Yamato Takeru

I saw this film in the form of a DVD with the title "Orochi: The Eight Headed Dragon," and found it very entertaining. The comment below about a mix of styles is apropos. To me, it almost seems like different directors and/or art directors were in charge at various times. Approximately the first 1/4 of the film is exquisitely stylish, with beautifully composed shots in which color is delicately harmonized, (an upward shot of the hero Prince Yamato with cherry blossoms in full bloom overhead, a procession of people in pastel-hued costumes zigzagging up a path on a green hill, Prince Yamato at the edge of a brook in the middle of a forest), and the costumes and interiors are of strikingly beautiful design. As the scope and action of the film picks up it seems to take on a garish, cartoon-like look, and becomes more reminiscent of the old Ray Harryhausen monster and magic films. Near the end, it seemed to me to take on a more familiar Japanese monster style, with huge puppets and actors in rubber or plastic suits. The special effects are also an oddly mixed bag. Most of them seemed dated by today's standards, but nevertheless pretty to see. There were, however, two or three morphing effects that were obviously done by CGI.

The stylistic schizophrenia aside, I found the whole thing quite enjoyable. Not being too familiar with the Japanese sword and sorcery genre, I can only take others at their word that this sort of thing has been done better in Japan, but I had a good time seeing it and found more than one point of reference to more familiar genres.

A real mix of styles. Part imitation magic kung fu epic, part Ultraman episode, part samurai drama. The budget is good and there are a number of excellent parts but the whole affair is very uneven and paced poorly. The fight scenes go from pretty good to oddly slow. The hydra is a great Ghidrah-like monster but the final fight takes place on the moon with the hero turning into a giant robot!

Good for a light viewing but there are a few moments when the film has some gory stabbings that are not recommended for young children. The film makers could have left these out.

I have sat through this movie twice and I have concluded that this is one of the worst films I have ever seen. Loosely based on Japanese creation myth, it turns into a very bad version of Transformers. The plot is ridiculous, the acting is laughable and the action is plain silly. This is basically a mish mesh of styles, stolen from various genre. You see traces from Japanese as well as other folklore: Greek "Oedipus", Roman "Romulas an Remus", English "Excalibre", Chinese "Journey to the East" and Godzilla and Transformers. Supposedly set in Ancient Japan, the sets and armor looks like it came out of "Conan the Barbarian".

If this was an anime, it would be bad. As a live action, it's beyond redemption. Avoid at all cost.

This is one of the best sword & sorcery movies I've ever seen, with an unusually high production value for a movie so little discussed and an extremely satisfying ending that is something you'd only see from Japan. Keeps up a very good pacing with a lot of variety in the action scenes, it feels like a lot of inspiration and care went into the making of this movie. Anyone who is into fantasy, sword & sorcery, or Japanese films should absolutely watch this.

A very great movie and easily the biggest disparity I know of between quality and popularity. I have no idea why it's unknown or has a low score here, it doesn't make a scrap of sense to me.

I enjoyed this movie quite a bit. It had some really nice special effects. It was a fun fantasy movie in the same vein as the US Sinbad movies complete with a Dragon. I first saw this as a Japanese import with English subtitles and was glad when it was released here in the US last year on video with English dubbing. The US video title is "Orochi: The Eight Headed Dragon". A fun way to waste a few hours and get lost in your imagination.