Honestly, still pretty charming.
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Early films like this one are pretty interesting and impressive to watch because it does make you wonder "how would you actually do that special effect, especially with just the more basic tools of the time?" The figurative (and sometimes literal) seams in the special effects just add to the appreciation and charms of the techniques and innovations they came up with.
Less of a comedy than I thought it would be based on the director's earlier work Tampopo and more of a drama with some comedic moments. There was actually probably just as many touching and just plain charming moments as there were comedic. Although, I could tell there was a lot that I wasn't getting due to not knowing enough about Japanese culture and traditions.
I'm sure most of the reviews have some version of "I was/wasn't entertained" so instead I will say that "I have decreed... mercy 👍" (not much more original I'm sure).
Maybe it's because I went in with low expectations, but I really enjoyed it. Sure some of the CGI was pretty bad, and Mescal's acting was pretty bland, but there were quite a few decent set pieces and Denzel put on a fun and compelling performance.
I was originally going…
