Doraemon the Movie: Nobita's Dorabian Nights is a captivating film directed by Tsutomu Shibayama, featuring Nobita and his friends on a magical journey through Arabian enchantment. The film follows Nobita and his friends as they encounter a charming genie named Sophia. The animation captures the allure of Arabian landscapes and adds a touch of wonder to the well-loved characters. The film explores themes of courage, self-discovery, and friendship as the characters navigate the challenges of the magical world. Doraemon's gadgets add delightful twists to the traditional Arabian Nights tale, creating moments of laughter and awe. With vibrant visuals, engaging narrative, and positive messages, Nobita's Dorabian Nights stands as a testament to the enduring magic of the Doraemon series.
2 Reviews
Not one of my favorite Doraemon movies, story takes major leaps in logic to work
albertonykus10 March 2024
Warning: Spoilers
In this movie, Nobita's friend Shizuka gets literally lost inside an Arabian Nights story, so the others have to rescue her. I've never particularly liked this one. Reducing Shizuka's main narrative importance to "damsel in distress" is already not a winning premise, though this is at least not used as an excuse to sacrifice her characterization. Indeed, she responds to her situation with far more resourcefulness and composure than any 10-year-old should be expected to. (And her situation gets pretty dark, including her being marketed as a slave!)
There are other glaring flaws with the story, however. To start off, Shizuka is trapped inside the story from a physical book, which ends up getting burned, preventing the others from going back in themselves. Doraemon suggests that because Arabian Nights has characters inspired by real-world figures, it's possible that they'll be able to find Shizuka if they travel to 8th-Century Baghdad by Time Machine. This sounds like a big stretch, but it somehow works. (Uh, what about time-traveling to before the book was destroyed and retrieving the actual book...?) Not only that, but once the protagonists are in Baghdad, their entire search for Shizuka is founded on a series of vague hunches, visions in dreams, and rumors from unreliable sources. It's frankly miraculous that they eventually locate her at all.
Did I like anything about this movie? Well, the story moves at a brisk pace (if occasionally too brisk), so it's certainly not boring. Seeing Gian's protectiveness surface when Nobita gets heatstroke was nice. On the whole though, I have to say that Doraemon movies go, this is not one I rate highly.
There are other glaring flaws with the story, however. To start off, Shizuka is trapped inside the story from a physical book, which ends up getting burned, preventing the others from going back in themselves. Doraemon suggests that because Arabian Nights has characters inspired by real-world figures, it's possible that they'll be able to find Shizuka if they travel to 8th-Century Baghdad by Time Machine. This sounds like a big stretch, but it somehow works. (Uh, what about time-traveling to before the book was destroyed and retrieving the actual book...?) Not only that, but once the protagonists are in Baghdad, their entire search for Shizuka is founded on a series of vague hunches, visions in dreams, and rumors from unreliable sources. It's frankly miraculous that they eventually locate her at all.
Did I like anything about this movie? Well, the story moves at a brisk pace (if occasionally too brisk), so it's certainly not boring. Seeing Gian's protectiveness surface when Nobita gets heatstroke was nice. On the whole though, I have to say that Doraemon movies go, this is not one I rate highly.
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