The title pretty much sums up the film. Two groups fight one another for over an hour and a half while spouting cliche lines about the power of friendship and tenacity. Once in a while, the villains will hint at some philosophical or political issue, such as the oppression of the poor, which the heroes rebut with the equivalent of "Nuh uh," "No you," and "You're just saying words." Very convincing arguments from both sides. Of course, we aren't given the slightest glimpse of these character's society to know if either one is correct or not, but only one side continuously brings up "never giving up" and friendship and stuff so I suppose we're to assume they're the heroes.
After an hour and a half in, I decided to try to figure out what exactly I missed, and then found that this is a two-hour long slugfest which fits into a separate anime. Not to worry though, the reviews helpfully assured me that the film would be perfectly comprehensive and didn't require seeing the series beforehand. Which I suppose is probably correct, if all we need to understand is "two sides fight, one side good guys."
It may seem unfair to review it absent seeing the series, but I'm a firm believer that movies should stand on their own. I always found it silly when someone might claim you need to read a book, for example, to understand a film adaptation of it. The film should stand on its own. If it's simply not meant to be watched on its own, then I'm sorry, but that should have been made clear before viewing. If the advertisements and poster art and so on didn't feel the need to inform me I'd be lost without viewing the source material, then I shouldn't be expected to need to. If the film was intended to draw in new audiences, I have a feeling it failed spectacularly on that front, since it left me with no desire whatsoever to watch the series and find out what I missed.
After feeling like almost two hours of my limited time was stolen, I can't see me spending any more of it trying to redeem what I saw by watching a series.
For fans of the series, those that watched up to the point at which the movie begins, you might find this to be an excellent entry. For those that are unfamiliar with the source material, I find it difficult to believe anyone else would have a much different reaction to it than I did, unless they simply like grandiose fights and do not care about any background plot. If that's you - enjoy.
After an hour and a half in, I decided to try to figure out what exactly I missed, and then found that this is a two-hour long slugfest which fits into a separate anime. Not to worry though, the reviews helpfully assured me that the film would be perfectly comprehensive and didn't require seeing the series beforehand. Which I suppose is probably correct, if all we need to understand is "two sides fight, one side good guys."
It may seem unfair to review it absent seeing the series, but I'm a firm believer that movies should stand on their own. I always found it silly when someone might claim you need to read a book, for example, to understand a film adaptation of it. The film should stand on its own. If it's simply not meant to be watched on its own, then I'm sorry, but that should have been made clear before viewing. If the advertisements and poster art and so on didn't feel the need to inform me I'd be lost without viewing the source material, then I shouldn't be expected to need to. If the film was intended to draw in new audiences, I have a feeling it failed spectacularly on that front, since it left me with no desire whatsoever to watch the series and find out what I missed.
After feeling like almost two hours of my limited time was stolen, I can't see me spending any more of it trying to redeem what I saw by watching a series.
For fans of the series, those that watched up to the point at which the movie begins, you might find this to be an excellent entry. For those that are unfamiliar with the source material, I find it difficult to believe anyone else would have a much different reaction to it than I did, unless they simply like grandiose fights and do not care about any background plot. If that's you - enjoy.