Tetsujin 28 - The Movie
(Manga Region 2 PAL DVD)
(2005)
review by Blackgloves

"Tetsujin 28" features a mixture of live-action film and CGI animation. Based on the original fifty-year-old Manga by Mitsutera Yokoyama, this movie version attempts to combine the cool visual style of computer animated anime with that of modern fantasy cinema, producing a pleasant moral fable aimed at younger viewers, extolling persistence in the face of adversity — a favourite theme in anime. The backdrop to the Manga depended on the conceit that Japan developed giant robot technology back in 1945, intending to use it to win the Second World War. Before the "Iron Giant Project" could be put into effect, however, the war ended, and the project left forgotten. The main tropes of the "giant robot" genre are all included here; the most noticeable one being the child protagonist who finds the fate of the world resting entirely on his small shoulders when he turns out to be the only one capable of operating the giant robot "weapon". The animated sections, of course, come into play whenever the robot sequences are needed. The robot design looks exactly the same as its anime counterpart, but the fluidity of animation is inevitably rather stilted in comparison: robot battles tend to be rather slow and lumbering, consisting of the robo-monsters laboriously slugging each other very slowly. The film succeeds largely on the strength of the robust performance of its lead child actor, Sosuke Ikematsu, who plays Shotaro Kaneda - the son of a genius scientist who died in mysterious circumstances when our hero was just a small infant. 

 

Now twelve-years-old and living with his mother, Shotaro suffers from bullying at school and bad nightmares in which he always sees his father pushing him away in a dimly lit space, illuminated by flashing electric sparks. While seeking solace in his remote controlled aeroplane, Shotaro sees a giant robot arm flying over Tokyo! The arm was witnessed crashing out of the mansion of the ex-head of a giant computer firm, the brilliant Takumi. It now joins up with the rest of the body of a huge black robot, which promptly goes on a destructive rampage in the city and leaves Shotaro's mother badly injured. Someone calling themselves "zero" hacks into the police web site and leaves a message claiming that the robot "Black Ox" will take over Tokyo in two weeks! A male and female cop duo, Murasame and Ejima, from the Special Investigations Department, manage to determine that Takumi and his female sidekick are behind the destructive plot. After going off the rails because of the death of his only son, Takumi wants to destroy the entire world and rebuild it as computer-controlled utopia. The detectives find themselves working with a young, beautiful specialist from MIT whose skills will be needed if they are to stand any chance of finding their quarry.

 

Now forced to fend for himself while his mother recovers in hospital, Shotaro receives a mysterious phone-call from a Professor Ayabe. A chauffeur-driven limousine is waiting outside his house to take him off to meet this stranger, and a bewildered Shotaro finds himself whisked off by boat to his father's hidden underground laboratory on a remote island. The bowler hatted Professor Ayabe shows the boy a huge robot which he calls Tesujin 28: part of a military project Shotaro's father was working on before his death. The rusting hulk was designed to be operated only by Shotaro; and the boy realises that he has intuitive memory of the location of the key for the robot. The lab is the place that he has been seeing in his dreams.

 

As Black Ox heads off to destroy the parliament building, Shotaro is put in command of the iron monster — which looks like an old boiler on legs — and, using the retro remote control box, attempts to stop Black Ox carrying out the evil Takumi's plan. Unfortunately, Shotaro's skills aren't quite as intuitive as he thought, and the superior Black Ox smashes up Tetsujin and hurls it at the parliament, using its foe to achieve its objective and destroy the building

 

Shotaro is disheartened and depressed; he refuses to have anything more to do with Tetsujin at first but, as Ayabe and the MIT specialist Maimi Tachibana spruce up Tetsujin with some souped up new powers, a high-tec control box and a nice, new, shiny lick of blue paint, Shotaro learns to face up to the responsibilities handed down by his father. But the battle to defeat his own fears is only just beginning and Takumi is preparing Black Ox for the final showdown with his young nemesis.

 

"Tetsujin 28" is a likable, if undemanding film. Aimed at a young age group, it tends towards sentimentality and cute homilies, and the CG may well put even younger viewers off with it's cartoon-ish aesthetic, since it doesn't merge well with the live action footage. A youthful, exuberant cast provide the film with plenty of zest, but the story is filled with stock villains and illogical plot moves. For instance, the revamped Tetsujin comes equipped with a virtual reality operating system — but this provides no advantage whatsoever, for it just means that the controller also takes a punch every time Tetsujin gets hit by Black Ox! What use is that! The battles, as mentioned, are dull lumbering affairs and there is nothing that could be called spectacular in the execution of the plot. This film might possibly keep very young viewers entertained for a couple of hours but older fans will want to stick with the anime version.

 

The film gets a nice widescreen anamorphic presentation and looks really sharp and colourful throughout. The audio options include Japanese 2.0 and 5.1 (with DTS option) and removable English subtitles. You also get a robot cut-out card and a collectable booklet!