Fantasia CR: The Great Yokai War

The Great Yokai War is Japanese wild man Takashi Miike’s big-budget attempt to create the Asian equivalent of Time Bandits for his children’s generation.

The plot has to do with mythical creatures called Yokai that are dismayed by the selfishness of humans and, as a result, the war that breaks out between them to decide the fate of humanity. But is it the Yokai who will make that decision or a lone little boy chosen as humanity’s savior?

I had already written a capsule review giving a list of reasons why I didn’t like this film until it occurred to me what the real problem was. This is a film that was created for kids and I’m no longer 10 years old. I’m also a fan of Miike’s work in general and simply wasn’t expecting this kind of tame F/X driven fairytale. But you know what? Part of Miike’s DNA has always been that he was willing to try anything, and you either accept that or reject it.

I wish I could give you some idea as to whether this film works or not, but the reality is it just wasn’t made for me.

Reviewer’s note:
Takashi Miike is the very definition of symbiosis. For every truly brilliant film he directs (Visitor Q, Shangri-La, Gozu, Bird People Of China, Young Thugs to name a few) he produces a comparable measure of clunkers (Izo, Ichi The Killer, City Of Lost Souls, Fudoh etc.) and only occasionally anything in between. It’s as though the good cannot exist without the bad. Regardless, my feeling about the Russian roulette that are his films is that you gotta check em’ all out because when they really work nobody can hold a candle to this guy.