Meitantei Conan Movie 19: Gouka no Himawari

The most recent Detective Conan film has come and gone, and this one is a bit different. Similar to the 10th movie (Requiem of the Detectives), we have our littlest detective out to protect the fine arts, though in this case, Conan must save one of Van Goh's most important paintings, the Sunflowers. Is this movie an amazing art heist wannabe, or a copied flop? Oh, and did I mention Kaito Kid? Cause yeah, Kaito Kid.

Story (6/10): After the Suzuki Zaibatsu purchases the originally thought destroyed 2nd Sunflowers painting, Kaito Kid essentially declares that he'll steal it. But since this is completely outside of the ... thiefs usual M.O., all characters involved become suspicious, especially after the messages and methods become violent. Conan and friends are now on a deadline to get the Sunflowers Exhibition up and running, but it still doesn't answer the main problem: why is Kaito Kid after the paintings?

The story here is a bit of a mixed bag, to say the least. There's a lot right but enough wrong that it's hard not to address. The good things are that it really takes a smart approach to trying to defeat Kid, showing all the work that goes into everything behind the scenes. It's really quite fun to see just what Suzuki Jiro does to show off his extreme wealth. All the stuff that connects with the Sunflower paintings themselves is also interesting, and a little heartwarming.

There are some problems with the movie. The resolution to who is after the paintings is WEAK. And I don't just mean weak, I mean WEAK AS FUCK. (Yes, f-bomb worthy weak.) True, the clues do tell you who it is, but God almighty is it a letdown. In connection to that, there's a random confession to a crime dead center in the climax that basically comes out of nowhere and does nothing to change the plot AT ALL. Also almost everything to do with Kaito Kid is basically worthless, and yes as a fan of his, that sucks to say. I'll elaborate more in the below section, but suffice to say, this is probably the weakest movie that Kid has been a part of.

Overall it isn't a bad story, but man, the parts that are bad are standout bad.

Art (8/10): As is per the norm, the art is excellent, giving all the scenes wonderful color and action. Though I must point out that there are a few 'quality' background scenes here and there that are a bit more standout than I would usually critique.

Sound (7/10): Back to basic Conan movie music, but as usual that isn't a bad thing. Though I must point out the track that plays during the climax of the movie, as it was really damn good.

Character (6/10): I do have some positives and negatives in relation to the regular cast. First the disappointing: it feels like they dumbed down Conan and Ai. While nothing extreme or distracting, it just feels like the two smartest characters in the show almost don't have that much of an impact in solving the crime. Conan doesn't have to work hard to figure anything out and really only gets like 2 clues total to work with in the entire movie. It just feels like he got pushed out of his own movie.

Not all is bad though. The Suzuki's (Jiro and Sonoko) are actually more entertaining here than they've been in a while. Ran, her Dad, and Inspector Nakamori are also treated with respect and given quite a lot to do here. Basically the main side characters here are treated well and are really fun to watch.

Kaito Kid is also barely in the movie. Technically he is in most of it, but he doesn't even have a freaking line until 20 minutes near the end. Despite being the main 'antagonist', he's just a non-factor in the story too much of the time. It honestly feels like the movie is trying to play Kid like he was back when his introduction was a bit more mysterious, but by today, where his manga is a thing and he had his own anime last year, it just doesn't work anymore.

With the movie exclusive characters, they are just boring and forgettable. True, Inspector Charlie is the best of the bunch, but he's ultimately not that important in the long run. The other characters have literally 3-8 lines of dialogue and no personality at all. Hell, I don't even remember their freaking names after just watching it. They're close to the top of a Worst DC Movie Cast list for being just there and irrelevant by the end.

(As is traditional at this point, I need to make my complaint: why are the freaking Detective Boys in this damn movie? Their scenes are worthless and they literally serve no purpose. I don't want to hate on them, since as Quarter of Silence has shown us, when given real purpose, they are great characters. But here? They should've been excluded from the entire second half when the exhibition takes center stage. Hell, even the Professor is kind of awkwardly shoved into the movie, with all his scenes being really bad comedy.)

Enjoyment (7/10): I did have more fun with this movie than I did the last one, if you can believe it. Probably because I do like a good art heist film. Granted, as noted above, the second half is where I started getting lost. While the actual climax is really fun, I was just disappointed that we didn't really get a Conan vs. Kid film. I really should know by now that we'll never get one of those until a miracle happens, but I still held hope that this would be the one. Again, while it seems like I'm complaining, I really did have some fun with this movie. (Also there's a tiny call back to something from the 18th movie here, which is kinda cute.)

Detective Conan: The Hellfire Sunflowers is probably one of the more average movies in the series, though it isn't awful by any means. While the side characters are really given a time to shine, the story has some major flaws in its second half and doesn't really feel like the Conan/Kid focused movie that it's trying to be. If you're a DC fan, I as always recommend that you watch it at least once for completions sake, but non fans aren't going to find anything interesting here.

6/10 = average by DC standards; second half is weak, with the mystery reveal failing to impress; there are better Conan/Kid movies, like the 14th (being the best); the main older side characters do kind of get a chance to shine;

Story 6/10:
-The story is your usual Jirokichi Suzuki vs KID, but for the FIRST time he didn't collect the art to lure KID but for the pride of Japan?!. For Jiro-ojisan to have a reason other than luring KID to add it to his biography doesn't go well with him.
- The culprit's motive was weak and there was barely any smart deductions.
- Hibara's screen time was wasted randomly, while there could have been a well developed side story using it instead(the 4 scenes did nothing to the movie or development).
+It was nice seeing Sonoko going around with her uncle to formal events and being more ... active.

Art 7/10:
The new characters are drawn plainly, but KID, Conan, and Ran looked great through out the movie and especially in the climax scene when Conan shows a touched expression and says "KIDo".

Sound 9/10:
BG OST wasn't anything unusual, but the credits song OH!Rival! was great♥

Character 6/10:
Weak culprit, weak character development of the introduced team and at the end you forget that some of them even exists. I honestly felt like 6 new characters was too much and they barely have any bg, development, or presence.

Enjoyment 5/10:
-It was definitely disappointing for a KID movie. A lot of things weren't explained probably, especially with Charlie's hatred toward KID! we get no explanation to why he was in rage the whole movie and no worthy confrontation, we don't even know how they know each other.
+ The final part of the movie was the most if not the only enjoyable part! btw, what's with the latest movies where Ran saves the day.

Overall 6/10:
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The lowest score I've ever given to a DC movie till this day! I definitely was disappointed since I'm a Hibara and Kid fan, and wasting these two characters in the movie was a shame.

Detective Conan Movies Rewatch Before Watching Movie 26: Movie 19

Movie 19 is decent. The plot is decent. The case is decent. Kaito Kid was used decently. The action sequences were decent.

And that's why it's not among the top-tier DC movies. It doesn't do anything outright bad (like some of the silly moments in movie 18), but it doesn't do a whole lot to stand out either. It's just a decent movie that could have been a TV special instead.

Two pros: the set, as some of the shots near the end with Conan were gorgeous, as well as the music, which does a good enough ... job to complement the movie; and a con: the original characters were underdeveloped.

It's an okay movie. 6/10