Digimon Adventure (Movie 1) - Believe me, it really is that good!
June 19th, 2007, 10 responses
It’s brilliant to be in this position. The last thing I expected to be writing about is Digimon, but that’s just typical of life; ever twisting, ever unpredictable. So this morning I was reading about Mamoru Hosoda - a rising star of anime who is just now making an international impact with “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” (having previously quit Howl’s Moving Castle). Anyone who has seen that or the frankly disturbing “One Piece Movie 6: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island” will know that Hosoda is the real deal; a genuine and unique talent.
The excellent (repeat: excellent) AniPages Daily has an informative article on him and raves at length about his name-making directorial debut on the first two Digimon movies. All I thought I knew about Digimon was that it was another of those annoying Pokemon “gotta buy ‘em all!” clones, but in truth, I really knew nothing about the franchise at all, and so I sat down to watch Digimon Adventure (Movie 1) with a clean slate. Besides, the movie is only 20 minutes long, so basically, I had nothing to lose.
Put simply, it’s wonderful. The plot goes something like this; one evening, Taichi’s baby sister Hikari discovers an odd looking egg (it magically drops out of the computer monitor). Taichi’s just a young boy himself, but still, he’s spending the whole day at home looking after his little sister. Suddenly the egg hatches and an odd black shape emerges; it’s a monster! They try to catch it but it hides under Hikari’s bed - she blows her favourite whistle and the monster blows back bubbles, they feed it cat food and it poops on the floor. Over the day, the monster completely changes shape; eventually becoming a small tyrannosaurus rex-like animal called “Koromon”. Not before long, it’s storming through a Japanese city, launching fireballs at passing buses and impressing on-looking kids!
The beauty of Digimon Adventure lies in the way the children interact with Koromon. It feels a lot like a Studio Ghibli production because it captures that rare essence of childhood, where almost everything feels like an enchanting dream; so overwhelmingly full of fluffy fun and adventure. The kids almost immediately befriend the monster, despite the fact that it’s gradually transforming into a fearsome looking fanged beast! A particularly brilliant scene comes when Koromon lumbers outside for the first time; he walks through the street with the baby Hikari stuck to his back, ripping up vending machines and nearly getting smashed by oncoming cars. Hikari tries to clean up the damage but it’s an impossible task.
The message is friendship, but it’s not without a sense of sacrifice and loss too. All in all, this is a magical kids movie that inspires and feels like trip into a colourful imagination. Yes, it’s Digimon, but look past that and I promise you will be impressed.
10 Responses to “Digimon Adventure (Movie 1) - Believe me, it really is that good!”
S.A. Says:
June 19th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
More people should discover the first two Digimon movies.
Theyre incredibly well directed pieces of animation. Shame the digimon stigma will keep so many from giving these movies their due.
Shiroi Hane Says:
June 19th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
It’s a shame they ripped the first three movies apart making the American movie, although I can understand them taking out the drunk father ^^;
bateszi Says:
June 20th, 2007 at 3:54 am
@S.A.: Yup, I must admit I would have never touched these movies had I not known who the director was. It just shows there is always something new and exciting out there, even when it’s attached to a massive franchise like Digimon. I just wish I’d found these sooner!
@Shiroi Hane: I must admit, I was disturbed by the drunk father! What kind of dad comes home late at night drunk and tries to wake up his baby kids?! I think these little touches added a layer of realism though, it felt like a real family environment. I was laughing when the Dad walks through the door and Koromon is growing into this massive monster - you can just imagine the look on his face had he got into their bedroom!
Ramen89 Says:
June 20th, 2007 at 5:34 am
Its underrated!
No one ever listens to me…
Hinano Says:
June 20th, 2007 at 9:45 am
I liked all the Digimon movies
ALthough I think I liked Bokura no War Game the most.
bateszi Says:
June 20th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
@Hinano: I’ve got War Game up next. Hopefully I’ll enjoy it as much as this movie!
Incidentally, does anyone have an opinion on the other Digimon movies? Are they all up to these same standards?
Andy Says:
June 20th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
nice site you have, thanks for sharing, have a look at http://badmovieknights.com/ when you get time :>
kauldron26 Says:
June 21st, 2007 at 12:23 am
dude, u should write reviews of ur top 10. espcially wolf’s rain, bebop and champloo
bateszi Says:
June 21st, 2007 at 3:02 pm
I’ll try kauldron26, though I’ve got a nice article on space operas in the works and intend to feature Cowboy Bebop!
Bateszi Anime Blog » Blog Archive » “If I told you that I came from the future, would you laugh?” Review of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time Says:
August 27th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
[...] talented anime movie director who had previously worked wonders with franchise pop-corn fodder. His two Digimon movies are beautiful and nostalgic adventures, while One Piece Movie 6 is a notably dark and disturbing [...]