Lupin III: The First

Once again, Lupin takes the stage in easily my favorite Lupin film that isn't directed by Hayao Miyazaki (The Castle of Cagliostro).

Lupin the Third: The First (yes, it is a very confusing title) is a typical Lupin movie through and through with just a single new addition, it is in CGI. Not just any regular anime CGI, Hollywood level CGI. Disney/Dreamworks level CGI. The animation itself made this movie better than most of its Lupin counterparts, but the story has a couple of extra things that made this installment stand out among its peers (besides for the CGI).

First off, the story: Classic Lupin story, ... if you have seen any other Lupin installment than you know what happens here. No twists you won't be able to see coming a mile away. However, this movie adds a Indiana Jones aspect to it that fits in quite well for Lupins character. I won't call this movie a complete rip off of Indiana Jones, but it is obvious to tell where the inspiration came from.
For those who haven't seen a Lupin film before: Lupin is a thief and he and his team steal something, it gets taken from them, then they try to get it back with Inspector Zenigata on their trail trying to arrest them. Very simple concept which somehow is still interesting even after seeing it over one hundred times.

Moving on to the technical aspects of the film, I can't praise the art/animation enough. The CGI is on par (or at least close) to a Disney film. While a couple of the character models look a little weird compared to their 2D counterparts, the CGI is great, particularly in the action sequences. The animation is super smooth and fluid and everything looks clean and polished. The chase scenes in particular are fantastically animated and directed and it is easy to just replay them over and over.

However great the animation is however, just like usual, the greatest thing in every Lupin film/series continues to be the Soundtrack/OST. Yuji Ohno has succeeded in making one of the most iconic themes in all of anime and this is proven when the same theme has been used and praised for over 40 years. It's not just the main theme song however, every one of his pieces are brilliantly orchestrated and are arranged in different ways for different movies. It is impossible to not just hum/tap along to the main theme and the ED "Gift" sung by Lyn Inaizumi is another beautiful addition to the Lupin music library.
The voice acting (Japanese) was very good, which is no surprise coming from Lupin which has a long history of good voice acting. Even the new roles in the movie were done really well, with a shout out to Suzu Hirose who voiced Latiana.

The main characters are the same as always. Lupin is a playful not so serious thief, Fujiko is mysteriously trustworthy/untrustworthy as usual, Jigen is the serious partner, Goemon is the cool headed samurai, and Zenigata is the stubborn, persistent, and foolish inspector. The side characters however really make this movie stand out. Latiana is a great new addition used to attract our the viewers sympathy, and it succeeds. The antagonists are also given a lot of screen-time to help them not just be the forgettable Lupin villain. One of the antagonists actually has a little bit of depth.

This movie was extremely enjoyable to watch as a huge Lupin fan. Even in CGI, it feels like a Lupin movie. I will definitely watch this a couple more time once the English dub gets released.

Overall, this movie was as perfect as a copy paste story-telling Lupin movie could be. Th CGI was visually appealing, the OST was gorgeous, the new characters were given some depth, and the plot was an Indiana Jones movie. The movie couldn't have been much better.

Score: 10: A masterpiece and so good that i would watch it again and again and again.

Unless you have a hate boner for any kind of CGI, Lupin III: The First is a treat for all Lupin fans and a nice movie even if you aren't interested in Lupin that much.

Apart from short Lupin III 3DCG special, this is the first time Lupin has been animated in full 3D and boy I'm really pleased with the result. The animation is fluid and detailed, and it really makes the action scenes shine. The character design was translated into 3D perfectly and respectful to the original (though not without any change. I'm especially a fan of the movie look of Jigen, albeit I'm ... a bit saddened that Jigen and Goemon didn't get more spotlight. Laetitia, the newest addition to collection of Lupin ladies is also seriously cute. I also really liked the animation of facial expression of the characters. Yes, the style of animation looks quite like a western-made movie, to an extent that it at first felt almost unnatural that the dubbing was Japanese and not English, but I don't see a problem with that, if anything it keeps things fresh, something that a franchise with so many specials and movies certainly needs.

The plot isn't ground-breaking, but I don't think anyone expected a revolutionary script for a non-reboot Lupin Movie, go watch The Woman Called Fujiko Mine and its related movies for that. Regular Lupin movies (and specials) are foremost meant to be fun and this one passes with flying colors. If you've seen some amount of Lupin anime you probably already know what to expect plot-wise, so there is no need to go into greater detail here. I'll just note that this one feels a bit Indiana Jones-ish, and I don't mean that in a bad way.

Overall, I certainly recommend it to Lupin fans, but it works as a family movie too, even if not every member of said family is a Lupin fan.

In short - it's an ok movie dragged down by the same story we've seen hundred times already.

Let's start with the strong points of the movie: 3D animation looks outstanding, at points you can forget you're watching an animated movie, the backgrounds, vehicles, and objects in general looks amazing, the music is great, the characters just work while feeling unique and actors behind them are selling them really, really well, the jokes are landing and the movie will get a chuckle or two out of everyone and overall when the movie is focused on these elements it's fun and it would be a great film ... if it would stick just to doing this.

But there's also the ugly side of the movie, it simply cannot sell the "heavier" part of the story, the more serious scenes feels like don't belonging anywhere but had to be added to somehow close out the movie by simply checking the most cliche elements on the list and just be done with it which makes the last 1/3 of the movie a slog, you were breezing through the first hour just to be hit with the final act that's absolutely out of the place, lost all the pace and have issues with making any kind of sense of itself; the facial animation doesn't work at times and it pains me to say that since animators did a great job everywhere else but any kind of expression beyond the resting face doesn't look good, to say the least. The story overall leaves you with a great feeling of "meh", there's nothing to it, nothing to chew on, no reason to get back to the movie, no afterthought, you went through and emerged victorious, the movie is over, you've already forgot it.

Would I recommend this movie?
To fans of Lupin - probably, the common elements are there and are the strongest part of the movie, it feels like a Lupin story and you may find what you are looking for in here.
To people who simply are looking for a good movie? Nah, you should be able to find a better way to spend 90 minutes.