Normally I don’t care about or understand the Pokemon craze. But this bit of news does give me the opportunity to mention I was almost trampled a couple of years ago at Nintendo’s E3 Pokemon exhibit. They were giving away some Pikachu key chains and the crowd went NUTS. Anyhoo, the folks at Viz Media have a a new Pokemon movie coming out – In Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai.
In Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai, young hero Ash may think he’s seen everything when it comes to Pokémon, but is he ready to face the mysterious Darkrai in his latest awesome adventure? While touring Alamos Town – home of the Space-Time Tower – with the beautiful Alice, Ash and his friends discover that the town’s special garden has been decimated! Baron Alberto, a dashing but arrogant fellow, immediately blames the destruction on Darkrai. As if it just overheard the accusation, Darkrai appears and confronts our heroes! Who is Darkrai? Is it a friend… or an enemy in disguise? And as a battle between Legendary Pokémon Dialga and Palkia rages directly above Alamos Town, and threatens to tear a hole in the space-time continuum, will Ash and his friends survive this showdown and learn Darkrai’s true nature?
Let’s be clear on this – I have never seen any of the Speed Racer anime´ nor have I seen any of the manga, and am barely aware of vintage merchandizing. Now that we have that out of the way, I have to say that, as a Speed Racer virgin, the brightly-colored film by the Wachowski Brothers is a lot of fun.
Emile Hirsch rocks as the title character, a boy in the process of becoming a man – and a believer in fair play when it appears that there hasn’t been any in professional racer since, well, ever. His rock solid family [John Goodman as Pops Racer, Susan Sarandon as Mom Racer and Paulie Litt as younger brother Spritel], pet chimp, Chim Chim and girlfriend Trixie [a very anime´ looking Christina Ricci] give him the courage to turn down an offer to sign with the top team – at which point he learns of the real nature of his beloved sport. From there it’s only a matter of winning a couple of races [against an entire field of cheaters] and bringing down the Royalton Racing Team [the team he turned down]. Nothing to it – not!
While there’s not a lot of plot to Speed Racer, there’s almost always lots going on as Speed – with the help of the mysterious Racer X [sure it’s not hard to make the connection between him and Speed’s older brother, who is supposed to have died, but it’s a convention – just like nobody recognizing Superman behind Clark Kent’s specs. Deal with it and move on!]. The races are beautifully staged exercises in gladiatorial driving; the fight sequences really capturing the odd, freeze-frame style of anime´ and manga; the cast is clearly having more fun than should be legal, and the whole thing just feels good. The only real flaw in the film is that it’s just a wee bit too talky – but that hardly matters.
For a movie with a candy-colored world [the bright, shiny color of fresh hard candy – not the pastels of rock candy], the emphasis is on the kind of grounding that a good family provides and the kind of justice that is most deserved – the justice of the untouchable evil being brought down by one man with a mission. This may be my first encounter with Speed Racer but it won’t be my last.
Final Grade: A
Tags:
Anime´,
Christina Ricci,
Emile Hirsch,
John Goodman,
Manga,
Matthew Fox,
Speed Racer,
Susan Sarandon,
Warner Bros.
Pucca is an animated series about a girl with super strength who loves a ninja with super speed. Sounds pretty basic, doesn’t it? But add a group of renegade ninjas who will stop nothing to destroy Pucca’s One True Love and you get an action-packed, beautifully designed series. These two DVDs are great fun for all ages.
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Tags:
Animation,
ELAN-Nominated,
Humor
I fancy myself an avid reader, but I’m hardly “literate.” I generally read magazines and text books but rarely do I sit down and attempt to read something like Shakespeare for fun. I need it dumbed down and get rid of all thos, thous, etc. Speak English man! Maybe CliffNotes new series of Manga inspired Shakes is what I need. From what I’ve seen the art looks beautiful. I’m in the process of setting up an interview with the author of the books and will be reading them in the next few days. In the meantime check out the press release. I’m actually looking forward to getting these in my grubby little hands. Throwing on a Beret, sip some Expresso and read these. I’ll be part of the literati in no time.
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John Woo’s (Mission: Impossible II, Face/Off) first Anime production, Appleseed: Ex Machina, directed by Shinji Aramaki (Appleseed, Bubblegum Crisis) on DVD and Blu-Ray Disc. Based on the popular science fiction manga from renowned creator Shirow Masamune (Ghost in the Shell), Appleseed: Ex Machina follows partners and lovers, Deunan and Briareos.
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Tags:
Animation,
Anime,
Blu-Ray,
Sci-Fi,
Warner Home Video
Tonight the Independent Film Channel premieres the anime´ series Speed Grapher [11 p.m. EST] – a series that features an ex-war photographer who stumbles onto the story of the century – a kind of Hellfire Club for the rich and powerful of Japan.
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Tags:
Anime´,
Hellfire Club,
Sexy,
Speed Grapher
Anime classic "Akira" is getting the live-action treatment courtesy of Leonardo DiCaprio and Warner Bros. Ruairi Robinson has been hired to direct what would ideally be a two-part epic. Gary Whitta is writing the adaptation. "Akira" originated in 1988 as a manga and then as an animated film. The story was set in a neon-lit futuristic post-nuclear war "New Tokyo" in 2019 where a teen biker gang member is subjected to a government experiment which unleashes his latent powers.
Tags:
Akira,
Leonardo DiCaprio
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