Taking its cue from similar movies like 'Charlie's Angels' and 'Austin Powers', Anno Hideaki's 'Cutie Honey' is a mixed bag of zany humor, outlandish action, campy acting and psychedelic animation. Based on the cult anime and manga series by iconic Japanese Manga writer Nagai Go, the movie begins with a crowd-pleasing opening sequence that really captures the essence and feel of the 1973 anime cartoon. However, the rest of the movie fails to match up with the awesome first fifteen minutes of the feature.
Sato Eriko is certainly pleasing to the eyes and is absolutely picture perfect as Kisaragi Honey/Cutie Honey, however her constant childlike innocence and carefree attitude becomes somewhat grating during the course of the film. Ichikawa Mikako is also good as Aki Natsuko but unfortunately she too is hampered by the limitations of her character's simplistic and cartoonish characterization.
The action is surprisingly top notch and the so-called 'Honey-mation' (live action footage mixed in with cartoon animation) sequences are really inventive and recalls the flawed movie 'Tank Girl' in some instances.
The movie really bogs down towards the middle with a series of candid scenes of Sato Eriko in a variety of disguises. It was totally unnecessary and was probably done to fulfill the 'Cosplay' (Costume Play) fetishes and fantasies of its target audience.
The movie really gets weird and offbeat when Oikawa Mitsuhiro as Black Claw breaks out in a song and dance number towards the end of the movie for no apparent reason. Perhaps this might have been appropriate in a spoof movie like 'Team America: World Police' but seems totally out-of-place here. In fact Koda Kumi's cameo earlier in film screamed out blatant 'product placement' as she also sings most of the songs for the film soundtrack.
The ending was the biggest disappoint. As with Anno's 'Evangelion' finale, the promise of an exciting, slam-bang finale are quickly dashed and instead we are treated to metaphysical ramblings and pretentious lecturing about the 'meaning of love' and how 'Sister Jill' should embrace love and evolve to the next level.
Being a fan of the 1973 anime series, I really wanted to like 'Cutie Honey' more. It's not a bad film and is at times quite enjoyable. However, I just wish that the movie followed through with the promising beginning opening few minutes and delivered something a bit more rousing and original.
