IMDb RATING
6.4/10
2.7K
YOUR RATING
A young boy is chosen as the defender of good and must team up with Japan's ancient spirits and creatures of lore to attempt to destroy the forces of evil.A young boy is chosen as the defender of good and must team up with Japan's ancient spirits and creatures of lore to attempt to destroy the forces of evil.A young boy is chosen as the defender of good and must team up with Japan's ancient spirits and creatures of lore to attempt to destroy the forces of evil.
- Awards
- 3 wins & 1 nomination
Ryunosuke Kamiki
- Tadashi Ino
- (as Ryuunosuke Kamiki)
Seiko Iwaidô
- Kawahime, the River Princess
- (as Mai Takahashi)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe film contains several direct references and homages to the work of Shigeru Mizuki, the manga artist who is generally credited with bringing the tradition of yokai tales into the modern day via the comic-book medium. The young hero researches yokai by traveling to Mizuki's birthplace of Sakaiminato and visiting the museum dedicated to his work there; the actual museum, and its bronze statues of his most famous characters, including GeGeGe no Kitaro, are shown in the film. Later in the plot, when the yokai Ittan Momen shows reluctance to fight, another scolds it by saying "You're always really brave in those comics with Kitaro!"
- Quotes
Kawahime, the River Princess: People live in ignorance. Constantly turning a blind eye. Those that let go of their past, have no future.
- ConnectionsFollowed by The Great Yokai War: Guardians (2021)
Featured review
Interesting Movie
It's not very often I run across a movie that deals with parts of Japanese culture, especially yokai ( translated as " spirit " or " demon " ) .
After watching this, I am of the strong opinion this should have been an anime, not a real life movie.
The limited budget was very apparent in the CG effects used. It just looks cartoony. The costumes of the real life actors were not very well done either.
Set design was all over the place. Ranging from good, to cheap, to cartoon ( when rendered in CG ).
The acting I can not comment on, since I have the dubbed American version. The dub acting, on the other hand, was bad. The emotions were not effectively relayed.
The dub syncing is literally the worse I have ever seen in ANY dubbed movie, from ANY time period. " Martial arts " movies I have watched from the 70's have better voice syncing than this movie made only a few years ago! You can clearly see characters there, not moving their mouths, as dub dialog is spoken.
Also hearing about 50% of the movie, filled with the same " fearful screams " of the main character, gets real annoying, real quick!
Camera control is alright, though continuity issues pop up.
A good example is the main character and the grandfather character are walking along a street talking. In mid conversation it jump cuts to them sitting a bridge, still talking like nothing happened.
Speaking of continuity, there are quite a few scenes that seem like they were cut short, or major chunks were removed.
A good example of this is " grandfather's " six English word long song ( Ode to Azuki Bean ) . That shot just randomly appears, for no reason in between 2 other scenes.
I have been interested in yokai lore for quite some time, and have studied the subject on my own. It may seem like nit picking, but the way yokai are portrayed in this film is VERY inaccurate. Most of them are cast as " just silly creatures ", though quite a few I recognized in the group shots, are in fact quite violent by nature.
The worst part of this movie is the ending. No were in this movie they set up for the resolution to happen the way it does. It just happens, as a huge, unexplained anti-climaxed plot hole.
After watching this, I am of the strong opinion this should have been an anime, not a real life movie.
The limited budget was very apparent in the CG effects used. It just looks cartoony. The costumes of the real life actors were not very well done either.
Set design was all over the place. Ranging from good, to cheap, to cartoon ( when rendered in CG ).
The acting I can not comment on, since I have the dubbed American version. The dub acting, on the other hand, was bad. The emotions were not effectively relayed.
The dub syncing is literally the worse I have ever seen in ANY dubbed movie, from ANY time period. " Martial arts " movies I have watched from the 70's have better voice syncing than this movie made only a few years ago! You can clearly see characters there, not moving their mouths, as dub dialog is spoken.
Also hearing about 50% of the movie, filled with the same " fearful screams " of the main character, gets real annoying, real quick!
Camera control is alright, though continuity issues pop up.
A good example is the main character and the grandfather character are walking along a street talking. In mid conversation it jump cuts to them sitting a bridge, still talking like nothing happened.
Speaking of continuity, there are quite a few scenes that seem like they were cut short, or major chunks were removed.
A good example of this is " grandfather's " six English word long song ( Ode to Azuki Bean ) . That shot just randomly appears, for no reason in between 2 other scenes.
I have been interested in yokai lore for quite some time, and have studied the subject on my own. It may seem like nit picking, but the way yokai are portrayed in this film is VERY inaccurate. Most of them are cast as " just silly creatures ", though quite a few I recognized in the group shots, are in fact quite violent by nature.
The worst part of this movie is the ending. No were in this movie they set up for the resolution to happen the way it does. It just happens, as a huge, unexplained anti-climaxed plot hole.
helpful•10
- rls0812
- Sep 5, 2011
Details
Box office
- Budget
- ¥1,300,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $15,787,492
- Runtime2 hours 4 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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