Dororo (2007)

"I will give you my son." -Lord Kagemitsu Daigo

Sometimes I think they just run out of money. That's what I think happened with Dororo the film. First, a little about the movie and then why I think they ran out of money.

I don't really recommend Dororo as a start for those uninitiated with Japanese cinema. -I also don't really recommend it for those familiar with Japanese movies. .....it's really just a poorly made movie.  It's slow, disjointed, and at points pretty boring. Oh, and it just wastes basically all of the opportunities presented by its amazing source material.

But, if you, like me;

1. say Tsumabuki Satoshi is in this!?  I gotta see this. 
2. are already are familiar with Dororo from the managa and mid-60's anime
3. are willing to forgive a lot. 

Then Dororo is worth the the 135 ish minutes. 

I give credit to the actors for namely Ko Shibasaki and Tsumabuki Satoshi for making the movie at least work.  If they are in the film, you should know that the acting will be acceptable to great. 

But, I do fault the director and producer. Dororo is just full of unnecessary flashbacks and violations of the showing vs telling rule.

Here's why I think they ran out of money.  The biggest reason is that the special effects range from passable to laughable to what I think was guy in a foam suit. If they had had the funds, they would have likely spent enough to make the visual effects consistent.  The spectral fetus was particularly jarring in comparison to the other spirits.   Second, the lighting was kind of inconsistent from cut to cut. Normally this would be corrected through the use of post-production gradients or having multiple takes from similar times and conditions available for splicing/comparison. I can either surmise that this was deliberate...(why?)....or that they were stingy with film or takes?....or that they didn't have money for technical color grade matching.  All of these point to a lack of funds. 

On a scale of part 1 of 48 to OMG *I just happen to be watching Scorpion King 3 on TV and if I sit here much longer I will  have to blog about it*, I give Dororo 2.3 out of 5 stars.