Doraemon Movie 34: Shin Nobita no Daimakyou - Peko to 5-nin no Tankentai

My overall take: Improves on the original and gives a good sense of what to expect from Doraemon films.

This is a remake of Nobita and the Haunts of Evil (1982), in which Nobita and his friends explore Central Africa and discover a hidden civilization. First things first: although I cannot speak to their cultural representation, the character designs of the Indigenous African people in this version are substantially improved compared to the caricatures in the original.

On the whole, I think this is a competent remake that keeps most of what made the original film good, being a decently engaging family-friendly adventure movie that makes good ... use of the established Doraemon main cast. The biggest narrative edits mainly amount to giving some of the movie-exclusive characters more screentime and character focus, which for most part I don't feel strongly about, but they don't harm the movie in any notable way. This is a movie that not only gives a good sense of what to expect from Doraemon films, but is also fairly enjoyable on its own. If the story sounds interesting to you, I'd obviously recommend watching this version over the original.