Yu-Gi-Oh!: El lado oscuro de las dimensiones

As a long time fan of the franchise, I can say with certainty that the movie is good. Not spectacular, but good. By far, this movie has some of the smoothest and most beautifully executed animation of the entire franchise. Those who know this series know that the animation isn't always up to snuff, but this movie clearly got a much bigger budget and it was well served to seeing some very beautiful if even a little over-saturated animation. It's also wonderful that all the original voice actors of the characters represented in the movie made their return. It's a particularly wonderful thing of note considering that many of those voice actors are either retired or have switched focus to other areas and are no longer regularly voice acting on a consistent basis. I also like that 4Kmedia did not edit the movie to the point of being unrecognizable like they did with the original series. It was a very well executed English translation from the original Japanese property. However, if I have any point to criticize, it's that the story was a bit of a jumbled mess. It often felt like it was just jumping around from one thing to another without proper transition. It's likely due to the limited run time of the movie itself, but it often felt as if you looked away for only a few seconds or stepped out of the room for a few minutes that you missed major plot points and would easily get lost. I stayed in place for the length of the movie without leaving the room once, and I still felt like I missed something. That is a big issue for me. If I had been a casual viewer and not a fan of the franchise, I would have been so completely lost. That said, I still felt lost at times, and that's most definitely an issue of pacing. Whatever the case, it's a very good movie that any fan of the franchise will enjoy and those looking to get into the franchise should hold off on watching until they get to know more about the franchise itself. Above all, the ending was very satisfying. The action was lacking and rushed, but it reached an ending worthy of the era of the franchise.

This movie was amazing; especially, when compared to the series. In length it is the equivalent to a 7-part episode, and they would be 7 of the best episodes of the series. It has a very similar feeling to watching the duel with Pegasus or the Egyptian God card duels of the series.

The animation is superb, and though a little bit of CGI/2.5D is used, it is very mild, looks good, and much more clean than is often seen in Pokemon movies.

The beginning is a little slow at times, but the rest of the movie is very well paced with plenty of dueling and plenty of lore. It is a wondrous follow-up to the Duel Monsters series. In a period when many long-awaited sequels and remakes of well-known franchises are failing, this one brings back all the nostalgia and joy of Duel Monsters.

Yeah, don't read too much into the story. At least they tried to somewhat tie into the original series which makes it a lot more bearable than for example Pyramid of Light. They bothered to get all the original voice actors (I watched the Japanese Version with English subtitles) and pretty much nailed the atmosphere of the show (ignoring the new art style). It's also very friendly towards people that didn't bother with the spin-offs, leaving out any gimmicks that came out after 2004 (Synchro, XYZ and so on). And of course the plot rides a lot on nostalgia and fan service, bringing back most of the original cast and connecting directly to some side characters of the original show, which is, in my opinion, not a bad thing.

But honestly, they tried to let the plot sound way more complicated than it actually is. It's not deep, there are plot holes, characters know things they shouldn't, I felt no connection to the newly introduced characters and once you understand what drives the main villain, you get annoyed how complicated he explains his reasons. The movie drags a bit in parts of the first to second act, but the rest is really dynamic and never once I felt bored.

The animations are on point, duels never felt so fluent and honestly were one of the biggest plus points of the movie. But even those are sometimes overshadowed by a new kind of duel that has a gimmick that literally had no impact at all.

All in all I subjectively had a very fun time in an objectively mediocre movie, but for fans of the original show I can definitly recommend it!

A triumphant, big-screen return for Yugi and friends.

This film is fun and exciting for those of us who grew up with the original anime, but new viewers won't be disappointed, either.

The duels themselves are very fun and exciting, and the wonderfully composed music strengthens them even further.

My only complaint is that the film felt a bit too long. For example, there were a couple of scenes that really didn't add anything to the film which could've easily been cut out.

Wonderful animation, a surprisingly good story and the usual rhetoric about the power of friendship make this one a winner. Even if you think you've outgrown this franchise, I still suggest seeing this one. I left the theater feeling energized and joyful.

Recommended.

8/10

Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions was not as bad as I had expected. The strongest point of the film was definitely the visual experience. It was quite stunning to look at with many cool shots and scenes.

However, like the original series, there were plenty of predictable downsides. The duels were repetitive which made the film dull to watch. The storyline itself raised far too many questions and plot holes. Did Sarah give the puzzle pieces away so that they would be away from Diva and so that the pharoah would be ressurrected faster? If so, why give them to Yugi? Why not give them to Kaiba? Why would either of them agree to the tournament?

At least there was a nice progression of setting up mysterious and then answering them later in a satisfying way.