Review by Nick Gibbs-McNeil
Stars the voices of Shunsuke Kazama, Kenn, Yuya Miyashita, Atsushi Tamura, Takanori Hoshino, Shintaro Asanuma, Ayumi Kinoshita, Yuka Terasaki, Ai Horanai, Kappei Yamaguchi
Written by Kazuki Takahashi & Jin Yoshida
Certification UK U
Runtime 60 minutes
Directed by Kenichi Takeshita
Back in 1986 I remember feeling jealous of my close friend’s adventure to the cinema to see Transformers: The Movie. I’m not criticising my mum, but never in a million years would she have taken me to see this film. When my friends returned, I ran down the road to find out their verdict and it was a massive thumbs-up. For the rest of the day I did nothing but pump them for information about the movie.
At one point I asked one of their mums what she thought. To my horror she said it was rubbish, but said that she managed to close her eyes for an hour and a bit. This was a shocking revelation to an 11-year-old me! This was one of the films of that year for anyone under 12, and all she wanted to do was rest?!
Now to 2011 and I’m a parent of two very loud, boisterous and energetic little boys. They love all the obvious boy’s franchises: Star Wars, Super Hero Squad, Ben 10, Bakugan, Power Rangers and anything with an anime background. So here we are at the premiere for the first ever anime in 3D, Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D: Bonds Beyond Time ... and after seeing it, quite honestly, I have no idea what happens in the film. My understanding of the story is that there is a card game a bit like Top Trumps in which monsters come to life and battle using their magical special powers. Yu-Gi-Oh! is a TV show which has been around for over 10 years, there have been many different characters, and this film centres on the most popular from the comic book and TV series.
To add to the mix (and then purely for the new movie) there is someone from the future who hates the "Monster card game" and travels through time to try and destroy the game, preventing it from rising in popularity. The future is looking desolate and destroyed by the gaming culture so our villain decides he should try to stop it. Although, I have to admit, I was struggling to see him as the baddie as I thought he was doing the right thing, but hey what do I know?
Anyway, it all turns into one massive powered-up monster scrap where someone wins and someone loses. Now, I'm pretty certain I haven’t done this film much justice. If you spoke to my 6 and 4-year-old, they would explain it with actions and make it sound incredibly exciting. But the fact is I’m a 36-year-old man and have had my childhood. The only part I can truly talk about is the 3D and it’s very impressive. It’s not to the quality of Tangled, but it’s of a good standard that more anime should be produced in 3D.
As for my thoughts on the film: 30 years on, I still watch the Transformers movie and love it with the heart of a child. I dare say my children and many others will do the same with Yu-Gi-Oh in 30 years time. I’m giving it three stars, but my children both thought it worthy of five.
I now have a better understanding of my friend’s mother. I love my "Kidz", but sometimes the idea of sitting in a dark room and shutting off because there’s something to keep them quiet and occupied is a dream. This film will do exactly that for an hour. You never know – you may even be remembered like my friends mum and be parent of the year for taking your children to see a film you really didn’t want to see. Go on, take them and have some peace and quiet. You deserve it.