This is a remake of Nobita's Little Star Wars (1985), in which Nobita and his friends meet some tiny aliens and help them overthrow a dictatorship. I think this version does a decent job of not only retaining but expanding on the strengths of the original. For example, there are even more scenes here focusing on Suneo and how he feels about being dragged into yet another dangerous adventure. The protagonists also get to spend more time with Papi, their most prominent new ally in this story, and learn more about what makes him tick. Furthermore, this version dives into the main plot much more quickly, eliminating much of the setup in the original that ultimately did not end up mattering a whole lot.
Although the remake does not directly address why Doraemon's Big Light (a recurring gadget in the franchise) is not used to resolve the main conflict either, Doraemon does mention at one point that he doesn't have any gadgets on him that can return everyone to their original size, so one can probably assume that the Big Light happened to be under maintenance or was otherwise unusable during the events of the film.
There are a few changes that I felt lukewarm about. The entirely new character of Papi's sister, Piina, seemed like an unnecessary addition that did not affect the story much. I also thought that the voice direction on Papi's flying dog sidekick, Rokoroko, was more effective at getting across his "motor-mouthed" personality in the original. At the same time, I don't think these elements harm the quality of this film substantially.
One other noteworthy edit here is the removal of the many homages to classic movies in the original. Those were fun, but I'm also not especially attached to them, so this was a change that I didn't particularly mind.
For me, the pros and cons of both versions largely even out relative to each other. If I had to pick one though, the remake might actually come out just ahead. The fact that it built upon some of the best qualities of the original was a strong creative decision, I feel.
Although the remake does not directly address why Doraemon's Big Light (a recurring gadget in the franchise) is not used to resolve the main conflict either, Doraemon does mention at one point that he doesn't have any gadgets on him that can return everyone to their original size, so one can probably assume that the Big Light happened to be under maintenance or was otherwise unusable during the events of the film.
There are a few changes that I felt lukewarm about. The entirely new character of Papi's sister, Piina, seemed like an unnecessary addition that did not affect the story much. I also thought that the voice direction on Papi's flying dog sidekick, Rokoroko, was more effective at getting across his "motor-mouthed" personality in the original. At the same time, I don't think these elements harm the quality of this film substantially.
One other noteworthy edit here is the removal of the many homages to classic movies in the original. Those were fun, but I'm also not especially attached to them, so this was a change that I didn't particularly mind.
For me, the pros and cons of both versions largely even out relative to each other. If I had to pick one though, the remake might actually come out just ahead. The fact that it built upon some of the best qualities of the original was a strong creative decision, I feel.
