Taro the Dragon Boy
(Discotek DVD Region 1 NTSC DVD)
(1979)
review by Big McLargehuge, and special guest reviewer
Ian McLarghuge

I was surprised to find a padded envelope in my mailbox on Monday. Three DVDs that I'd never heard of waited inside. One was a live action Lupin the Third movie, and the other two were children's anime from the 1970s. One of which, Taro the Dragon Boy, immediately called to mind an old book from my Grandmother's library named "Kintaro's Adventures" and after a few minutes of watching I was transported back to my childhood and the wonders within that little green book.

I was fortunate enough to watch Taro the Dragon Boy with my son, Ian, who will be filling in much of the review from this point on. (Ian's review will be in yellow!)

I like this story because Taro was very strong. Taro's mother was a dragon who ran away from the village. She came back only one time because Taro was hungry and she let Taro eat her eyes. Then she was blind.

Taro is a fat and lazy little boy. The other kids in the village make fun of him. He likes play with the animals on the mountain, especially when they wrestle. Taro was strong he could even beat the bear at wrestling. (note from Big: Taro and the animals practice Sumo). A wizard appears at the wrestling match and wrestles with Taro.

Taro is super-strong so he also beats the wizard. The wizard is so impressed he offers Taro a drink from his magic gourd. This drink makes Taro even stronger, but the drink makes it so that he can only help other people. Taro heads off across the nine mountains to find his mother.

On the way Taro learns about planting rice, about sharing, and about working hard. Three things he didn't know before he left his own village.

The characters looked great. I especially liked Taro's mom because she was a dragon like the dragon in Spirited Away. (Big: The character design by Isamu Dota is very reminiscent of Ghibli's output. Dota also worked films such as Grave of the Fireflies)

I was never bored while watching Taro the Dragon Boy.

Some of the music in Taro the Dragon sounded like the music in Godzilla vs. Hedorah (Big: in fact, Riichiro Manabe scored BOTH films.)

This is a good kid's movie and I liked it a lot. It is good for kids of all ages. I am 4, so I know.

Big, here, taking the review back over from Ian McLargehuge. Taro the Dragon Boy was beautifully animated and certainly on par with any theatrical animation of the late 70's early 80's period. The English dubbed script by Peter Fernandez was very well done and respectful of the source material. The Disk by Discotek DVD offers both the English Dub and the original Japanese language track with English subtitles.

The extras package is a little thin, but this is a kids DVD so I am not surprised. There is a trailer for this film and another Discotek release, Animal Treasure Island.

Taro the Dragon boy is a much beloved folk character from Japan and makes appearances usually on "Boys Day". He is renowned for his feats of strength and his commitment to helping others. What's nice about the Taro the Dragon Boy film is that it manages to encapsulate a bunch of his legendary exploits into one film but never manages to feel episodic. The art is very good, especially the background work, and the animation is very fluid. While Japanese animation of the late 1970's was not quite on par with Disney's offerings, it is still leaps and bounds above anything from television at that time period.

Unlike Disney's offerings though, Taro the Dragon contains nudity. Taro appears sans pants once and Taro's mom appears sans clothes once.

Peter Fernandez is best known as the producer of the Americanized Speed Racer, Star Blazers, Galaxy Rangers, and Thunderbirds 2086 cartoons and shows the same respect here that he did to the titular teen driver of the Mach 5 and the crew of the Space Battleship Yamato. The voice acting in the Englsh dub is excellent and while I cannot find a listing of who supplied the talent, I am guessing that many of them could be heard in the other Fernandez titles.

I had a great time watching Taro the Dragon Boy with my son, and while ostensibly a kids movie, provides entertainment for adults as well.