The Great Yokai War (2005)

	Also Known As: Yôkai daisensô (original)
	Year of first release: 2005
	Director: Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer, Audition, Gozu)
	Actors: Ryûnosuke Kamiki, Hiroyuki Miyasako, Chiaki Kuriyama (Battle Royale, Kill Bill 1-2)
	Country: J
	Genre: Adventure, Fantasy
	Conditions of visioning: 31.03.2014 and 24.04.14, DVD, Home cinema
Synopsis: A young boy is the key to end the upcoming war initiated by the world of the Yokai (fantasy monsters).
Review: After watching Yatterman, I had promised myself not to watch any more movies by Takashi Miike, even though I could find some interesting elements in  Ichi the Killer, Audition, and even Gozu. Well that was five years ago and meanwhile I had bought The Great Yokai War at the FEFF in Udine, and have now decided to finally watch it. It is supposed to be an interesting adaptation of a children's story by the director Miike, known for the craziness of his movies and for shooting five of them per year. It starts well, and the design of the Yokai (traditional Japanese monsters) is funny, but soon the movie become all one can hate about this kind of Japanese cinema: slow, verbose, useless, senseless, not well played, inappropriate music. I had to wait a couple of weeks before finally watching the last half hour. This is not a good movie. The story is based on a manga, and I have read in the Mad Movies magazine about the previous three adaptations from the 60's. This one is a kind of remake of the second, but probably the worst of all. The ending looks like it cost a lot, with a large number of funny-looking Yokais and robots animated in stop-motion, but the feeling I had is the same as during the rest of the movie: boring.
Rating: 2 /10