Story (6/10): Conan and friends are invited to the newly opened Bell Tree Tower to see the sights of Tokyo from above. But as is tradition, something goes awry. In this case, a real estate agent is sniped from the nearby buildings. Soon it evolves into a shooing spree that terrifies all of Tokyo, with Conan and his police and FBI contacts hot in pursuit. Who is this mysterious shooter, and what is with his dice calling card?
The story here is mostly interesting, dealing with a type of serial shooter that has been in American media for a while now, so if that interests you, take a look here. This is also the movie debut of the FBI characters, as well as 2 new supporting characters, so unless you're caught up to the anime/manga, their presence may throw you off a bit. It's also great to see the police characters working so well together and just how well the story sets up the circumstances to let them interact.
The main problem with this story, however, is that it drags on for waaay too long. By a half hour in the story has settled into a pattern of 'police characters talk', 'Conan's daily life', 'shooting sequence', repeat till the last 15 minutes. It's just so dull. While I'm sure there's supposed to be a lot of tension, it just doesn't work well here. And honestly, the mystery here is easily solvable after the 3rd shooting, though it does throw out some good red herrings for viewers. The other problem is that I'm pretty sure (as in it almost breaks plausibility) that the FBI doesn't work as shown in the movie. It also does dig into some American military stuff that, while interesting, does come off as slightly stupid and a little bit insensitive, though it's nothing horrible.
Art (8/10): Back to complementing the art, as is tradition. I've said this for how many movies now, but the art is still top notch. The action sequences are the complete highlight of the movie, bar none. Everything moves fast and is intensely interesting. If anything, this movie deserves a watch for those.
Sound (8/10): Hey, I have new things to talk about here! Yes indeed, there is some new music in this movie and it is pretty kick ass. It's very much in the vein of a thriller/crime movie, and it really sounds amazing. It keeps the final battle really exciting and follows it well. So kudos (heh) to the sound team for some great background tracks.
Also something new! This movie features a lot of Americans and for once the English isn't awful! Probably because actual Americans (or at least people who knew English very well) were used for almost every character and it really helps set the mood in some scenes. I can't tell you how annoying it is when characters who are clearly native English speakers speak Japanese, even when they are alone and would naturally default to English. Well here? It happens! The characters speak English while a little line of Japanese translated text is at the bottom. Definitely a plus and I'm glad they did it!
Character (6/10): I'll get this out of the way early - the Detective Boys are being annoying in this movie again. While not as bad as Eleventh Striker, they kind of bring down the movie since all their scenes are the comedy scenes, and they aren't funny. All the other main series characters are alright here, though again, special mention to the FBI characters for being cool. I'm still not sure on how to feel about Sera and Subaru, but they at least added some charm to the whole thing. (Subaru was kind of boring though.)
The movie characters were fairly interesting, though there is a bit of a problem with having literally all of the movie cast being American military men. They honestly all blended into each other, not helped by the most boring white people names yen could buy. Seriously, Bill Murphy and Scott Green? The creators do know that most Americans have more complicated names than that, right? Anyways, the characters that get the biggest focus are pretty interesting, thought they do fall into that weird 'we're not sure how to keep writing this character' pitfall that some of the other Detective Conan movies have had.
Enjoyment (6/10): I have to be honest that this movie is a bit dull. Nothing is wrong with it. It's just that there's a lot that's thrown at you and while that stuff is interesting, the story isn't paced well enough. I honestly got bored not even halfway through the whole thing and, to me, that's not good for a mystery movie. It's not all bad, though. The action sections were by far the best parts that had me on the edge of my seat. Just...dang! Those animators were having a ball!
Detective Conan: The Sniper from Another Dimension isn't a bad movie, but it isn't a great one either. It's far from being as bad as Jolly Rodger in the Deep Azure and Eleventh Striker, but is more like Quarter of Silence. Nothing special, but nothing outright awful. It's definitely a great action movie and it's nice to see new reoccurring characters appearing.
7/10 = nothing bad, but nothing great either; fun for DC fans to at least see the movie introductions of the FBI characters, Sera, and Subaru; Detective Boys are back to being annoying, unfortunately;
P.S. sorry not sorry for the puns
