Dororo — movie review

by Chris   ⋅   November 19, 2007   ⋅   Comment now   ⋅    RSS

Let’s get this out of the way. I loved Dororo. I thought it was a whole lot of fun. In fact, I found it far more fun than any of the summer films I’ve seen all year. If that’s enough of a recommendation, by all means stop here and go find yourself a copy. However, if you’re looking for a full on substantiation of my position, feel free to read on.

In the Sengoku era a power hungry warlord makes a deal for with a group of demons: reign over the known world in exchange for the 48 body parts of his unborn son. In full accordance with the agreement, the son is born an empty canvas, no arms, legs, eyes, or even facial features — just an empty husk infused with life. Abandoned for dead, the young boy is found by an old man and master prostheticist, who build him an artificial body and nurtures him to health. Flash forward twenty years. The young husk has grown to a man. Now known as Hyakkimaru (Satoshi Tsumabuki, Tokyo Drift’s “Exceedingly Handsome Man”), he ventures the land wielding a supernatural blade (cleverly concealed in his left arm), killing demons in order to recover his lost body parts. Along his journey he is joined by a brash and bubbly pickpocket (Kou Shibasaki, Japan Sinks) who dubs herself Dororo (an infant ghost without form). Like Hyakkimaru, she too is an outcast with a tragic past, tied to same despicable warlord. Fates thereafter entwined the two Dororo, one in name and one in flesh, venture off towards their goals of justice and requisition.

Based on the manga by the legendary Tezuka (Astroboy), Dororo is another high-minded tale of heroism and perseverance in the face of adversity. While filled to the brim with dynamic and engaging battles, buried beneath the surface is a meditation on the futility and destructive nature of grudges, the inherent altruism required of heroes, the tendency toward selfishness on the part of the helped, and the possible long term benefits of simple forgiveness. And if ethical explorations weren’t enough, there’s also a host of adult themes, including child abandonment and infanticide (Hyakkimaru’s prosthetics are made from the found bodies of such victims). In short, Dororo is not your usual warm and fuzzy fantasy tale.

And those battles I mentioned? They feature a stunning array of goblins and beasts, crab women, larva girls, gryffon men, devil dogs, and even tree monsters. Sure, the CG involved in their depiction isn’t quite up to American CGI standards (they rarely are), but they are nonetheless thrilling to watch. In fact, unlike the latest American CG blowouts (see: Spider-Man 3, Transformers), near every flamenco accompanied battle, with their mix of fantastical acrobatics, swordplay, and wire-fu, had me captivated and wowed.

Lastly, there’s the acting. Satoshi Tsumabuki does a great job as Hyakkimaru. Unlike the Joe Odagiri of my previous favorite Shinobi: Heart Under Blade, his character’s distance never comes across wooden..just a side effect of a lifetime without human organs. When he does acquire things like his ears, his eyes, and his heart, he gains a subtle, but noticeable warmth and simple joy not found in his earlier state. And then there’s Kou Shibasaki. Now you may feel inclined to take my words with a grain of salt as I’m something of a fan (I actually have one of her CDs), but you’ve never seen her like this before. Her Dororo is brash, loud, rude, borderline annoying, and incredibly fun. Every scene she’s in had both Kris and I laughing. It’s a high energy performance that demands her every motion, facial expression, and vocalization to be as staunchly in your face as possible. It’s a wonderful change from her brooding Mitsuko or her weepy turns in Nihon Chinbotsu or Crying out Love in the Center of the World. Rounding out the cast are excellent turns by Anna Tsuchiya (Sakuran) and Kiichi Nakai (Nezu no Ban, Owl’s Castle). Good stuff.

But, before I finish this wet kiss of a review, I must acknowledge Dororo’s flaws. And sadly, there are quite a few. The most glaring of these would be the rapid downshifting in excitement found in the film’s final act. What should be the most thrilling battle of all ultimately proves the weakest. This lengthy hillside altercation even seems a bit slapshod when compared to the rest of the film, given the overall lack of attention to framing, editing, and choreography found in its near twenty minute runtime. Seriously, this was the only sequence that prompted me to check the time. Then there’s the complete lack of an epic score, despite the unmistakably epic trappings of the tale. While the flamenco music is cool in a kitschy Quentin Tarantino sort of way, it definitely doesn’t command the respect a full scale orchestral score would (see: Beowulf). There are also some smaller comic book allowances one must make. For example, the story relies on the viewer believing that Hyakkimaru’s real parts, when restored, will match his prosthetics identically. This one’s a bit easier to overlook, but I would have liked to see Hyakkimaru’s restored parts look unfamiliar even to himself.

Dororo may not be a perfect film, nor is it the type of picture that will garner critical lauding, but it is certainly one of my favorites this year. A frontrunner for my list of “2007 films I would watch again”, I cannot wait for its sequel. Inventive, fun, and original, Dororo comes highly recommended.

About the Author

Chris Nelson has been a film fanatic since age six. A former film and English major, he is now a Software Engineer and contract Technical Writer living in the Silicon Valley.

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