So uh...is it me, or was this the most ridiculous, outlandish Conan movie yet? At least from a casting and plot perspective. There's barely any of the Conan cast regulars even in this. Seriously, when was the last time literally none of the Tokyo Police Officers, none of the Akai Family, and none of the Black Organization, including Amuro/Rei or Heiji and Kazuha were featured in a movie? Has it ever even happened before this one? I mean, for a big chunk of this movie I legitimately thought it was gonna be the first one ever not to feature Genta, Mitsuhiko or Ayumi. Sure, they did eventually manage to shoehorn them in, barely, but at that point it's like why even bother? It felt like when on The Simpsons Halloween episodes the writers would forget to put in Kang and Kodos so they'd just throw something together at the last minute.
Speaking of, that's how the plot to this film felt to me, like it was thrown together at the last minute. Whoever wrote this scenario must've been a good mad libs player or something. I mean c'mon now, Conan kidnapped by Kid and getting a tan and losing his glasses so no one recognizes him? Meanwhile Kid parades around Singapore as Shinichi, who is supposed to be keeping a low profile. What if they ran into a Black Organization member? It's really dumb, even considering some of the stuff that goes on in these movies. Kid movies have never been my favorite to begin with so maybe I shouldn't be surprised. And yet...the tone of this one was so all over the place that it didn't even really feel like a Conan movie for huge chunks of the duration. There were barely any murders. The culprits, even the surprise "twist" one were painfully obvious from the start. And the film felt like anything but a mystery. It felt like a buddy movie with Conan and Kid, a heist movie with Kid, a romance with Sonoko and Kyogoku, and an action movie with that ridiculous climax. I mean seriously? Fighting a guy on a collapsing building while carrying Sonoko on your bag? Good grief.
But you know, despite these glaring and normally fatal issues I just don't know that I can bring myself to hate this movie. For one thing, there's something to be said about changing up the formula. And this definitely did that. It was kind of nice that many of those cast members I mentioned earlier weren't in this movie. Conan in general tends to overly rely on the Akai family and Bourbon and whatnot anyway. A smaller group featuring lesser seen character dynamics such as between Sonoko and Kyogoku was kinda nice. Stupid at times like Sonoko getting hit by a car and screaming bloody murder while her boyfriend fights for their lives, but nice. And yes, sweet romantically speaking. What can I say? I'm a softie at heart. I also appreciated them establishing Ran recognizing Shinichi was actually Kid from the start during the post credits scene even if her reasoning for it was faulty. I dunno. Anyway I try to slice it this is not one of the better Conan films to me. It's just too goofy and over the top. But you know what? I think I'll take that over a few other films in the franchise which left me with boredom or irritation. The worst this movie made me do was openly guffaw at just how ridiculous I found the goings on to be. I see the screenwriter for this worked on another couple movies yet to come. I wonder if they're just as crazy. Very generous 7/10.
Oh, and because I forgot until just now: All that engrish! Throughout the whole damn movie too! XD |