Yu-Gi-Oh the Movie

Publisher
Warner Bros.
Director
Hatsuki Tsuji
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Film
Running time
90 mins
Year
2004

Yu-Gi-Oh the Movie

By David Rasmussen
24th Nov 04

Company - Warner Brothers
Rated - PG
English, French and Spanish Dialogues(?)
Optional Extras? - Not as much as I thought there would be... see below.
Time 90 minutes
Site - www.yugioh.com

Eh... already?
It's only been... uh... two or three months or so since the movie came out in theaters, hasn't it?
Not to be the doubting thomas here but WHY did it come out so soon?!?
Guess the WB gave up and finally decided DVD was better. At least they tried.
But in this "Game" trying just doesn't cut it. Really, what were they thinking?

So, to the brass tacks of it all. Why did it fail in theaters? Let me count the two ways.
1-Uh... bad opening.
Yes, yes, I know. It doesn't seem likely that putting it out during the Summer Olympics would affect it much... but consider this... the target audience (the audience this movie is geared for)? Odds are they are NOT independent enough to have gone to see this movie without parental assistance.
And considering this movie came out DURING the Olympics? Good luck in securing said assistance!

And for those who would have gone alone? Odds are... they wouldn't go in the first place!
By the time they're old enough to go on their own (and considering how much time has passed since Yu-Gi-Oh came out) there is a good chance a lot of them ain't interested in Yugi anymore.
As you know there is far better Anime out there than Yu-Gi-Oh, and by the time they're of that independent age that they could go to movies on their own, odds are they are also of the age where they've tried out the better stuff and have moved on past Yu-Gi-Oh.

So we have a bad opening date rivaling a thing that comes once every four years, which is not a good thing.

Of course once they finally roll out the original unedited Japanese versions of Yu-Gi-Oh (and Shaman King) on DVD then that might be different, but with that still seemingly AWOL (haven't seen or heard anything about that yet past early press releases) it just did not materialize in time to save ticket sales of this movie (which it just might have considering...)

2-It's abit too late.
Now if they had the common sense to roll this out during the early days, when Yu-Gi-Oh was raging hot and everyone was talking about it? Oh yeah, we would be looking at killer ticket sales... however they just waited too damn long and they paid for it. And putting it out during the 2004 Summer Olympics wasn't a bright idea either.

Over $10 million in ticket sales don't seem too bad, eh? The recent Poke'mon theatrical releases by Disney
(Poke'mon 4-Ever and Poke'mon Heroes) didn't fare nearly as well right? Well in comparison to Poke'mon the First Movie, then Poke'mon 2000, this movie did not do so well. In fact if they were hoping to repeat the glory days of Poke'mon the First Movie when they rolled this out they were so sorely mistaken.

Why? As I said above timing is everything. Poke'mon the First Movie (and 2000) came out in the high days of the series, when it was on top and it had the drawing power to bring lots of people into theaters.
Yu-Gi-Oh is still hot, but it isn't as hot as it was sometime ago, when it could have most definitely turned out a Poke'mon the First Movie sized premiere. Time passed, it faded abit, too late WB (too late).

It did fair, but it could have done better.
Will they do a sequel though? Release another one?
Sadly I'd have to say oods are good that, if they do do it again, it'll be Yu-Gi-Oh 2.
There seems to be no money in originality and quality anime movie releases according to the WB's rulebook, so don't expect anything of the sort from them anytime soon.

Movies that can support a gigantic merchandising boom and lots of spin-off stuff is the rage, not quality solid movies like Voices of a Distant Star, Ghost in the Shell : Innocence or Junkers Come Here.
That's for someone else to release. They just want your money.

Okay. That being said what of this movie I have in hand? Yu-Gi-Oh the Movie?
Let's check it out shall we?

Yu-Gi-Oh the Movie : Pyramid of Light
What is the Pyramid of Light? At first glance it is a Millennium Puzzle looking object wielded by Anubis (the evil of this movie) which seems to be a counterpart of said puzzle (with the exception it's a solid one piece item made of silver instead of being a multi-piece "puzzle" made of gold).

Anubis? Who is that and how did he (it) get into this picture? Well, you see, it all starts off at the very beginning (so to speak), tying in Yugi's piecing together of the Millennium Puzzle with the awakening of an ancient Egyptian evil dude named Anubis (probably no relation to the jackal headed god last seen in The Mummy Returns) as his tomb is discovered by archeologists (who do not survive the discovery).

Now if you've had the perchance to see the original Yu-Gi-Oh, and the episode where he puts the puzzle together (or seen the edited English Dub flashback episode showing him putting the puzzle together) then you know that... well, first you know that he didn't put the puzzle together all the way right off the bat. Didn't Jounouchi/Joey swipe a piece of the puzzle and throw it away only to go back for it later and retrieve it for Yugi? Ok. Past that.

Second you didn't see this whole thing where the merging of the puzzle awoke Anubis, and you probably didn't see the shadow things (that looked like the card creatures) attack Yugi only to be repulsed by Yami Yugi... yeah, right. Mostly because it didn't happen until this movie was made.

But that was then, this is now. Three years have passed and Yugi is on the top of the duelist food chain.
Which does NOT sit well with one Seito Kaiba... nice guy, I think I remember in the manga he drove his own adopted father to suicide when he took over Kaiba Corps in a hostile takeover... really cheery fellow.
Anyway he has been obsessing and obsessing over how to defeat Yugi and his Egyptian God Cards... guess Kaiba needs a hobby, or a girlfriend, or a girlfriend who is a hobby, or something.

Anyway it looks like he's finally thought of someone who could possibly help him.
Seems he has picked one Maximillian Pegaus (the guy who beat then enslaved him, then almost beat Yugi) to give him that helping hand. Pegasus, after all, was a guy with all the right reasons doing all the wrong things for said reasons, so maybe he can help.

Too bad Anubis already thought of him and has paid him a visit (in "Predator" mode) one night to tamper with his dueling deck. Why? Seems he figured Kaiba would go to him to secure a possible card to defeat Yugi and his God cards, so he already has tampered with his deck knowing this would happen.
Anyway this is just an excuse for a rematch between Kaiba and Pegasus.
Pegasus loses, but when Kaiba finds TWO cards in Pegasus' deck to fight with... that just sets off warning alarms for Pegasus. Maybe he should have listened when he said there was only one card.

But then what? Now that Kaiba has the trick card what then? Obviously Anubis figured out Kaiba would get that card, and thus the plan to destroy Yami Yugi is underway.... Which might not even be needed since it looks like every third rate duelist with a deck of cards is gunning for Yugi. Good thing Jonouchi/Joey is clearing the amatuers... oh, wait, that didn't work. Not at all. So much for their "help". At least Anzu/Tea is keeping him out of their hands.

Too bad they run right into a museum holding the remains of Anubis, which is just like walking right into a trap (because it is a trap). Now that Anubis is free it looks like things are about to go from bad to worse.

You can figure out the rest so I'll wrap it here. Okay. Let's view the optional extras and then break it down.

Optional Extras
In comparison to the Optional Extras of the past with the three Poke'mon movies, this is downright subdued in comparison to earlier extras.

Monster Challenge - Basically a straightforward game of "memory". Three levels, three "monsters" each. Memorize the three monsters you'll be looking for, then memorize their location on the "board".
You'll have three chances, and each time you get it wrong you lose "lifeforce" for each mistake.

Additionally you have to avoid choosing "Anubis" (the enemy of the movie) in this game because choosing him, or losing all your "life force" ends the game.

Pretty easy. Nothing too difficult about this extra at all.

Music Videos - Two to be exact. Featuring songs from the official movie soundtrack. Yeah... uh... not interested, so I didn't watch 'em.

Theatrical Trailer - Uh... saw that already in theaters (not so memory absent that I already forgot what I saw a few months ago, thanks ever so WB.) I did like the nifty trailer for The Polar Express that showed during the trailers that show after you put this in though. That was nice.

And lastly there is a mail-in-offer.
Mail in a proof of purchase from the case, the receipt for buying this and a buck twenty five and get three cards... eh, it's three of the four promo cards from the movie's release...? The only card not present is the "Pyramid of Light" card.

I don't know, but at least when they did the earlier Poke'mon releases the cards were different than the original promo releases, and the cards came WITH the movie as opposed to you having to spend more money to get the cards.

Yeah, it's a buck twenty five but still... considering I paid $22 for this I'd expect a free card.
I don't know how much that would be in the UK release though... guess the same.
Okay. Let's wrap this up.

Yu-Gi-Oh the Movie Breakdown
I'm going to try and shine at least somewhat of a positive light on this movie.
What's Hot? - Alright, even I have to admit that the hot-ness level of this movie is not spectacular.
In fact it's not much at all. Right off the bat I can assure you that it will be hot IF you are a fan of the Yu-Gi-Oh series. Second on the list would be people collecting anime theatrical releases (might hold interest for them).

Past that it probably won't hold much appeal, especially if you are a anime fan who can point at a dozen or so other movies as superior examples of the artform that surpasses Yu-Gi-Oh the Movie on many levels.
Appeal factor here is very, very limited to say the least.

What's Not? - If you are not a fan of this series, then you probably won't be buying this. Somehow this movie just doesn't seem to reach out the non-Yugi fans. If you have this then you're a fan of the series, otherwise it's abit of a stretch for me to try to recommend this to anyone else...

Wait. I can name one other group. If you have a nice collection of all anime movies released in theaters in either a large (this movie, Poke'mon movies), medium (Spirited Away), small (Cowboy Bebop the Movie, Junkers Come Here, Inu Yasha's recent movie released in theaters, etc) or Film Festival only releases then of course you'll be adding this to your collection just to have a complete set.

Past that I can't think of much else who'll be buying this. It doesn't have wide ranging appeal.

Moments to Remember? - If I end up telling you the only memorable things is Anzu/Tea, Dark Magician Girl and so forth... then this movie is worse off than I thought up at the introduction to this review.
Maybe I'd better leave this part for you to discover if you dare.
Oh, and yes, the two do seem to be the high part of the movie... go figure.

What to Ignore? - Maybe your doubts? Look, love it or hate it you have to admit that this movie is NOT the bane of filmmaking! There are worse out there.
Looks like they went out of their way to redo the entire cards graphics to match the actual English release cards though so that must have taken abit of work.

It's not Ishtar. It's not Gigli. It's not Waterworld, Catwoman, Batman & Robin, the original Roger Cormen Fantastic Four movie or any of a host of truly horrible movies. It is what it is, a Yu-Gi-Oh movie.

Sure, of course I know that if 4Kids were to roll out an Unedited Japanese version of this movie then we'd be talking a whole different story here. In fact that is something I am quite curious about as a matter of fact.

Why are they avoiding the topic? Movies like this, the Poke'mon movies, etc. seem to avoid showing you the original Japanese dialogue version when they put it out on DVD. They come up with versions that, really, don't make sense. French? Spanish? I don't get it. Where's the original Japanese version?

Of course movies like Cowboy Bebop the Movie get it right... but I don't listen to the Japanese version of that since I don't have any qualms with the English dub for Cowboy Bebop to begin with.
But why the WB didn't just roll out a Collector's Edition of this is beyond me.

A two disc feature with both the Edited English dub and the Unedited Japanese dub versions would have served us far better than this. I know the Japanese version is abit different from this, but considering it showed in theaters I can't imagine it would be any worse than this version.

Yes. I know there will be more risque outfits, and Dark Magician Girl won't have her breast reduction (I heard they did that for US audiences) but considering they're already working on releasing the entire series unedited then what is the reluctance?

If this movie offered what I spoke of above I would be more willing to recommend this.
But as it stands right now it's a very hard thing to recommend, let alone be enthusiastic about.

But yet I guess just watching the movie isn't so hard for me. Why is that? Well, for me at least, somehow I find that if I can't stomach the series I can at least find something watchable in the movies. Besides which I don't have to watch too much and it doesn't make much of an impact on my collection.

I don't watch Poke'mon anymore but I did buy and review the movies... think I'll stick to the first two movies though when it comes to personal preferences though.
Well anyway if you are at least curious then rent it out and see what you think.
Odds are you will not buy it, but at least you can say you saw it and justify why you don't like it.

Overall - Even in the most positive light I can shine upon this feature I can't really recommend it.

The WB's first attempt to bounce back into the Theatrical Anime fray post Poke'mon the Third Movie is just not something I can hold up to all of you and praise. It's not horrible, but it's not special or unique.

It's not terrible, but it's not good. For my two credits on this movie I'd have to say that you most certainly would have to be a die hard fan of the Yu-Gi-Oh series if you are going to throw down some cash to pick this one up. However renting isn't so expensive, so I recommend at least renting it if you have any thoughts about trying it out.

If the WB had common sense they would find me a movie that truly would make my blood boil and get me psyched like nobody's business. A touching unique heartwarmer like Junkers Come Here, or something along the veins of Shirow's GITS movies, Voices of a Distant Star, or something hard hitting like Cowboy Bebop the Movie. Something that makes me want to say "Now THIS is a movie worth seeing!"

But as long as the WB puts their pocketbook before quality they will continue to choose inferior movies that I can't recommend to most people except die hard fans of the series.
Is that bad of the WB? Yes. Yes it is, and yet they don't see it that way. Shame, really.
I want to expect better of them, but I know I'll never get it. Pity.

-- David Rasmussen 24th Nov 04

Yu-Gi-Oh the Movie Images