User Reviews

Film adaption of Osamu Tezuka's comic about a swordsman who's father sold 48 of his body parts to various demons for help in taking over the country and the world. As the swordsman kills the various demons he gets the parts back. He travels with a young thief named Dororo whom he picks up along the way. As the story progresses the pair encounters many demons and move ever closer to the revenge Hyakkimaru, the swordsman, desires.

Its an okay adaption of the comic (just now being published in the US), with several changes to the story (Hyakkimaru's father is wounded in battle and angry at his Lord when he makes the deal with the demons not just desirous of power, the creation of Hyakkimaru's prosthetic body is something out of Frankenstein instead of carved from wood, the source of one of the swords that serve as arms has been changed and it appears that how and what our hero can see has changed), the film travels close to episodic nature of the comic in spirit if not in actuality. This presents a problem since much of the first half of the film is exposition, setting up back stories and who these characters are.Its okay but it doesn't allow for things to really take off until the second half (which angles towards two promised sequels). There is also a weird shifting of tone from action to comedy to drama to horror in a way that doesn't quite work. (It doesn't help that there is an over abundance of CGI that often makes things seem less real) I like the film but I don't love it. Its not because I'm really enjoying the comic and the film doesn't match it, rather its just that the film is long winded and doesn't work for its own reasons. Frankly the almost two and a half running time is too much for a film that is too episodic to fully buildup momentum (perhaps the next two films will play better with the need for set up removed). The look of the film is often breath taking and the action is quite good and over all the film is worth seeing if you are willing to allow for its flaws. I don't know if I'd pay to see this at 10 bucks a head (a possibility since this has been popping in and out of theaters) but I would rent it or wait for a cable appearance should a station actually purchase the broadcast rights.

6.5 out of 10.

--------- Addendum: I recently spoke with a representative from Vertical Publishing who is putting out the comic. He said that there will be no sequels because the Tezuka estate dislikes this film enough to stop production.

After reading a fair number of IMDb comments over the last few years, I get the impression that comic fans, understandably, are the most demanding regarding a movie's adherence to the original work. I start therefore by stating that I the first time I heard about the Dororo manga series was when I heard about this movie.

Although specific year and dynasty are mentioned at the start of the movie, the story of "Dororo" in spirit happens "a long time ago, (in a galaxy) far, far away", in other words, in an undefined time and space in the author's imagination. Incidentally, I'll come back to "Star Wars" as there is a very interesting connection.

The start of the movie, however, looks very much like a continuation of "300" – a battlefield with dead bodies strewn as far as the eyes can see. Fortunately, this somber mood does not carry into the rest of the movie. The prologue, however, is quite ominous. Defeated leader Kagemitsu Diago, seeking refuge in a desolate temple, ends up killing his host the monk and striking a bizarre deal with 48 demons (represented by 48 macabre statues in the temple). In exchange for the power to rise again, in victory, he promises 48 "body parts" (from limbs to internal organs) of his unborn son, on to each of the demons. This is the fascinating premise on which the story is constructed.

I wouldn't go into details of how the story, now starting with "20 years later", is told with some flashbacks but generally in a simple, easy-to-follow linear narration. The story is essentially about the quest of this unfortunate son's quest to "reclaim" his 48 body parts from the demons. Let me first reassure the general audiences that there is no gory or revolting scene like those you see (or try not to see) in "Hannibal rising" or "300". The deprived baby looks more like what you see in the first stage of a doll's assembly line, the head and body before the eyes, ears, mouth and limbs are assembled. When we see him as a 20-year-old, he has already been fitted with "temporary" body parts by the kindly wise man who discovered him. During the "reclamation" process, there are scenes when Hyakkimaru re-grows a limb or coughs out an internal organ that has been replaced but these are all done in an innocent comic-book fashion.

But who is Dororo anyway? I claim in the summary line that this movie has everything you want from an adventure action movie, and Dororo is the key reason, providing both romance and comedy. In the original manga, Dororo is a little boy, a petty thief who aspires to be the greatest thief in Japan. He is Hyakkimaru's loyal buddy that sticks with him through the dangerous quest. In the movie adaptation, the profession and the aspiration are kept intact but the character becomes a girl, for obvious reasons. While Hyakkimaru is a man who doesn't have much feelings (he does not even have a heart at the beginning), Dororo had a rough childhood as an orphan, and grew up as a boy. Veteran movie fans will of course recognize right away that this "odd couple" situation provides great opportunities for both romance and comedy. Both are tackled in a sensitive and tasteful way: without the movie taking any particular pain to point out, we note that she is the only person who can make him smile while he is the only person who can make her cry.

In the fantasy and action department, there's imagination that rivals what you see in Hayao Miyazaki's "Spirited away". Whatever lacking in special effect technique, compared with Hollywood mega-budget productions, is more than compensated for by this breathtaking imagination and artistic execution.

And there's more. In true Kurosawa tradition, "Dororo" has a heart for the "little people", telling their stories with sincerity but without preaching.

I mentioned "Star wars". As gradual revelation finally brings Hyakkimaru to a final confrontation with his father who sacrificed an unborn son for personal power and glory, those of us "Star War" devotees will see at the back of our mind another confrontation, long ago and far, far away, between Luke Sykwalker and Darth Vader. As one report goes, George Lucas is such a fan of Asian fantasies that he might have been inspired by the "Dororo" manga.

I have not seen any other movie of Satoshi Tsumabuki, who plays Hyakkimaru, but he certainly makes the character likable in this movie, which is very important. Playing Dororo is Kou Shibasaki whom I have seen in two entirely different roles – a heartbreakingly melancholic lover in "Crying out love in the centre of the world" and a heroic firefighter with also a tender side in "The sinking of Japan". Dororo is an entirely different persona, which she portrays equally convincingly. And I must not leave out Kiichi Nakai whose commanding screen presence well qualifies him to play the father. I have seen him in a little noticed but excellent movie called "Tian di ying xiong" (2003).

When Shiota Akihiko's SFX heavy, horror fantasy "Dororo" hit theaters in Japan earlier this year it was a major box office hit for Toho studios and resonated well with Japanese audiences young and old alike.

Based on manga pioneer Tezuka Osamu's comic series of the same name, the story revolved around the exploits of a truly unique and tragic hero, Hyakkimaru (literally "Hundred Demons") who was cursed from birth and born a living husk (faceless, organ-less, limbless and all but a empty torso). His fate was sealed by his ambitious and tyrannical father Kagemitsu Daigo (portrayed by the great character actor Nakai Kiichi) who offered his unborn son's body to 48 demons in exchange for the power to dominate and conquer Japan (during the warring states period). Saved from death by his kind mother (Harada Mieko), he was left floating along a desolate river bank only to be found by a kindly shaman/inventor (Harada Yoshio), who "rebuilt" him into the semblance of a normal child a la Pinnochio (his body, limbs and internal organs were replaced by artificial tissue fashioned from the remains of fallen dead).

In time the young Hyakkimaru, learned to control his new body and began training under the shaman to become a living weapon (being artificial, he was impervious to pain and death. He was later outfitted with a "blessed" sword (bearing sacred Sanskrit text) which enabled him to slay demons with its blade.

Upon the death of the kindly mystic, Hyakkimaru learned about his true origins and sought out the 48 demons who were each in possession of a part of his true body. With each defeat of a demon, he was able to regain another part of his humanity. He was aided in his struggles by an orphaned teen whose parents were killed by Kagemitsu and his growing legions. While born a girl, she was reared as a boy in disguise. Having no name of her own, she adopted Hyakkimaru's "Dororo" nickname (a term used to refer to bastard demonic offspring).

"Dororo" is a pure popcorn movie fantasy in the same spirit as such 80's sword/sorcery fantasies like "Willow", "Legend" and "Highlander".

It also comes with little surprise that the film is reminiscent of the popular Hong Kong fantasy film trilogy of the late 80s, "Chinese Ghost Story" as Siu-Tung Ching is the film's action/stunt coordinator. I reckon however that Ching's influence extended beyond just directing the unique blend of inventive "wushu" style action and also showed itself in some of the monster designs and inventive set pieces.

The visual effects are also another great aspect of the film albeit they range from impressive CGI to silly costume effects similar to the stuff you would find on typical Saturday "Tokusatsu" (Live Action) TV. They are most certainly a step above the effects found in this year's similar movie "Mushishi".

The New Zealand location and scenery is gorgeous and really adds to the surreal surroundings of the world of "Dororo".

Thankfully, Shiota's breezy pacing of the film offsets the film's almost 139 minute run time.

Tsumabuki Satoshi (Dragon Head, Nada Sou Sou) is likable in his role as hero Hyakkimaru and brings a strong sense of charm with the role even though his dialog is very limited. Shibasaki Kou (Battle Royale, Memories of Matsuko, Nihon Chimbotsu) is also quite good in her role as "Dororo" albeit some may find her comedic rantings and antics to be grating after a while.

Nakai Kiichi (Owl's Castle, Hotaru) is menacing in his role as Kagemitsu but he doesn't really get the chance to develop the role beyond the stereotypical megalomaniac caricature. Eita (Memories of Matsuko, Tokyo Friends:The Movie) who portrays Tahoumaru (Hyakkimaru's step brother) fairs a little better with his semi-sympathetic role.

Many will find the final half of the movie a bit of a disappointment as the promise of a grand showdown between Kagemitsu and Hyakkimaru never materializes and what we get instead is a truncated battle that ends far too quickly to satisfy.

The end leaves open the opportunity for a sequel but it remains to be seen whether or not future directors can go beyond the "monster of the week" formula of demon battles and explore Hyakkimaru's unique story of trying to regain his humanity and become more "human".

The film opens on a bloody battlefield, Kentei year 3048, the battle is over but the slaughter of the fallen continues the conquering general Lord Kagemitsu enters a sealed temple of 48 demons, the Hell Shrine. Kagemitsu makes a deal with the demons to give them 48 parts of his newborn son's body in return the demons are to make Kagemitsu the ruler of the world. The mutilated baby has survived and twenty years later he's looking to take back those body parts as he travels the world slaying demons. His name is Hyakkimaru and he's played by Tsumabuki Satoshi (Orange Days, ), Shibasaki Kou (Galileo, Orange Days) plays Dororo, another victim of the long war Kagemitsu has waged, it's cost her family and home she joins him as he travels battling demons, regaining body parts. Her ultimate aim is to use his demon slaying sword to assassinate Kagemitsu.

The story is based on a manga by the incredible Osamu Tezuka, and the stars of Orange Days, who couldn't have stepped into more different roles. From the sophisticated Detective Utsumi in Galileo to the ragtag thief in Dororo, she great in the role of comic relief and she does her work perfectly. After Hyakkimaru slays the first demon, Dororo is covered in a shower of blood. This happens to her countless times throughout the movie to her frustration. The special effects range from pretty good to fairly bad, one particularly poor effect was demon that reminded me of a man sized rubber-suited Godzilla. Spotty effects aside the film is loads of fun, never taking itself too seriously this is like a Fritz Leiber Fafhrd And Gray Mouser tale brought to film. If you like 80's fantasy movies like Conan, Sword and the Sorcerer, or Deathstalker give this movie a try. If you prefer High Fantasy like Lord of the Rings give this a pass and try the Korean TV drama The Legend instead.

This was excellent, a film about a young man who inherits immortality by his father making a deal with a demon to rule the world. Although his son Kyakkimaru (Satoshi Sumabuki) was abandoned. A lone sorcerer uses his vast powers to give this abandoned young boy new body parts. 48 in all. His father made the deal where the demons would inherit his body parts when he was a baby. This gave him absolute power of his province, but at a high cost. Seeing as his empire was not becoming what it should be, his other son Tahomaru (Eita) would succeed him at the throne. During Kyakkimarus travels to look for his original body parts, a lone wolf woman Dororo (Ko Shibasaki) joins him in the effort to aid his journey. Her belief is that she is a man until the time comes to be a full fledged woman. Besides this, an old music man who ventures into the plains somehow manages to find and hear their sordid tales. And plays his Koto during times of battle between Kyakkimaru and the demons. With the news about his past, he then realizes that revenge is not the way to happiness, and his father Kagemitsu Daigo (Kiichi Nakai) clashes with his abandoned son to settle the matter. Yet during this strange turn of events, his father succumbs to grief and suddenly understands that both of his sons are equally special. With the last blow from Kyakkimaru, he wounds his father when a demon takes over his body. It is the last stage for his journey, at lest on the family side. I thought this was a great movie, about dark magic, swords, apocalyptic times where the gun is not the dominant way of the samurai. There is humour, sadness, family bonds, and above all, a hero that sends back the demons who do not belong here. With his brother Tahomaru finally putting aside the sword for the better changes to happen, he waits until his older brother Kyakkimaru will return to take over the throne. Nice effects, strange looking demons, and all out fun between good and evil. A recommended film who read the Manga series.

Here's where the rubber meets the road and you find out whether you're a fan of Japanese films, action films, kung-fu, swordplay, Crouching Tiger, epic journeys, and monster movies, or if you're just a snob. Me? I thought I was a snob, jaded, yawning - turns out I was wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed DORORO.

It's a great combination of those genres I mentioned, and it takes a great chef to make a tasty stew. Not too much of this or that. It's not sardonic, sneering, or snarky, even if the heroine (or is she a "hero"?) is. It's played straight, and the fact that the demons seem to be directly out of Power Rangers has no bearing on it, because you will LOVE the agile spider demon, at the very least. The family conflicts are real, and even heartfelt, and the resolutions meaty, though of course not Ingmar Bergman or Akira Kurosawa meaty.

Some wordplay on DORORO - "doro" kinda means "muddy" which is our heroine's face, but "dororo" kinda means "little monster" which is our hero, and I guess our heroine also. Speaking of our hero (about time!), he's a bit like Pinocchio, isn't he, but also his quest takes on Lord of the Rings proportions. There is Jacob and Esau also, who got the blessing. Like I said, plenty to take in here. Fast-paced when it wants to be, slow and meditative at other points. There is a good bit of decent philosophy and wisdom to ponder, magic mixed with technology to gawk at, and high-flying martial arts with many a cool move!

Perhaps not that well-known to Western movie viewers 'Dororo' is a fast-paced fun and colorfully-imaginative film with kinetic (though sometimes brutal) Samurai-action + Fantasy-mystical elements tossed-in this highly-entertaining whirlpool-mix.

The original concept behind the film 'Dororo' came from the hyper-brilliant creative-mind of Legendary Osamu Tezuka (who of course was the father of modern Japanese manga & anime first in the 1950's and early 1960's 'Astro-Boy' 'Kimba the white Lion' 'Princess Knight' et al) Tezuka's original manga & TV-anime 'Dororo' was also popular in the late-1960's telling the tale of 'Hyakkimaru' (little-monster) who must reclaim his individual genuine body-parts (e.g. his real eyes, ears, heart, etc.) stolen by 48 Demons (when he was first-born due to an unholy alliance-deal-pact his father-warlord Daigo Kagemitsu made with the 48 warrior-demons, to gain brutal-power used to wage endlessly-bloody battle on the hapless citizenry during the relentlessly brutal Sengoku Jidai 'Warring-States' period in Japan, circa1400-1600)

It was quite an endeavor for director Akihiko Shiota to attempt to film (and recreate thru CGI) Tezuka's army of bizarrely-colorful (though still quite terrifying, and in many cases eccentric) Demons! Of course Japanese films don't have the mega-million budgets to spend on state-of-art SFX, but I think you can honestly say that a number of the demonic-visions captured on screen (that often match Hyakkimaru 'blade-for-blade') were overall quite effective (and always hyper-imaginative =akin to some of the far-out fantasy creatures in 'Pan's Labyrinth')

'Hyakkimaru' has to fight (and kill) each of the warrior-Demons to regain-restore his authentic 'body' (and become fully human again) - fortunately, Hyakkimaru is nearly invincible due to the artificial-regenerating limbs and 'magic-healing' power endowed him by his mystical stepfather (and also thanks to that handy 'demon-killing' blade/sword permanently grafted to his Left arm)

But what adds immeasurable dramatics to this fantastic Story is that along the way Hyakkimaru meets (and in a sense 'teams-up') with a rough-and-tumble, disheveled (and quite belligerent) young thief who eventually takes on the namesake 'Dororo' (which in this film is explained to be another term for 'little-monster' or perhaps even 'little-monster-thief') - but as the film/Story also shows in flashback = 'Dororo' had no choice but to become a thief simply to survive after her parents had both been killed as a result of Daigo Kagemitsu's ruthlessly-bloodthirsty army-rampage, thru her beloved village.

I think actress Kou Shibasaki (who was also in cult-classic "Battle Royale" and even the American-version "47-Ronin" from a few years-back) is fantastically-feisty, indomitable and otherwise perfect as 'Dororo' (who will never back-down from a fight, or opportunity to pocket-pick) and Satoshi Tsumabuki is both other-Worldly-eerie in nature but also fiercely samurai-battle-ready as the outsider trying to reclaim his 'humanity' (both literally & figuratively!)

If you are looking for an imaginative, eccentric, fast-paced and highly-entertaining diversion (originally from the mind of creative-genius Osamu Tezuka) = this film is definitely for you! (And if you also can't get enough of Sengoku period Ronin rogue-samurai films + substantial-fantasy elements = be sure to locate this in the archive and Watch!)