhaps its too close to the novel?) of the story this version is a major misfire.

A huge problem with the film is that it is largely set bound there is no sense of being really in a bombed out Japan. We never really go many places that give us a sense of a country being bombed, much less fire bombed (the film is set in Kobe after the fire bombing but it seems like its not a city, town or village nor anything that was fire bombed). Much of the story takes place in and a round the country home of a woman the pair goes to stay with on the instructions of their dead mother. What was a small human story told on a large canvas is now a small human story told on a small one. It all feels like sets with the few scenes of devastation obvious matte paintings. It might have worked had the film not felt like a TV movie of the week, but it never really comes off. There simply is no sense of a war being raged anywhere except in the most fleeting of moments.

It doesn't help that the lead actor isn't very good. He seems too rigid and with of his actions being thought out or told to him. Its a complete change from the boy we see in the "making of" documentary on the DVD. Watch his reaction when he is told his mother has died. there is not life in what he does just motion by rote.

I have to point out that I don't really know the source novel only the animated film that was made from it. My reaction to this film is tied to my feelings for the earlier film. My understanding is that the earlier film is close to the book, with only the final image deviating from the novel. To that end its probably not really fair to complain about changes to the story, but I'm going to do so in a limited way. Much of the original story seems to have been jettisoned. Most of the scenes that I remember from the original are gone. However most serious is the change to the ending...its neither touching nor crushing....in its twisted sort of way its happy...but happy in the wrong sort of way...where the original was an end to the pain, this is something else entirely.

I wouldn't care if the film worked on its own terms but it doesn't, I've looked at the film two and a half times now and even watching it for itself the film doesn't amount to much because of its lack of scope and sense of having been done better before (and I don't mean the earlier film since this film feels nothing like the animated film, which is good because its easy to divorce yourself from the earlier tale and take it for itself on a second viewing. But the problem is that in revising the story and making it its own creation they've made it like so many other war is hell for civilian films that all power is lost and it doesn't stand out at all. How many films does this look like? Too many.

I'm disappointed.

Its a misfire. Its not worth the effort to run down.

Misses the Mark...Watch the 2005 NTV Drama for the Real Thing!

[japonaliya · 3/10 · 29 October 2010]

Short & sweet...

This movie did everything possible to take the pathos out of the story...

If you want to see a live action version that actually for many reasons, was much better than this film, and even better than the original anime vs. see the 2005 NTV drama remake. In this film (2008) there were many scenes that weakened the tale...since the death of Setsuko was the climax of the story, the many scenes of dead children prior, removed some of the horror and sting of her death. Also, in this 2008 remake, they didn't even show her dying, which was very sad and touching in both the anime and NTV vs. The box of droplets had a unique significance. Not only was the candy a comforting link to pre-fire-bomb normalcy, to the better days, that a 4 year old could understand, but it also became her urn to hold her bones.

NOTHING is said about this in the 2008 movie...the container of droplets was just another possession like Setsuko's doll.

The 2005 TV drama had all of this background information and more.It is more believable why the aunt was the way she was, rather than a parody of just a greedy, selfish woman. The character of Seta was more fleshed out in the 2006 drama. He is not just a 14 year old, with bad judgment.

In fact, the opening scenes of the aunt finding the discarded can, opening and symbolically releasing the spirits of Seta and Setsuko in the form of two fireflies, had me weeping just 3 minutes into the film!!!

Watch it and bring two boxes of tissues with you.