nader.newell - 2017-04-06 20:28:42

If you like Conan and Kid you shoud watch the movie

odietrich - 2016-01-12 06:06:04

The most recent Detective Conan film has come and gone, and this one is a bit different. Similar to the 10th movie Requiem of the Detectives, we have our littlest detective out to protect the fine arts, though in this case, Conan must save one of Van Goh's most important paintings, the Sunflowers. Is this movie an amazing art heist wannabe, or a copied flop? Oh, and did I mention Kaito Kid? Cause yeah, Kaito Kid.

Story (6/10): After the Suzuki Zaibatsu purchases the originally thought destroyed 2nd Sunflowers painting, Kaito Kid essentially declares that he'll steal it. But since this is completely outside of the thiefs usual M.O., all characters involved become suspicious, especially after the messages and methods become violent. Conan and friends are now on a deadline to get the Sunflowers Exhibition up and running, but it still doesn't answer the main problem: why is Kaito Kid after the paintings?

The story here is a bit of a mixed bag, to say the least. There's a lot right but enough wrong that it's hard not to address. The good things are that it really takes a smart approach to trying to defeat Kid, showing all the work that goes into everything behind the scenes. It's really quite fun to see just what Suzuki Jiro does to show off his extreme wealth. All the stuff that connects with the Sunflower paintings themselves is also interesting, and a little heartwarming.

There are some problems with the movie. The resolution to who is after the paintings is WEAK. And I don't just mean weak, I mean WEAK AS FUCK. (Yes, f-bomb worthy weak.) True, the clues do tell you who it is, but God almighty is it a letdown. In connection to that, there's a random confession to a crime dead center in the climax that basically comes out of nowhere and does nothing to change the plot AT ALL. Also almost everything to do with Kaito Kid is basically worthless, and yes as a fan of his, that sucks to say. I'll elaborate more in the below section, but suffice to say, this is probably the weakest movie that Kid has been a part of.

Overall it isn't a bad story, but man, the parts that are bad are standout bad.

Art (8/10):  As is per the norm, the art is excellent, giving all the scenes wonderful color and action. Though I must point out that there are a few 'quality' background scenes here and there that are a bit more standout than I would usually critique.

Sound (7/10): Back to basic Conan movie music, but as usual that isn't a bad thing. Though I must point out the track that plays during the climax of the movie, as it was really damn good.

Character (6/10): I do have some positives and negatives in relation to the regular cast. First the disappointing: it feels like they dumbed down Conan and Ai. While nothing extreme or distracting, it just feels like the two smartest characters in the show almost don't have that much of an impact in solving the crime. Conan doesn't have to work hard to figure anything out and really only gets like 2 clues total to work with in the entire movie. It just feels like he got pushed out of his own movie.

Not all is bad though. The Suzuki's (Jiro and Sonoko) are actually more entertaining here than they've been in a while.  Ran, her Dad, and Inspector Nakamori are also treated with respect and given quite a lot to do here. Basically the main side characters here are treated well and are really fun to watch.  

Kaito Kid is also barely in the movie. Technically he is in most of it, but he doesn't even have a freaking line until 20 minutes near the end. Despite being the main 'antagonist', he's just a non-factor in the story too much of the time. It honestly feels like the movie is trying to play Kid like he was back when his introduction was a bit more mysterious, but by today, where his manga is a thing and he had his own anime last year, it just doesn't work anymore.  

With the movie exclusive characters, they are just boring and forgettable. True, Inspector Charlie is the best of the bunch, but he's ultimately not that important in the long run. The other characters have literally 3-8 lines of dialogue and no personality at all. Hell, I don't even remember their freaking names after just watching it. They're close to the top of a Worst DC Movie Cast list for being just there and irrelevant by the end.  

(As is traditional at this point, I need to make my complaint: why are the freaking Detective Boys in this damn movie? Their scenes are worthless and they literally serve no purpose. I don't want to hate on them, since as Quarter of Silence has shown us, when given real purpose, they are great characters. But here? They should've been excluded from the entire second half when the exhibition takes center stage. Hell, even the Professor is kind of awkwardly shoved into the movie, with all his scenes being really bad comedy.)

Enjoyment (7/10): I did have more fun with this movie than I did the last one, if you can believe it. Probably because I do like a good art heist film. Granted, as noted above, the second half is where I started getting lost. While the actual climax is really fun, I was just disappointed that we didn't really get a Conan vs. Kid film. I really should know by now that we'll never get one of those until a miracle happens, but I still held hope that this would be the one. Again, while it seems like I'm complaining, I really did have some fun with this movie. (Also there's a tiny call back to something from the 18th movie here, which is kinda cute.)

Detective Conan: The Hellfire Sunflowers is probably one of the more average movies in the series, though it isn't awful by any means. While the side characters are really given a time to shine, the story has some major flaws in its second half and doesn't really feel like the Conan/Kid focused movie that it's trying to be. If you're a DC fan, I as always recommend that you watch it at least once for completions sake, but non fans aren't going to find anything interesting here.

6/10 = average by DC standards; second half is weak, with the mystery reveal failing to impress; there are better Conan/Kid movies, like the 14th (being the best); the main older side characters do kind of get a chance to shine; not as bad as Jolly Rodger of the Deep or Eleventh Striker (UGH), but not great;