Cutie Honey

Let's put it clear from the beginning, the film is an exercise in style, and the style is anime. If you like anime, this is THE FILM you'd love to see, characters, timing, acting, dialog, cameras, lights, sound...An fan's dream, a film made by a man who loves anime for all the people who love anime. When I found that Anno, the man who made Neon Genesis Evangelion, was in this project, I thought it would be great. When I finally saw it, I found it was better, I kept a smile all time long. If you don't like it, well, try something else. If you don't like blues, you'd protest about repetitive riffs and metrics, long guitar solos and so on. Each kind of art has its codes, and if you share them you understand and appreciate it. For me, this is a masterpiece of live action anime.

Taking its cue from similar movies like 'Charlie's Angels' and 'Austin Powers', Anno Hideaki's 'Cutie Honey' is a mixed bag of zany humor, outlandish action, campy acting and psychedelic animation. Based on the cult anime and manga series by iconic Japanese Manga writer Nagai Go, the movie begins with a crowd-pleasing opening sequence that really captures the essence and feel of the 1973 anime cartoon. However, the rest of the movie fails to match up with the awesome first fifteen minutes of the feature.

Sato Eriko is certainly pleasing to the eyes and is absolutely picture perfect as Kisaragi Honey/Cutie Honey, however her constant childlike innocence and carefree attitude becomes somewhat grating during the course of the film. Ichikawa Mikako is also good as Aki Natsuko but unfortunately she too is hampered by the limitations of her character's simplistic and cartoonish characterization.

The action is surprisingly top notch and the so-called 'Honey-mation' (live action footage mixed in with cartoon animation) sequences are really inventive and recalls the flawed movie 'Tank Girl' in some instances.

The movie really bogs down towards the middle with a series of candid scenes of Sato Eriko in a variety of disguises. It was totally unnecessary and was probably done to fulfill the 'Cosplay' (Costume Play) fetishes and fantasies of its target audience.

The movie really gets weird and offbeat when Oikawa Mitsuhiro as Black Claw breaks out in a song and dance number towards the end of the movie for no apparent reason. Perhaps this might have been appropriate in a spoof movie like 'Team America: World Police' but seems totally out-of-place here. In fact Koda Kumi's cameo earlier in film screamed out blatant 'product placement' as she also sings most of the songs for the film soundtrack.

The ending was the biggest disappoint. As with Anno's 'Evangelion' finale, the promise of an exciting, slam-bang finale are quickly dashed and instead we are treated to metaphysical ramblings and pretentious lecturing about the 'meaning of love' and how 'Sister Jill' should embrace love and evolve to the next level.

Being a fan of the 1973 anime series, I really wanted to like 'Cutie Honey' more. It's not a bad film and is at times quite enjoyable. However, I just wish that the movie followed through with the promising beginning opening few minutes and delivered something a bit more rousing and original.

There is simply no way to start this review without stating one simple fact. Cutie Honey absolutely, positively should not work as a movie on any kind of level. It has all the ingredients of celluloid disaster stamped across its hot pink exterior. Let's run off the checklist shall we? Live action version of a popular cartoon? Check. A model turned actress cast in the lead role? Check. Heavy usage of cheap looking CG throughout? Check. Outrageous levels of camp? Check.Acting that belongs in a Loony Toons cartoon? Check.

Yes, Cutie Honey should not work, but much to my surprise and resulting delight, it does on almost every level. Based on ageing anime and manga property that dates back to the 1970's, the movie tells the ludicrous tale of Honey Kisaragi, an almost unbearably cute office worker who leads a double life as the titular spandex clad Cutie Honey, self proclaimed 'warrior of love' and arch nemesis of the evil Panther Claw gang.

Opening with a bizarre sequence that sees Honey sprinting through the streets clad only in her underwear, a bin liner and scoffing Onigiri before leaping into battle against a strangely androgynous warrior in golden armour, the movie starts as it means to go on, namely in as silly a manner as possible. The movie is pure parody from start to finish and was clearly never intended as a straight piece in any way, shape or form. Everything from the costume and set design, through to the special effects and carefully studied but nevertheless broad performances work together surprisingly well. Indeed it is the performances that truly elevate the movie way beyond its early promise of being a big budget Power Rangers knockoff.

The lead trio of Eriko Sato (who I first saw in the TV version of Densha Otoko), Mikako Ichikawa and Jun Murakami as Honey, Detective Natsuko and shady photojournalist Seiji respectively deserve the biggest credit here which is fortunate as they have the lion's share of the screen time.

Sato's performance in particular comes as a surprise considering her relatively short acting career at this point. While the somewhat two dimensional Honey was never going to be a stretch for most actresses, the characters brainless manner and relentless optimism could easily have ruled her and turned our heroine into an excruciatingly annoying one note joke. Instead Sato turns Honey into a staunch and heroic fighter of evil one minute, and adorably dimwitted office girl the next with a steady through line of heart-warming kindness and optimism that ties the two characters together.

Visually Cutie Honey is something of a treat as well, being one of the closest things you will ever see to a live action anime. It even manages to go so far as including several knowing tips of the hat to its animated forefathers, including characters flying through the air, millions of rockets hurtling toward their targets and backgrounds giving way to speed lines when the action shifts into high gear. Even the cheap looking CG effects fit well within the movie. Since the reality of this film is quite plainly not our own, occasionally plastic looking CG characters or lapses in animation standards are more excusable and in their own way, prove to be as charming as the performances.

Of course not to mention the director of this inspired lunacy would be a crime unto itself. Hideaki Anno once again proves to be possessed of unique insight into the emotions of his characters. Some of the emotional beats the movie strums along to are curiously similar to his most famous (or infamous depending on your point of view) work in Neon Genesis Evangelion, although the tone of Honey is infinitely lighter than that of Evangelion. Anno's direction is confident and his playful, sometimes biting sense of humour is clear for all to see. The movie relentlessly mocks not only anime conventions and stereotypes but its own silliness at the same time, coming to a head in a very entertaining drunken Karaoke session involving our three leads.

Flaws are present though. The narrative, while hardly the movie's driving purpose, could still have been clearer and a little more focused. The Claws themselves make fun, if shallow villains, though they lack substantial motivation. The biggest drawback is the chief villain of Sister Jill, who feels more like a plot point presented as a full stop than a truly fun character in keeping with the spirit of the rest of the film. While the narrative does justify this personality (or lack thereof), it still makes for a staid and lacklustre final confrontation.

Overall though, Cutie Honey is such a relentlessly cheerful movie it is hard not to get swept up by its boundless optimism. As an antidote to the countless dour Hollywood action flicks of the near decade since the release of the first Matrix movie, it serves its purpose admirably, and as a movie guaranteed to put a smile on your face there is none better.

Saw Cutie Honey at the Leeds Film Festival on Saturday... not sure if James Maruyuma had been paying attention until the last half of the movie, because people breaking into song for no particular reason and "metaphysical" (actually psycho-sociological but nevermind) thoughts about love and opening your heart to people are there throughout. The film is 95% very very very silly, with a couple of curveball moments where things get a bit more serious, then right back into silliness and fluffiness again. The film is shot and edited in a very anime-esque way, with extensive use of CG to enhance the stylisation and "cartooniness" that's already quite abundant from the costumes and overacting. In fact, so much effort has been spent making the live action film feel like an animated film that one sometimes wonders why they didn't just animate it ;) The answer is, of course, the super-cuteness of Sato Eriko (though I was actually more partial to Ichikawa Mikako's super-repressed detective character, make of it what you will).

Overall, very very camp and silly fun with a fluffy message about the power of love n' stuff. Not the stuff classics are made of, but worth seeing if the opportunity arises.

And I agree with the other reviewer, i think James totally missed the point! The idea as far as I can tell was to make a live action anime, it was a parody not a serious movie. The way the characters are posed, in particular the journalist, and one scene where a character has a megaphone covering her mouth was a nod to the way animation is shot-ie exaggerated poses, and objects over mouths to save on animation costs.It was supposed to be a large poke of fun at the silliness of magic girl anime series and anime standards, like a live action version of excel saga! I enjoyed it greatly, and laughed the whole way through, i suppose if you have seen the original series its difficult not to get precious about it. But for someone who has watched a lot of anime, it was enjoyable for all the references to other series and the way a master of the medium can poke fun at his own creations.The performances were good and in a way perfectly studied, they all acted like anime characters, which was the point, Anno was having a dig at how simplistic a lot of characters in anime are and in particular female characters. I agree the end with Sister Jill was a bit sappy but again i thought he was trying to make a point about soppy endings to anime series, as well as obviously trying to fill his need to have some comment on human nature in all his productions! All in all a highly enjoyable film!