I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

This is another weird and bizarre Japanese superheroes movie by Takashi Miike. And that is the main drive of this movie, which is the weirdness. So this is basically a live action adaptation of a 70's cartoon show. Kind of like "Gatchaman", except way more cheesy. I don't know how close of an essence this movie has with the cartoon. But despite the cheesy Saturday morning cartoon vibe going. Most of the humor and focus is actually on the adult themes. Especially with the direct or indirect sexual references. The plot is about these duo that goes by Yatterman. Which is composed of a male and a female characters that is dressed in a superheroes engineer costumes and masks. One wields a kendama and the other a electric stick. And has a sidekick giant robotic dog with them that gets beat up constantly unless it gets a mechanical bone from Yatterman. And goes around trying the save the world once a week. By these team rocket duos. Except it's a trio in this one, which is composed of. Wario and Waluigi with Batwoman as the leader. Or at least looks like it. The plot is narrow, predictable and very childish. It's like a script for a children's video game. Which is fine for a video game, but not much for a live action movie. Despite the wackiness, it felt like I was just sitting through this movie just to pass the time. In another words, it's kinda dull. I am not sure if the cartoon this movie got adapted from is weird, bizarre, and has that adult themes to it. But those elements is what saves this movie from being just plain bad. Since I couldn't tell sometimes if this movie is directed towards kids or adults. The production value is decent for these types of movies from japan. Although the CGI can be awful at times(I guess that sorta adds to the cartoony feel of this flick though). Maybe fans of the cartoon show this movie is adapted from might enjoy this. Overall this movie is a very simple movie that has a lot of stuff going on. It's a passable movie but not that entertaining or enjoyable. There simply isn't a moment in this film that would wow or amaze anyone or even simply find it cool. It's basically like watching a passable episode of a children's cartoon show. Except it's drawn out with bunch of weird, bizarre imagery with adult themes. And that basically sums up this disappointing movie. That is just maybe worth a rental and nothing more.6/10

So the challenge is to make a full length live action movie from an anime series which did not stray too far from "Dudly Do-Right" in scope.One way, and this is what director Miike chooses, is to keep the visuals and story at the original "Loony-Tunes" level, but make the characters and subtext more adult. This will either work for you, or leave you aghast, depending on if you expected a kids movie or not.It's obvious from the opening shot of Doronjo where Miike is headed with this movie. It's a kids movie for adults, not to be confused with a kids movie with jokes thrown in for adults. I enjoyed it.Kyoko Fukada as Doronjo is hot enough to burn celluloid; the rest of the Dorombo gang is well cast, too. The Yatterman side is weaker, but probably deliberately so. The running gag of the movie is that the Dorombo gang must always lose, this is funnier if the good guys don't really seem to be worthy opponents.There is a lot of CG animation in this movie, and while it's well done for the most part, the extended CG fight scenes get less and less interesting as the film rolls on into the second half.

Gan and Ai (who together are Yatterman) battle Mistress Donjuro and her fiendish assistants Tonzra and Boyacki for pieces of an ancient skull. In the hands of someone other than Takashi Miike this would be a conventional adventure thriller with car chases,snappy one-liners, explosions and a love interest. However this is Takashi Miike. He pokes a finger in the eye of your pre-conceived ideas, flicks v-signs at the standard film conventions while dancing on the seat of a unicycle. Naked.On Fire. And upside-down.If Luis Bunel and Dali dropped acid and spent the weekend drinking Absinthe and eating crayons this is the kind of madness that would ensue. This is huge spoiler for the opening, just to give you a flavour for what the film is like:***Spoiler***We open to a scene of devastation, a huge teddy-bear robot is rampaging though Tokoyoko armed with a frying pan and cleaver. They are confronted by Yattaman and a fight ensues, which has people climbing out of what appears to be deep-fat fryers, fighting with giant spoons and forks versus someone armed with a a ball and cup, throwing cars at each other, kung-fu moves, more robots, a cute Japanese woman dressed as a leather- clad dominatrix, electrocutions, slapstick, a soundtrack that sounds like a mixture of bad 80s pop and German power metal guitar, then followed by a battle between a robo-dog and the original teddy-bear kitchen utensils robot, the losers make their escape on a bicycle that talks to them and throws them off by exploding the saddles as punishment... and that is just the the first 10 minutes.I've no idea if this is true to the original cartoon series and to be honest I don't care - it is well done, funny, appeals to both the adult and 5-year-old in me and very entertaining.

Miike Takashi's live action adaptation of Tatsunoko Pro's landmark "Yatterman" cartoon of the 70s is a lovingly faithful and fun tribute that will have fans of the original series giddy but gets too overly silly and goofy at times. "Yatterman" (a Japanese wordplay for "yatta" (we did it) and the English word "Man") was the 2nd in Tatsunoko Pro's long running comical adventure series which started with the first series called "Time Bokan" and included various yearly sequels including "Zenda Man" (1979), "Otasuke Man" (198), "Yattadetta Man" (1981) and "Ippatsu Man" (1982). Unlike Tatsunoko Po's more dramatic and straightforward action anime like "Gatchaman" and "Casshern", the "Time Bokan" series of anime were more comical and focused more on madcap humor, visual sight gags and ridiculously warped characters. While each of the "Time Bokan" anime were visually different from each other, they all shared the same story elements and included a very similar trio of goofy villains. While the heroes of "Yatterman" (Yatter Ichi Go and Yatter Ni Go) and their incredible mecha "Yatter Wan/One") were the main characters, it was the "Doronbou Ichimi/Clan" - Doronbou being a Japanese perversion of Dokuro (Skull) and Dorobou (Robber)- that were the most interesting characters. Doronjou, Boyacky and Tonzuraa were indeed the stars (the closest American equivalent would be Dick Dastardly and Muttley from Hanna Barbera's "Wacky Races" and "Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines"). Each week these incompetent criminals would strive to create the ultimate mecha to defeat their rivals and get the legendary "Dokuro Stone" that would make all their dreams come true. Miike Takashi wisely decides to keep this simple premise and set it firmly in place in his film. J-Pop boy band member Sakurai Sho of the group Arashi and Fukuda Saki from the J-Dorama series "Life" are cute as the heroic "Yatterman" duo of Gan and Ai respectfully but it is again the casting of the Doronbo Ichimi that is truly inspired - The tall and lanky Namase Katsuhisa (20th Century Boys, Gokusen) is dead-on perfect as the big-nosed Boyacky whose twisted inventions and mecha are as brilliantly flawed as their inventor. The stout and dimwitted henchmen, Tonzuraa is perfectly captured by chubby comic Kendo Kobayashi (the J-Dorama Boss)and he does a good job of playing the character as less a third wheel and more a contributing player in the madness. And of course not enough can be said of Fukada Kyoko's gorgeous and busty "Doronjou". Fukada (Kamikaze Girls, Inugami Ke No Ichizoku, Dolls) is clearly having fun playing the sexy villainess and she easily steals the movie. Even with the outrageous costume, Fukada still manages to illicit sympathy and emotion from the audience in her candid scenes. Her Doronjou is not really an evil character but just a woman longing for love and the means to lead a normal life. Not just another pretty face, Fukada continually surprises with her comic/dramatic range and unconventional roles.Th SFX effects are a mixed bag. Like the Wachowski Brothers' recent "Speed Racer" (another Tatsunoko Pro property), Miike's "Yatterman" does seem a bit too involved and reliant on CGI to tell the story. While the mecha and other robot effects are truly impressive and eye catching, scenes in which the mecha inhabit the real world seem fake and contrived.While Miike kept most of his darker sensibilities in check for this family oriented film, he did manage to sneak in some truly hilarious adult humored sight gags in the film (the scene in which the Yatter Wan robot mecha and the Doronbou Gang's "Virgin" robot making out whilst the Virgin robot screams "I'm cuuuming" is truly a must be seen to be believed...)."Yatterman" is definitely enjoyable and while those unfamiliar with the original cartoon will find it a fun film, those who have seen the original series will find "Yatterman" to be a nice, nostalgic trip down memory lane (fans should have fun finding all the nice visual references to the original anime and other Tatsunoko Pro anime). "Yatterman" is not a perfect film but Miike definitely succeeds in making a worthy tribute/adaptation. Yatta, Yatta, Yattaman (you did it man)!