Don't Believe the Hype

Better Late Then Never

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

I remember watching this film in the 1960s on Kukla, Fran and Ollie's Children's Film Festival. I recall it being such a powerful message on the value of friendship and believing in yourself. The story revolves around a lonely and overweight boy (Oyama) who moves to a new city and a new school. He is disliked and teased almost from the start because of weight. Another boy (Komatsu) befriends him despite what the others think, and he begins to effect the way the others and even Oyama sees himself. A few years ago I purchased the video online and watched it again. It was as good as I remembered and I have shown the film to many of my elementary students. I highly recommend this movie!

Like the other 40 somethings that have posted above, I too was deeply affected by this film. All these years, the film has stayed with me deep in the recesses of memories. I loved Sharri Lewis and Kukla Fran and Ollie. I would love to see the film again. This was my first "foreign film" and it was quite exotic to see characters speaking Japanese on our little black and white TV. I remember being struck by how much I could relate to the boys (being of the same age at the time) and thinking it odd that someone so different could be the same. It brought tears to my eyes those boys were facing the same things I was as a boy in the schoolyard in Massachusetts.

I'll admit first of all that I don't remember details of this movie (no danger of a spoiler!), but I did an Internet search for it simply because of the impact it made on me 40 years ago when I saw it as a child of seven, which is the approximate age of the characters. I do remember that the movie was in Japanese, which seemed quite novel to me, but which in no way deterred from the story or the impact. To this day, I am still moved emotionally by the story of friendship, love, and courageous acceptance between two boys, one socially acceptable, one not. I am glad to discover so many others across the world enjoyed "my" movie.

Growing up, I used to watch Kukla Fran, and Ollie's Children's Film Festivals on Saturdays and I believe this was the first film shown. It was so impressionable that, 30 years later, I searched far and wide to obtain a copy and STILL enjoy it as much as I did as a child. Skinny and Fatty is about friendship, courage and solidarity. The story takes place in Japan, where a fat boy moves into an unfamiliar town and finds himself isolated from his classmates. One boy (who's small) befriends him, but in doing so isolates himself from his friends. The film does an amazing job of getting the viewer to sympathize with the fat boy and at the same time feel for the skinny one, who is constantly encouraging his new friend. "You can do it!" he's heard telling his fat friend who can barely get off the ground while trying to climb the rope in gym. It's a great movie for kids, who are taught that being a nice person sometimes means not following the crowd or your friends. It's also refreshing for adults, who sometimes lose sight of these principles too. Just an amazing film - it shows what a filmmaker can do in 45 minutes if all the material is pertinent and excludes the fluff and special effects included in many of today's movies. Btw, if you want the toy in the movie referenced in the previous review, it's called Kendama.