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Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie
Rating: PG for scary combat and monster images
Summary: Yugi, a master Yu-Gi-Oh card "duelist," is pitted against his rival, Seto Kaiba, who has been turned into an evil vehicle for an ancient spirit's plot to take over the world.
My View: Basically just an elaborate instructional video on how to play the Yu-Gi-Oh! trading-card game, this film does not have much substance. It pleases the most adamant followers of the anime television/comic book/trading card series while trying to entertain the older siblings and parents who have been dragged into the theater by card-toting little ones. The general consensus among the aforementioned little ones (ages 6 to 9) is that this epic battle rocked. I noted the audience taking a special liking to the card-dueling scenes, which quickly grew into redundancies and hokey explanations of tips and tricks for playing better Yu-Gi-Oh! I'm definitely not an anime guy, and never will be, but this style of expression fits here. Comedic references went flying over the kids' heads, yet kept the older ones hanging on by a (thin) thread. Sarcasm abounds, and is most apparent in such phrases as "Wow, you're a regular Sherlock Holmes - did you figure that one out all by yourself?" As agonizingly sedative as it is for a teenager to sit through, this movie does get the job done by thoroughly pleasing the most cinematically starved age group.
Recommendations: Fans only.
Grade: B (for the kids) plus D (for the rest of us) equals an overall C.
- Billy Norris, 16, is in the 11th grade at Seminole High School and is a former member of the X-Team.