In a world that is eating nostalgia up faster than popcorn
during movie theater trailer, it’s not surprising to see so many franchises
from the past 20 years and longer trying to make some sort of comeback. Power
Rangers is doing that this year, Digimon started celebrating their 15th
anniversary a couple years ago, and we’ve already gotten 2 seasons of
Fuller House on Netflix. So I was excited to see Yu-Gi-Oh’s 20th
anniversary movie this weekend, but I was underwhelmed and disappointed.
So the concept is solid: Pharaoh Atem’s spirit has been
released for a while, but Kaiba having the big head that he does can’t leave it
alone. He is determined to bring the Pharaoh back and duel him to settle his
score. Next enter a new villain who has a vendetta and of course Yugi ends up
right in the middle of it. While I liked the concept (the idea of bringing the
Pharaoh back was intriguing because both Yugi and Kaiba were struggling to come
to terms with his departure), the actual execution of this plot was not well
done. And then in the end it was all wrapped with a deus ex machina that didn’t
even get an ounce of explanation. So while Yugi and Kaiba got closure, I
didn’t.
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| One thing I liked about this movie was bringing back the entire gang back together again. Regardless of my other critiques, the characterization of each of these were on point. |
In a way the plot and mechanics of the movie were a little
over-complicated. Instead of just a villain and a vendetta, we got oodles of
backstory that I didn’t even care about. I mean, some villain backstory is
necessary, but I felt like we got too much. Besides all that, the villain’s
method of dueling was bizarre. If it had been properly explained, it might have
been fine. Instead, things were brushed over. Also there were a lot of new
cards added (mostly support cards for Blue-Eyes and Dark Magician) that I knew
nothing about, so I was lost as far as exactly what they were doing. Granted,
unlike in the TV show, the effects were written on the cards, but I don’t think
split second shots to read card effects is sufficient.
Speaking of cards, I also didn’t care for the redesign of
some of the cards. Dark Magician and Obelisk the Tormentor looked way too
different from the original anime. Now if 100% of the cards had changed, I’d
have been more okay with it. Instead, Dark Magician Girl and others looked
exactly the same. I don’t know if it was to make the tone of the movie darker
or what, but I didn’t care for it much. I certainly didn’t care for the
inconsistency.
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| Dark Magician was the same in the card, so why did the hologram change? |
I’m also a bit sick of Kaiba’s overly prideful attitude.
He’s always been obnoxious and a jerk (and a bit delusional), but I’d have
thought after his experience in the Memory World and the final duel between
Yugi and Atem (granted, that only happened in the anime, not the manga) that
he’d be a bit humbler. Nope, instead he developed a god complex as he developed
his new tech. Like I said, delusional.
One final critique: As much as this movie tried to tie up
some loose ends regarding Bakura and Shadi and giving closure to Yugi and
Kaiba, it left me with more questions, regarding the nature of the Millennium
Items, the fate of the Pharaoh, and Shadi’s past (never mind that ending). I
understand that this movie wasn’t planned when the original story was written,
but the added details didn’t sit too well with me. It felt like there was
inconsistencies in the story…. And having been a huge fan of Once Upon a Time
and Lost, I have proven that I can handle inconsistencies and plot holes.
The movie had some good themes. The idea of fear and hate
not being able to fix anything or make a better world is perfect for our world
today. Like I said in a
previous post, I see a lot of us vs. them going on (and Facebook is just a
small microcosm of that) and it’s not going to solve anything in the world. A
world of peace CANNOT be created through fear and anger.
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| As much as I have my issues with this movie, it was nice to see Yugi finally face Kaiba all on his own. |
Honestly, if this movie had been a trilogy or something, it
might have been better, kind of like how Digimon is doing six movies for Digimon Adventure
Tri. If we’d had more time, we could have gotten used to Dimension Duels
and we could have had more time to develop the villain and we wouldn’t have had
to rush through the duels we had.
All in all, there was nothing wrong with the movie… just
hard to follow and process. Maybe if I watch it a second time I’ll feel
differently, but I was frustrated enough with this that I’d rather not buy the
movie. I’d rather watch one of the other two movies (“Pyramid
of Light” or “Bonds Beyond
Time”); they’re not perfect, but they were a lot more self-contained than
this one.
Anyway, I’m done ranting. If you’ve seen “Dark Side of
Dimensions”, let me know what you think. Would you recommend it? Do you
disagree with me or am I on point?
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