First of all, I'm a huge fan of the series Phoenix Wright. It's really an awesome game and has some unique qualities that in my opinion were totally destroyed in this movie. I don't think the movie HAS to be exactly like the game, but what happened here is that the movie is just awful by itself. If you played the games you will think the movie is terrible, and if you have never played it you will have a generic movie with many plot holes.
Speaking about the plot, it has so many problems that it's hard to decide where to begin from (and without spoilers). Let's just say that the game is very famous because of the plot, especially on the trials, they are awesome. What happens in the movie is that the trials are just lame (and the monitor effects are bullshit that don't add anything). In the first case the attorney will prove that the witness was in the scene of the crime (therefore, he MAY know more than he is telling, or maybe be the killer itself), and then the judge will give a non guilty verdict to the defendant. Hell, it doesn't make sense! It just give an amazing jump to conclude something that he could not (at least yet). And the key case has problems like this one (I will not pinpoint them, just to avoid major spoilers, but the trial scenes will be as terrible as the first case).
Talking about the characters, the only one that I liked was Larry, Phoenix was OK and the others were just terrible. von Karma was the worst. They tried to give some humor to the film by using some Japanese expressions. Hell, why not use the games expressions? The only character that will do it is Phoenix (and it will add to the movie).
The sound was lame too, most of the soundtrack sounded like a generic thriller movie. Near the end they will play one of the games songs on an violin version, and guess what, it sounds great! I just don't understand why not using more of this during the movie, at least it would be less generic. The sound try to create a darker atmosphere that don't match the movie at all, they just couldn't balance the humor parts and the serious parts.
In my opinion, this movie is just a waste of your time. If you like the game, you will hate the film, and if you never played the game, you can find many movies better than this one.
Speaking about the plot, it has so many problems that it's hard to decide where to begin from (and without spoilers). Let's just say that the game is very famous because of the plot, especially on the trials, they are awesome. What happens in the movie is that the trials are just lame (and the monitor effects are bullshit that don't add anything). In the first case the attorney will prove that the witness was in the scene of the crime (therefore, he MAY know more than he is telling, or maybe be the killer itself), and then the judge will give a non guilty verdict to the defendant. Hell, it doesn't make sense! It just give an amazing jump to conclude something that he could not (at least yet). And the key case has problems like this one (I will not pinpoint them, just to avoid major spoilers, but the trial scenes will be as terrible as the first case).
Talking about the characters, the only one that I liked was Larry, Phoenix was OK and the others were just terrible. von Karma was the worst. They tried to give some humor to the film by using some Japanese expressions. Hell, why not use the games expressions? The only character that will do it is Phoenix (and it will add to the movie).
The sound was lame too, most of the soundtrack sounded like a generic thriller movie. Near the end they will play one of the games songs on an violin version, and guess what, it sounds great! I just don't understand why not using more of this during the movie, at least it would be less generic. The sound try to create a darker atmosphere that don't match the movie at all, they just couldn't balance the humor parts and the serious parts.
In my opinion, this movie is just a waste of your time. If you like the game, you will hate the film, and if you never played the game, you can find many movies better than this one.