Kuroshitsuji

Although I love Japanese movies, I haven't seen a lot of anime (i.e., animated Japanese TV shows and movies). That doesn't mean I am not familiar with it--it just isn't something I watch very often. A few years ago, when my oldest daughter was in high school, she drug me to some anime conventions and got me to watch a few series with her, such as "Death Note", "Azumanga Daioh" and "Sergeant Frog"--but I am certainly no expert on these shows nor the printed version, manga. So, when you read my review, it is NOT coming from a rabid fan--and from what I read, rabid fans of the original TV series and manga "Black Butler" were not especially pleased by this movie version. So, for you lovers of the original "Black Butler", this review might not at all be very helpful--I'm just a guy watching a movie who has no basis for comparing it to the original.

From what I've read and learned from my daughter, the original show featured a 12 year-old boy as the protagonist. However, here he is now 17 and a girl--and, oddly, posing as a boy in order to maintain the family title and estates. Additionally, instead of being set in Victorian times, the movie is set today. I am pretty sure these are not the only changes, but these are a few of the obvious ones.

The back story is that years ago, someone murdered Genpou Shiori's parents. Genpou serves the Queen of the West and is one of her secret force, The Queen's Watchdog. Their job is to serve their queen and ruthlessly pursue anyone who threatens her or her kingdom. As I mentioned above, she is posing as a young man and goes by the title 'Earl'. Assisting the Earl is his/her faithful servant, Sebastian. However, Sebastian is no ordinary fellow...he's a demon who does anything she wants--including killing the Queen's enemies. It seems that when Genpou Shiori's parents died, the boy sold his soul to the Devil in order to gain the services of this demon in order to assist in his quest for revenge--an obvious variation on the old Faustian tales.

The film begins with the pair on a mission to infiltrate a gang involved in the sex slave industry. Not surprisingly, Sebastian uses his amazing powers to wipe out the entire gang...but armed with only a butter knife!! ?? This and several other fight sequences within the film are insane--full of incredible action and which will keep you on the seat of your pants. However, what follows is not all action--in fact, in places the film can be quite talky and full of unnecessarily dull and complicated exposition by the baddies. When the film is in high gear, it is clever and intense. But, when folks start explaining things, then I felt as if I should take a shot of No-Doze! The plot that follows is amazingly cool and disgusting. It seems that there is some serial murderer who has so far made eight ambassadors turn into mummies!! One moment, they seem normal and the next they are bleeding from their orifices and the next they look like beef jerky! Obviously something horrible is afoot and it's up to the Earl and Sebastian (as well as the clumsy yet amazing maid) to save the day.

So is it worth seeing? Well, it's not bad and I mildly enjoyed the film. As I mentioned above, the show did have portions that were just too talky and I also disliked how many times the film backed up to show you what REALLY happened--this seemed like bad writing because it was used so much. But, it's tough not to like Sebastian and the process by which folks became mummified and how is amazingly original. Not a must-see film but worth your time.

Overly modernized in various ways, it only meets expectations when Sebastian takes out the dinner knives.

Now a review by someone who has read the manga and has seem the anime series.

It is a good and exciting movies. most scenes are retrieved from the anime, but have also given a new spin on each scene.the main character is different from the anime and the time-line is in the present.

I have heard some people say, that they find this a bad movie and it gives the anime a bad name. But I disagreed with them. I watch the whole movie and i wasn't disappointment.

I say, judge this movie in your own way and don't listen to others. I did like it and i gonna watch it maybe 2 a 3 times again in the future.

Greetz, Skipper P.s. Sorry for my bad Engish...

I created a whole acc just 4 this review; sebastian looks like his name should be james

pls go watch the anime or the movies or read the manga bc i swear this haunted me for the past few days i cannot make this up

like why does ciels haircut look like it was cut by someone who was submitting their thesis of why lemon juice could be used as lubricant while cutting his hair

if u want a good cackle i recommend u watch this bc it was kinda funny to me idk

absolutely no hate to the actors and actresses bc mey rin carried this entire horrendous movie

i genuinely want to know what the producers were on while making this.

After witnessing the murder of her parents, Shiori Genpo sells her soul to a demon, Sebastian, in return for his help in avenging their deaths. Since only boys can inherit the large company her family owned, she quickly assumes the identity of a boy, Kiyoharu, pretending to be her father's illegitimate son, and grows up in the magnificent grounds of her family estate, aided by her now-butler, Sebastian, a rather clumsy maid and other household help; as Kiyoharu, she takes on the family title of Count and is the head of the family's toy business empire by the age of 17. But she has never given up her search for the killer of her parents. In her other role, as a "guard dog of the Queen" (who rules the Western world), she is investigating a series of mysterious deaths-by-sudden-mummification. With Sebastian's help, she narrows the search to an invitation-only night club, but when she herself receives such an invitation, more than her own life might be on the line....

This is apparently based on a famous manga, also called Black Butler, which has received a number of treatments in the past, but this is the first big-screen, big-budget version. I'm not familiar with the manga, so I can't say whether the film is faithful to its source material, but as a film, it stands up well on its own. There's lots of action (both martial arts style and gun play), some very funny moments and, at the end, a quite reasonable set-up for a sequel. I don't know how well it's done in Japan, but at Montreal's Fantasia Festival, it was definitely a crowd-pleaser!