Ace Attorney

Yeah I probably would have loved this movie as a kid.

I can totally see 9 year old me watching this on Starz or Encore back in the day and it was made in 2012! Remember how in Street Fighter I brought up how there were undoubtedly going to be differences of the translation from game to film? Yeah, this goes above and beyond. Ace Attorney based on one of the most popular visual novel series if not THE most popular, widely loved and acclaimed Nintendo DS series, got a full live action treatment straight from the motherland itself. I think the japanese are better at this than the americans. It's kind of a difficult film to describe, because it's based off of one of the most colorful, fun, endearing, and loved video game series in the world, and yet it juggles the absurd with live action realism. If you look up any character design that is showcased in the movie (with one or two exceptions, looking at you Redd White you Snape looking bastard) there is so very little changed. They make anime styled hair look completely realistic, and keep very true to each character's personalities and traits. The movie even follows individual stories from the games, and I played them but kinda forgot how everything went down so I was invested and didn't see everything coming. It makes you think critically of evidence, and pay attention to testimony, you really play attorney and I love it! And I love the fact they can be absolutely and shamelessly goofy, yet still can tell a serious story and play it mostly straight faced, it's such a thin tightrope to walk but I think they did a great job. Also surprising pick for the director, now if you aren't very familair with foreign films, specifically japanese films the name Takashi Miike doesn't mean much, but if you have a great interest in all genres of film and a love for films outside your own country then you know Takashi Miike makes some pretty screwed up stuff. He makes very unsettling and often horrifying films, like Audition and Ichi The Killer which are considered some hardcore horror even to monster fans of the genre who can stomach anything, so to get a masterpiece director of psychological horror to helm a movie based off a kid's video game series is about as random as say, Walt Disney directing a film like Schindler's List, it just seems bizarre. But it works! It maintains the spirit of the games while still adding it's own unique touches here and there. And I cannot more strongly recomend Suede's review of this movie, it gives you more information and no doubt more entertainment, the guy makes me laugh to beat the band. The only truly bad part of the movie is you can't really own it, if you live in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, or of course Japan then good news you can buy it now! Other than that.....nope, just try to find it online. That's a bit rubbish if you ask me, but it's worth watching if you want to see an example of video game movies done right, or just a fan of the games. I wanted to do a week of video game movies before Detective Pikachu because it's fun to talk about and I never saw either this movie or Street Fighter before so it was something new and fun. Until Friday my friends!