Natsu, Lucy and the rest of the Fairy Tail guild are tasked with recovering the titular magical staff before it can be used for a deadly summoning ritual. FAIRY TAIL: DRAGON CRY is just another one of your average shonen anime flicks, the kind where the real stakes are very, very low unless it is a beefed up series finale, and that's okay. It offers up all of the standard overblown action, goofy comedy, and sexy fan service a budding otaku could want and keep them majorly entertained. As someone with no experience with reading or watching the popular anime creation created by Hiro Mashima, only plunging quite hard back when he did Rave Master, I was able to understand everyone's special magical gifts and have a pleasant blast seeing them unfold in bombastic duels of wizardry. But I do have to admit that I was rolling my eyes at several points in the work. The biggest issue against the picture is, well, its straightforward anime film conventions. I know I was giving the movie a pass for its well-worn design but my critical mind can only suspend so much. All of the cliches you expect in these kind of films are here, from the taunting mid-bosses to the power of friendship to the close romantic calls to the drawn-out death of a major character that's obviously a fake-out. Also not helping in its favor is that a much better handling of a shonen anime film, complete with finer storytelling and a deliciously rich animated environment, came earlier in the year with ONE PIECE FILM: GOLD. And finally, I just absolutely loathed the starter antagonist. The first half of the film tries to build up this dastardly mustachioed villain and his horrific power of mind control but he's a charisma-less pushover that will have you begging for the real baddie to please stand up sooner than later. Though I'm satisfied to enjoy the film decently enough, I will say that FAIRY TAIL: DRAGON CRY did bequeath what is to be one of the best/worst movie theater experiences this year. The surprisingly populated crowd was filled with anime junkies and cosplayers, all of whom were squealing and shouting "Kawaii!" or "Kiss!" during the heartwarming parts and marking the hell out when one of the heroes bust out their most powerful attacks. They were also the only ones that can decipher the film's stinger, which caused me to just scratch my head and shrug while they were delightfully shocked. I rolled my eyes several times at this ecstatically gullible fandom yet it was a welcoming reminder of my past devotion to the animated exports of Japan and the sheer raw excitement it can generate when hanging out with other likeminded fans.
FINAL REVIEW: 3 / 5
No comments:
Post a Comment