Cutie Honey

As a fan of Go Nagai's Cutey Honey (spelled "Cutie Honey" in this film), I knew I had to see this. I was not disappointed. The film follows Honey's early life, taking its cues from the early manga and the original television series.The movie takes a few liberties with the character, but it's got the essentials there, and Honey-chan is cute and sexy.The details behind Honey's creation are among the most notable changes from canon, but the technology used to keep her alive is central to the film's plot and Sister Jill's quest for immortality. Honey eats a LOT in this film in order to fuel the immense power at her disposal and the scenes with her stuffing her face are very funny. I wish I could eat that much without gaining weight.They did an excellent job on her hair and costume, and she makes good use of her sword and trademark boomerang during the fights (including one of the only times I've ever seen Honey use her boomerang UP CLOSE... and that thing does enough damage when thrown from a distance!). The movie's special effects are really pretty good, although they have a bit of a cartoony quality to them. I think this was intentional though, especially since some actual anime clips are very briefly seen during certain plot-advancing scenes; the filmmakers seem to be having fun with reminding us that this movie is based on a cartoon series. Almost all of the fights make heavy use of CGI and model effects and have a very anime-style feel to them, but they add to the fun rather than bring it down.Honey's major nemesis in this film is Sister Jill, who is very chillingly realized through an icy performance and some damn creepy makeup. Before facing Sister Jill though, Honey has to go through her four major underlings in the Panther Claw: Gold Claw, Cobalt Claw, Scarlet Claw and Black Claw. The fight with Gold Claw is the first major battle in the movie, and though Gold Claw essentially loses, she's retained until shortly before the climax then suddenly disposed of, one of the few things in the film that really doesn't seem to work. The battle with Cobalt Claw is very intense and gives us a good look at the conflict Honey deals with throughout the film: her desire to do good versus her desire to take revenge for her father's murder. Honey's emotions get the better of her in the fight with Cobalt Claw and she's left with a lot to think about afterwards.She doesn't face the other two until she's ready for her showdown in the Panther Claw complex, and Scarlet Claw is a joke. Black Claw, however, is the first villain to truly give Honey a run for her money; their battle is spectacular. I thought of David Bowie as the Goblin King (from the 1986 movie "Labyrinth") when Black Claw appeared, microphone in hand, singing to Honey before engaging her in battle. Black Claw's ensemble of musicians continues to play music as Black Claw and Honey duel. It just doesn't get better than that!The friends Honey makes along the way join her in the Panther Claw complex and put their lives on the line willingly, though really more for their own reasons than Honey's. I liked the relationships Honey established with them, especially with the hard-nosed Natsuko; it added some nice weight to the story. The story is just as much an exploration of what it means to live life as it is a display of Honey kicking butt.You don't really see much by the way of nudity, just so you know. Whenever Honey performs a Honey Flash her body is obscured by light, but there are a couple scenes in which she's dressed skimpily enough that we are not completely deprived of our cheesecake.A word about the DVD: the subtitles are a little mistimed, so they sometimes don't tell you what's being said until the character is already done speaking. You get used to it though (especially if you're a fast reader) and it's not as bad as it could have been. There's no dub, either, so if you don't like subtitles you'll just have to deal.It's really a pretty good live-action take on Honey and I definitely recommend it if you're a Honey fan.

This film is an early 2000s adaptation of a 1970s manga anime series. While I can't speak of how faithful it is, not having watched the anime (yet), I can say it's really really weird and very very good. It's a surreal, cartoony, hilarious film with a lot of heart. There are cliches to be found here, and a saturday morning cartoon villain to be fought with the power of emotions. It almost feels like somebody took a typical saturday morning cartoon that was going through puberty and bashed it on the head a couple of times. There's fanservice out the wazoo, and fight scenes you need to see to believe. Every character in the film is memorable and loveable, even the villains.The cinematography does what it needs to do and the film is nice enough to look at, but never particularly beautiful. The director is mostly known for his anime work and you can tell he brought a lot of that with him here. Thats not bad either. The film mixes live action and animation, with a pretty damn cool opening animation and some animated flashback scenes. There's also some really bad CGI that I adore.The writing, while simple and filled with cliches in it's good vs. evil plot, manages to give characters enough depth and personality for you to really care about them. While the film is primarily a comedy that spoofs the superhero genre, it's also a genuinely good, but very cheesy superhero film. There is drama and conflict and even some emotional scenes and they work. They shouldn't work, because the film is zany and hyperactive, but they do. Anno has managed to make a film that would normally suffer from all it's conflicting elements into a film that excels because of them.The acting, is hard to judge. It's kind of all over the place. There's a lot of scenery chewing going on here, some pretty big hams. But again it works and feels natural within the very odd universe this film has created.All in all, I wouldn't call this Anno's best work, certainly not his most intelligent or meaningful, but it's a fun, exciting ride that's nice to revisit once in a while. Maybe It's just because it hits all my soft spots and I like weird schlocky Japanese movies and love the director, but it's one of my favorite live action films, when it comes to superheroes anyways. Would reccomend.

Some kinds of gifts are good when you have a birthday, while other gifts for good for when you celebrate something. But when it comes to giving a gift based on their favorite hobby, that's what hard to figure out the most.Cutie Honey (Limited Edition) set is a great idea for fans of either the anime or manga series. The movie is actually not bad, and is toned down from it's anime counter-part. (Not as much nudity, just suggestiveness) The movie itself is actually pretty good compared to other anime to live-action movies that's out there. The quality of the movie is very good as this was more than just a fan made movie. As for the story, I will not give the plot away, you are just going to have to see the movie yourself.The set comes to you as a tin lunch-box. Inside you get the DVD movie and a "Cutie Honey" key chain. The extras are protected by a sponge material that is coated inside the tin lunch-box. All together an interesting gift idea for the "Cutie Honey" fan.Normally you would expect some kind of "adult" material to appear in this movie, as that was the case with the anime, but that is NOT the case. The movie itself is very clean, even a child can watch it. Language is moderate (No swearing of any kind) and the violence was not that bad. Action sequences are equal only to the "Power Rangers" battle scenes. A very comical movie for the whole family to watch. My only recommendation is that you see the anime series, as the movie doesn't totally explain a lot of her past. Ideally, for fans of the series, but also for anyone who likes a "cute" action movie.