This struck me as the sort of movie that you could watch in place of the series itself. Obviously, you wouldn't get the whole story, but you'd get enough. It does sum up the premise of the series and include all the major points you would have absorbed if you'd been actually watching the series, even just casually: The whole thing being driven by a combination of Yugi's connection to the spirit of an ancient pharaoh and Kaiba's pride. All their ridiculous problems ultimately being solved by winning a card game--or, at least, the monsters from that game coming to life in this case. The huge emphasis on the group's friendship and how it can overcome just about everything. So I mean, it was faithful to the show it was based on, at least, but it really doesn't build on that show in any meaningful way. I could see this movie being created just to try and draw in a new audience of fans-- and wouldn't be surprised to learn that it was. There are very few anime movies I can think of that got big, advertised theater releases like this one did. So, critically speaking, it's not as impressive or moving as it could be... but I definitely had nostalgia for it, and was surprised to realize just how much of it I remembered in detail.
