DVD Review: Cutie Honey

Reviewed by Ardath Bey

The Movie:

Don’t be fooled by the front cover boast: “Starring ERIKO SATO (Japan’s top swimsuit model)”, as this film is much more than just a perve-fest. What I mean is, Sato’s lovely derriere is only one of the film’s many visual delights. Cutie Honey (Eriko Sato) is the heroic, alter-ego of a lowly office worker, Honey Kisaragi. What her colleagues don’t realise is that Cutie Honey is an android replica of Professor Kisaragi’s deceased daughter (ala Astro Boy). The film opens with Cutie Honey finding out that her Uncle has been kidnapped and she runs to his rescue. As it turns out a mysterious being known as Sister Jill (Eisuke Sakai) intends to assimilate all the world’s beauty as well as uncover the technological advances made by the late Professor Kisaragi (namely the Love System) and embodied in Cutie Honey. Serving Sister Jill are four wacky henchmen and one hammy butler.

This film is gorgeous. The fast-paced editing is coupled with many exquisitely framed shots (and some pretty heavy wide-angle lens use). The costumes are truly outrageous and pulsing with colour. However, of great note is the blending of CG animation, traditional 2D animation, and live-action to create what was heralded as the first in “digital comic cinema” upon its 2004 Japanese release. Rather than attempting to fuse CG animation and live-action without the audience being aware of it, Hideaki Anno (the film’s director and the man behind Neon Genesis Evangelion) revels in the surreal escapism that this hybrid form of the world generated. Such things as his rather obvious use of green-screens, serves not to frustrate the viewer, but to charm us with the spectacular images while offering a rather appropriate cinematic interpretation of the film’s manga source text.

Eriko Sato’s is spot on with her hilarious performance and Jun Murakami does a great job as the somewhat inhibited cop. The actors in the villainous roles bring their stunning character designs to life and create a variety of memorable individuals.
However, what lets the film down is the messy story. The film dives right into a very impressive and funny action sequence in the opening minutes, which works great. In fact, all the action sequences in the film are extremely well-done, but it is the way that these scenes are stitched together that taints the film. Little exposition is given concerning the film’s arch villain and Cutie Honey’s actions remain something of a mystery for the first forty-minutes. Perhaps this scripting was an effort not to pander to those unaware of the manga at the expense of the long-term fans’ enjoyment, but ultimately I don’t think it pays off. The film’s relentless fast-pace also assists in turning what is in essence a fairly straightforward plot into something quite bewildering.

Nevertheless, these flaws do not detract too much from the overall entertainment that can be gained from this film. This tongue-in-cheek action film is a feast for the eyes and full of unforgettable moments (such as Black Claw’s song and dance number). This film is pretty and quite unique and I guess you can’t ask for much more than that if you are looking for a good way to spend ninety minutes of your life. Just remember: all you need is love.

The DVD:

I was quite disappointed with the bonuses on the disc. For starters the “Making of” featurette is not much more than a seventeen-minute promo for Japanese TV. It does offer some great snippets of behind the scenes stuff and excerpts from an interview conference with the cast, but seems more bent on generating excitement for the upcoming film rather than going in to too much detail. The DVD also has a stills gallery, but considering the amount of amazing characters and costumes in the film I was expecting a lot more interesting shots (most of them seem to just be screen caps from the actual film).
The original trailers bonus is quite extensive, offering a teaser trailer, the theatrical trailer, and several TV spots for the fans to sink their teeth into. What is really missing from this DVD is a featurette on the history of the Cutie Honey manga and anime (that’s a Japanese cartoon for all dummies). This film features a lot of amazing and unique visuals and although the brief “Making of” gives quick mention to some of the techniques employed it only serves to whet once interest and I was left wanting more.  A quick gander on the internet seemed to show there are more bonuses out there, just not on this (and most other western) versions.

The Price/ Availability:

This DVD costs just under 25 bucks, but should show up in most video stores with a decent asian cinema section. Alpha Video has quite a good asian cinema collection so if you’re stuck you could try there.