Doraemon Movie 03: Nobita no Daimakyou

My overall take: A very solid family adventure film... that I cannot honestly recommend.

In this movie, Nobita and his friends explore Central Africa and discover a hidden civilization. This is a film that establishes (or at least solidifies) many recurring elements of future Doraemon films. The main characters go on an adventure in an exotic setting, using Doraemon's gadgets to live and travel comfortably. They come across an isolated society that is being menaced in some way, and team up with newfound allies to overcome the threat. However, even with the reuse of this formula and overlapping themes in later films, I think Nobita and ... the Haunts of Evil does a good job at maintaining its own identity and balancing the character focus among its main characters.

This movie and its remake both have very ominous-sounding English titles. Based on my limited understanding of Japanese, "Haunts of Evil" is not exactly an inaccurate translation, but in the context of the story, the intended meaning seems closer to "unexplored realm". (The Doraemon movie where they actually encounter demons comes later...) That being said, this probably is one of the darkest Doraemon films, with multiple instances in which one or more of the main characters almost certainly would have died without sheer luck or third-party intervention. It certainly makes for an exciting adventure narrative, if nothing else.

If I were grading based solely on the story, I'd probably be willing to give this eight stars. However, there is something that I think audiences should be made aware of before they watch it. There is a scene in this movie that features Indigenous African people, who are depicted with, shall we say... highly caricatured character designs. While acknowledging that a star-based scoring system cannot fully encapsulate issues like this, the least I can do is shave a couple of stars off my intended rating.

Doraemon, Nobita and friends are back once again, this time determined to explore uncharted lands and discover the mysteries of the world. Firstly, be warned that the synopsis listed above does spoil the first two thirds of the film, though that is largely because the first hour of the film is lacking in a great deal of plot. Instead, the majority of the runtime is spent showcasing the fun adventure of our heroes through the dangerous African landscape (specifically around central Africa in the area now known as DRC), encountering a variety of wild animals and people which threaten them with peril. I had a ... continuously fun time throughout this section of the movie enjoying the variety of charming and childish encounters and scenarios. At the one hour mark though, the film takes a sudden and drastic shift in style and tone, switching focus to a hidden kingdom and the ongoing troubles there. As a result, the film comes across as extremely disjointed, feeling almost like two films in one. Though this isn't necessarily deal breaking, the extreme contrast can easily leave viewers bored during one half or the other depending on their preferences in film. Personally, I found the whimsical adventure of the first two thirds to be more entertaining than the exposition and plot heavy final act, though again one's enjoyment will largely come from whether you enjoy plot or adventure more in movies. I also found the villains to be rather weak as usual for these Doraemon films, further cementing my preference for the light-hearted side of Doraemon. To summarise, Doraemon the Movie: Nobita and the Haunts of Evil is another adequate entry in the series, however the drastic divide between the two parts of the movie make me hesitant to recommend it to everyone.