Cardcaptor Sakura Movie 1

This is an OK movie, but strangely focuses more on the action than the characters. There is SOME character development, but it's saved for the end. The majority of this movie is spent either running away from, or fighting, the antagonist.
The art, as usual for a CLAMP adaption, is gorgeous. But the dub is AWFUL, and changes the dialogue around completely. Avoid it at all costs.

A disappointing anime is often more upsetting than a bad one. When an acclaimed series receives a movie and other additional material, it's natural to hold high expectations and hope for an experience at least equal to the original. At times brilliant and more often monotonous, the first Cardcaptor Sakura movie is one that unfortunately falls short of these expectations.

Set after the first season, Cardcaptor Sakura: The Movie takes Sakura to an entirely new environment: Hong Kong. After winning a five-day trip at a local store, Sakura is given the opportunity to travel to a different country for the first time in her life. ... Things are not quite so simple, though, and as several foreboding dreams and supernatural phenomenons soon reveal, there is more to her winning the trip than a mere game of luck.

The first twenty minutes are fairly promising, immediately opening with a tense fight for one of the Clow Cards. Hearing a few beloved tracks from the series once again evokes a sense of nostalgia, and the characters quickly show that they are just as endearing as ever. Kero-chan remains his frivolous, gluttonous self, while Touya continues to tease Sakura for amusing results. Some of the best moments are those early on with the characters travelling through Hong Kong and taking in the sights, and the beautiful artwork makes these scenes all the more breathtaking.

Eyecandy is certainly not something that is lacking in this film. Fluid animation, detailed expressions and stunning scenery all set the visuals of Cardcaptor Sakura: The Movie to a much higher standard than most animated films. Hong Kong is presented as far more than a busy metropolis, with a diverse set of authentic locales being used to effectively portray the culture. Unfortunately, the moments highlighting the characters' experiences with the city are all too fleeting. Instead we are gifted with a trite and highly predictable story for the remainder of the film.

It's around the point where Sakura finds herself drawn to a shrine that things steadily go downhill. Most notably, Li and Meiling show up from absolutely nowhere. In the exact same area of a massive city, with no prior knowledge that either group would even be there. There's even the cliche of bumping into each other in Meiling's case. How is the viewer supposed to take the movie seriously when it relies on absurd plot conveniences so early on? An explanation may have made the scene less silly, but there is not even that. "What are you doing here?", asks Sakura. A question left unanswered.

The rest of the story focuses on a vengeful spirit who drags Sakura into a conflict that is only tangentially related to her. This represents the main issue with this film-- it doesn't have any relevance to the overarching story. None of the characters are developed aside from a few scenes with Li's mother and Clow Reed's past relationship with the spirit. There's no sense of accomplishment once the conflict is finally resolved, and the only emotional value is during a scene with Sakura relating to the spirit's unrequited love. Unless you are a particularly patient viewer, there's a strong chance that you will find yourself bored with anything beyond the first thirty minutes.

Much of the film takes itself far too seriously and as a result, most of the charm from the TV series is absent here. Dramatic moments were common in the main series, but they were always interspersed with comedy and had relevance to the story. Not here. It is ceaseless drama distinguished by superfluous (though pretty) action scenes and vague, cliched lines about destiny. It just doesn't work.

As for the sound, the voice acting is exceptional and the eclectic soundtrack compliments the setting especially well. Traditional Chinese music is used while the characters traverse through the city, and a palatable mix of jazz and orchestral music plays during the action sequences. The ending song is also quite nice and serves as a satisfying conclusion to a bittersweet story. It's hard to find much fault with the technical aspects of the film.

Despite a variety of complaints, Cardcaptor Sakura: The Movie is not bad by any means. Compared to most anime movies, and particularly within the mahou shoujo genre, it is still well above average. Fans of the series will most likely find some level of enjoyment here between the disappointment, and at only 80-minutes long it's hard to go wrong with the prospect of more Cardcaptor Sakura.

Still, considering the quality of the main series, decent just isn't enough here.

I enjoy the "Cardcaptor Sakura" anime series and a number of CLAMP's other works. I'm used to filler OVAs, even from mahou shojo films, even from the 90s, so my bar wasn't set that high. That this movie still dropped lower than that is... rather depressing.

In the typical vein of OVAs that are supposed to fill time between manga publication/development of main series plots/keep up hype for the series without directly affecting the main series plot, this film... has little to nothing to do with the plot of the series itself, so the plot doesn't really matter and feels... empty of tension. The end result ... is that the only part I cared about was the beginning card capture. It doesn't help that Sakura doesn't really do anything to solve any of the problems in the film other than that initial capture.

Spoiler warning: some random fortune teller Clow Reed met once in Hong Kong is angry. Does she care about the cards? No. Was she waiting for Sakura? No. Did she SAY she was waiting for Sakura? Yes. Why? Who cares. Why is she attacking people and the city even though she's not exactly ANGRY at Clow Reed or the people or the city? ...Because...?

I like Yelan, Xiaoling's mother, but she doesn't actually do anything useful other than be vaguely foreboding until the climax. It's very sweet how she comforts Tomoyo and interacts with Sakura, and it's again nice that the film focuses on women's relationships and wants and needs, like much of the main series. But I feel like there are better ways to introduce Xiaoling's relatives.

The art, as per the usual in OVAs, is slightly higher quality than the series, at least in regard to background animation in Hong Kong. It's not all that impressive, but it was 1999. Then again, by this point all three of "Sailor Moon" films had been released by the beginning of 1996, and those all look okay for the time, so the relative poor quality of the art style and animation is a bit... eh. They reuse series animation because that's also always going to happen in these cases for money and time reasons, which wasn't an issue. Quality-wise for the animation, overall it's just a long "Cardcaptor Sakura" episode, albeit with darker tones than the series usually goes, with its bright costumes, trees, school buildings, and antagonists. You won't be wowed, but you won't be disappointed, either.

The voice acting was okay, if perhaps slightly higher pitched than usual? It might have just been the sound quality of the film, at least in certain places, because Junko Iwao sounded a bit odd in spots. The soundtrack was unremarkable, with recycled tracks from the series.

If you want to see the main cast wandering around in Hong Kong sightseeing, this is the movie for you. If you want to see more of Tomoyo crushing on Sakura, this is the film for you. Otherwise, besides completeness, you're probably better off skipping this part of the series. Go watch "Sailor Moon R" the film. Way better.