 |
 |
 |
Directed by Oshii Mamoru
Produced by Kitty Films
Moroboshi Ataru has a poor memory. When he was younger he played “shadow tag” with a mysterious stranger by catching her shadow he arranged to marry the stranger, when the time was right. Now it’s 11 years on and Ataru is 17 years old but a lot of things have changed since his game of tag. The most important of these changes is Lum (an alien that lives with Ataru) she has her heart set on marrying Ataru and will stop at nothing in order to do so. Even pulverising him with electricity seems to be an adequate way of showing her affection. So with Ataru’s life already on the bizarre side it comes as no surprise to him when down from the heavens comes a UFO. The fleet’s representative informs Ataru that he must now fulfil his marriage promise to Elle (the aloof girl from his childhood) Ataru being a bit of a player, jumps at the opportunity. Lum naturally doesn’t and decides that the only way to make sure Moroboshi-kun stays her man forever is to marry him before Elle. On the eve of his wedding with Lum, Ataru is captured and brought to Planet Elle to attend another wedding this time a matrimony ceremony featuring him and Queen Elle. Of course Lum is none too pleased and decides to get her “Darling” back. In doing so she kick starts a dramatic penultimate scene in which intergalactic warriors and defrosted pretty boys (you read right) break up the union between Ataru and Elle in spectacular fashion.
This movie should have “FUN!!!” printed on the cover because that’s precisely what it is. Slapstick nonsense and typical Japanese humour perfectly pitched for the best part of two hours. The undermining thing that makes this movie so funny is the fact that it’s so typically clichéd (in regards to other anime) at least. Sakura blossoms fill the sky, people fall over legs sticking vertically in the air, there’s a fair share of funny fan service moments and plenty of off the wall perverse humour. Most of this aforementioned perverse humour is courtesy of Moroboshi himself he’s an awfully lustful little boy and his ramblings about Harems during the movie are sure to raise a chuckle.
As a direct result of been based on a Rumiko Takahashi manga Urusei Yatsura carries her trademark character designs. All the characters have squashed up facial structures and all the ladies have long legs and big busts. The characters retain the exact same designs as the comic so fans won’t be disappointed by changes. And besides if they aint broke why fix them? However because of this some of the emotion is to be desired. It’s a bit hard to take Atarus’ feelings seriously when he looks like his head has been crafted from a dinner plate.
The music is also an element that adds to the fun factor of this movie, you see the film is structured like a musical with nice melodic interludes an important scenes conveying characters emotions. To the most part it works in a novel sense but again takes away from the impact of emotion due to all the songs been very squeaky J-Pop melodies.
Trying to work any amount of sincerity into a movie of this kind is probably the worst thing you can do simply because it either it contrasts too much with the slapstick or simply falls flat on its face. In this case the sincerity falls and breaks its skull and while some may find it touching others will simply cast it aside and wait for the next joke.
Besides the slight flaw of poorly implemented emotion Urusei Yatsura comes as a recommended title – worthy of repeated viewing (simply because it’s easy to watch and doesn’t take too much effort) fine art, cheery music and overall air of niceness coupled with the directing expertise of Oshii Mamoru set it apart from the other Rumiko Takahashi licences out there.
| 7.5 out of 10.0 |
|
|
|