Gegege no Kitarô

Coming in on the heels of Miike's "Great Yokai War" there's nothing this Yokai themed film can do but be compared to it. Unfortunately that's a tough hurdle but since Miike couldn't keep all of his adult perversity out of a kid-friendly film maybe the producers thought there was a chance for them with this one.

The art direction is fine and the whole production is decent looking. Unfortunately a few mistakes really pull this movie down. First is the casting of Pop TV star Eiji Wentz for the main role. He seems like a nice guy but brings very little inspiration to the role of Kitaro. Later in the film when he's supposed to be falling in love with the sister, we need the other Yokai to verbally inform us that this has occurred since Wentz is unable to convey the emotion at all. However it's probable that the young teen girls who are fans of his couldn't care less how blandly he acts. It falls to the other actors (and CG animation) to fill in the personality of the film. The film moves along well into the last half where is loses it's pacing and gets boring.

Hard to recommend to anyone but Eiji Wentz fans and those familiar with the Kitaro manga.

This film is based on a manga I haven't seen, but it is still a pretty good, special effects laden, imaginative film. Ostensibly about finding and returning an evil stone that was taken by a young boy's father, who in turn is chased with his high school age sister by an array of interesting, not of this world characters, this film takes you to a lot of places. The good versus evil theme is, of course, prevalent throughout, and the film is recommended more for children from about 10 to 17. The film has flaws, the film is far from perfect, but I think it will keep children entertained without scaring them out of their wits. In that sense, the film is successful.

I saw the "Kitaro Millennium Curse" (2008) before seeing this one, so I have a little different impression of this movie than everyone else.

Gegege no Kitaro is a fun movie that brings Kitaro story to the big screen. The characters are remarkably real, and believable. Usage of CG to show Ittan Momen (Flying cloth) was a nice touch.

The movie was little rough at the edges as it was the first attempt to bring Kitaro into live action movie (This improves a lot on the Millennium Curse). The story tried to tell too much. There's the Yokai kingdom with Oo Tengu as the judge, there's Kitaro's friends Neko Musume, Konaki Jiji, Sunakake Babaa, Nurikabe, and Ittan Momen, and then there's love story between Kitaro and the girl. Things got little bit confusing, and the characters didn't get enough time of the day on each of their parts.

But the movie was fun to watch, and entertaining. I really liked the rendition of Kitaro in this movie. It could have been a real cheese, but it wasn't. The movie is recommended as is its sequel. A nice Yokai movie from Japan.