kluseba "Dororo" is an epic Japanese fantasy movie adapted from a manga series. The story features a male orphan whose body parts have been given to forty-eight demons by his vindictive father and who grows up with an old farmer who puts an artificial body with parts of dead babies together for the poor child. After the death of his adoptive father, the young man without a name, a soul and an own body, crosses the country to get back all parts of his body and discover his identity. To do so, he must find all forty-eight demons and kill them one by one. In a poor village, her crosses a young female thief with a lot of energy. She witnesses his fight with a demon and decides to give up her desperate life to follow the cold and mysterious warrior. Together they cross the country, fight many demons and finally find out that their tragic fates are somewhat connected and lead to a powerful tyrant who fails to unite a shattered Japanese country by taking too many radical decisions.This movie kicks off very promising. The legendary story around the nameless warrior is very creative. The scenes set in the cabin of the old farmer, the stunning Japanese landscapes and the poor village have a somewhat fantastic feeling and great atmosphere. Both characters are introduced very well.After a while, the movie starts to get a little bit disappointing. The two main characters are quite opposite from each other and have no gripping connection between them. Their dialogues always turn around the same things and are interrupted as soon as they may start to get interesting. Only in the end, the character development improves a little bit. Of course, it's normal that a soulless warrior who seems to have the whole world against him won't be very emotional and I didn't expect a passionate love story or anything but the whole thing feels simply too emotionless and the movie contains a couple of lengths from this point of view.The next problem really are the embarrassing slapstick comedy moments. I know that this kind of influence probably comes from the original manga but the gripping story and the slowly built up atmosphere in the beginning really gets some serious cracks at that point. While the female character of Dororo is overall charming and well portrayed, the moments when she seems to be a little bit hyperactive, naive and silly are too present and should have been skipped to make this movie more mature.It's probably due to financial issues that many just turn out to be ridiculous. Instead of being mysterious as they should be, their appearances are quite silly. The special effects of this quite recent flick are definitely mediocre. It reminds me of the aged stop motion techniques that can be witnessed in old Gamera, Gojira and King Kong flicks. This kind of costumes and effects had a certain charm four or five decades ago but they just are somewhat embarrassing today.This all sounds rather negative but the great beginning of the movie and a couple of atmospheric scenes throughout the movie, for example the secret of the ugly worm demons that took the lives of twenty young orphans or the moment when the warrior finds out the truth about his existence, pardon for the mentioned flaws. The ending seems to indicate that at least one sequel might follow this flick and I really would like to see them happen and watch them. I would recommend this movie to any fan of fantastic mangas or Japanese legends who doesn't care too much about too old fashioned special effects and a couple of minor lengths.

Cdickmeyer I really did enjoy this movie, but i got bored at many parts and the subtitles were difficult to read. I understand there are a lot of themes following Japanese culture but it all went over my head as an average American viewer. I really enjoyed the fight scenes but i feel there should have been more. He's supposed to fight 48 demons but we see under 10. The movie seems to awkwardly transition what its primarily following a lot. I felt that the first and second half of the film were two different movies. For how long this title was there should have been many more fight scenes and less dialogue. Lastly, i hate CGI but the way this film used it was pretty good, there were some scenes in which it was downright pathetic, like the red and blue dog. But some scenes it was magnificent, the flower monster was crazy. I liked how crazy and over-the-top the movie was, i really enjoyed most of the fights. But i hated the drawn out scenes and lack of battles. It was just okay to me.

jmaruyama When Shiota Akihiko's SFX heavy, horror fantasy "Dororo" hit theaters in Japan earlier this year it was a major box office hit for Toho studios and resonated well with Japanese audiences young and old alike. Based on manga pioneer Tezuka Osamu's comic series of the same name, the story revolved around the exploits of a truly unique and tragic hero, Hyakkimaru (literally "Hundred Demons") who was cursed from birth and born a living husk (faceless, organ-less, limbless and all but a empty torso). His fate was sealed by his ambitious and tyrannical father Kagemitsu Daigo (portrayed by the great character actor Nakai Kiichi) who offered his unborn son's body to 48 demons in exchange for the power to dominate and conquer Japan (during the warring states period). Saved from death by his kind mother (Harada Mieko), he was left floating along a desolate river bank only to be found by a kindly shaman/inventor (Harada Yoshio), who "rebuilt" him into the semblance of a normal child a la Pinnochio (his body, limbs and internal organs were replaced by artificial tissue fashioned from the remains of fallen dead). In time the young Hyakkimaru, learned to control his new body and began training under the shaman to become a living weapon (being artificial, he was impervious to pain and death. He was later outfitted with a "blessed" sword (bearing sacred Sanskrit text) which enabled him to slay demons with its blade. Upon the death of the kindly mystic, Hyakkimaru learned about his true origins and sought out the 48 demons who were each in possession of a part of his true body. With each defeat of a demon, he was able to regain another part of his humanity. He was aided in his struggles by an orphaned teen whose parents were killed by Kagemitsu and his growing legions. While born a girl, she was reared as a boy in disguise. Having no name of her own, she adopted Hyakkimaru's "Dororo" nickname (a term used to refer to bastard demonic offspring). "Dororo" is a pure popcorn movie fantasy in the same spirit as such 80's sword/sorcery fantasies like "Willow", "Legend" and "Highlander". It also comes with little surprise that the film is reminiscent of the popular Hong Kong fantasy film trilogy of the late 80s, "Chinese Ghost Story" as Siu-Tung Ching is the film's action/stunt coordinator. I reckon however that Ching's influence extended beyond just directing the unique blend of inventive "wushu" style action and also showed itself in some of the monster designs and inventive set pieces.The visual effects are also another great aspect of the film albeit they range from impressive CGI to silly costume effects similar to the stuff you would find on typical Saturday "Tokusatsu" (Live Action) TV. They are most certainly a step above the effects found in this year's similar movie "Mushishi". The New Zealand location and scenery is gorgeous and really adds to the surreal surroundings of the world of "Dororo". Thankfully, Shiota's breezy pacing of the film offsets the film's almost 139 minute run time.Tsumabuki Satoshi (Dragon Head, Nada Sou Sou) is likable in his role as hero Hyakkimaru and brings a strong sense of charm with the role even though his dialog is very limited. Shibasaki Kou (Battle Royale, Memories of Matsuko, Nihon Chimbotsu) is also quite good in her role as "Dororo" albeit some may find her comedic rantings and antics to be grating after a while.Nakai Kiichi (Owl's Castle, Hotaru) is menacing in his role as Kagemitsu but he doesn't really get the chance to develop the role beyond the stereotypical megalomaniac caricature. Eita (Memories of Matsuko, Tokyo Friends:The Movie) who portrays Tahoumaru (Hyakkimaru's step brother) fairs a little better with his semi-sympathetic role. Many will find the final half of the movie a bit of a disappointment as the promise of a grand showdown between Kagemitsu and Hyakkimaru never materializes and what we get instead is a truncated battle that ends far too quickly to satisfy.The end leaves open the opportunity for a sequel but it remains to be seen whether or not future directors can go beyond the "monster of the week" formula of demon battles and explore Hyakkimaru's unique story of trying to regain his humanity and become more "human".

Harry T. Yung After reading a fair number of IMDb comments over the last few years, I get the impression that comic fans, understandably, are the most demanding regarding a movie's adherence to the original work. I start therefore by stating that I the first time I heard about the Dororo manga series was when I heard about this movie.Although specific year and dynasty are mentioned at the start of the movie, the story of "Dororo" in spirit happens "a long time ago, (in a galaxy) far, far away", in other words, in an undefined time and space in the author's imagination. Incidentally, I'll come back to "Star Wars" as there is a very interesting connection.The start of the movie, however, looks very much like a continuation of "300" – a battlefield with dead bodies strewn as far as the eyes can see. Fortunately, this somber mood does not carry into the rest of the movie. The prologue, however, is quite ominous. Defeated leader Kagemitsu Diago, seeking refuge in a desolate temple, ends up killing his host the monk and striking a bizarre deal with 48 demons (represented by 48 macabre statues in the temple). In exchange for the power to rise again, in victory, he promises 48 "body parts" (from limbs to internal organs) of his unborn son, on to each of the demons. This is the fascinating premise on which the story is constructed.I wouldn't go into details of how the story, now starting with "20 years later", is told with some flashbacks but generally in a simple, easy-to-follow linear narration. The story is essentially about the quest of this unfortunate son's quest to "reclaim" his 48 body parts from the demons. Let me first reassure the general audiences that there is no gory or revolting scene like those you see (or try not to see) in "Hannibal rising" or "300". The deprived baby looks more like what you see in the first stage of a doll's assembly line, the head and body before the eyes, ears, mouth and limbs are assembled. When we see him as a 20-year-old, he has already been fitted with "temporary" body parts by the kindly wise man who discovered him. During the "reclamation" process, there are scenes when Hyakkimaru re-grows a limb or coughs out an internal organ that has been replaced but these are all done in an innocent comic-book fashion.But who is Dororo anyway? I claim in the summary line that this movie has everything you want from an adventure action movie, and Dororo is the key reason, providing both romance and comedy. In the original manga, Dororo is a little boy, a petty thief who aspires to be the greatest thief in Japan. He is Hyakkimaru's loyal buddy that sticks with him through the dangerous quest. In the movie adaptation, the profession and the aspiration are kept intact but the character becomes a girl, for obvious reasons. While Hyakkimaru is a man who doesn't have much feelings (he does not even have a heart at the beginning), Dororo had a rough childhood as an orphan, and grew up as a boy. Veteran movie fans will of course recognize right away that this "odd couple" situation provides great opportunities for both romance and comedy. Both are tackled in a sensitive and tasteful way: without the movie taking any particular pain to point out, we note that she is the only person who can make him smile while he is the only person who can make her cry.In the fantasy and action department, there's imagination that rivals what you see in Hayao Miyazaki's "Spirited away". Whatever lacking in special effect technique, compared with Hollywood mega-budget productions, is more than compensated for by this breathtaking imagination and artistic execution.And there's more. In true Kurosawa tradition, "Dororo" has a heart for the "little people", telling their stories with sincerity but without preaching.I mentioned "Star wars". As gradual revelation finally brings Hyakkimaru to a final confrontation with his father who sacrificed an unborn son for personal power and glory, those of us "Star War" devotees will see at the back of our mind another confrontation, long ago and far, far away, between Luke Sykwalker and Darth Vader. As one report goes, George Lucas is such a fan of Asian fantasies that he might have been inspired by the "Dororo" manga.I have not seen any other movie of Satoshi Tsumabuki, who plays Hyakkimaru, but he certainly makes the character likable in this movie, which is very important. Playing Dororo is Kou Shibasaki whom I have seen in two entirely different roles – a heartbreakingly melancholic lover in "Crying out love in the centre of the world" and a heroic firefighter with also a tender side in "The sinking of Japan". Dororo is an entirely different persona, which she portrays equally convincingly. And I must not leave out Kiichi Nakai whose commanding screen presence well qualifies him to play the father. I have seen him in a little noticed but excellent movie called "Tian di ying xiong" (2003).