Opening Day: 15 November 2007

Synopsis:

Nobita finds a fossilised dinosaur egg by accident when trying to excavate for dinosaur fossils. He manages to hatch the egg and begins raising the dinosaur. Under Nobita's care, the dinosaur grows bigger and he has to release it in the park. However, this creates much chaos in the neighbourhood. Knowing that they cannot keep the dinosaur forever, Nobita is forced to send it back to prehistoric times. During the time travel, they are attacked by a mysterious man and are sent to another time period. As dangerous obstacles lie ahead, Doraemon and the gang set out in a prehistoric adventure.

Movie Review:

My childhood wasn’t filled with the likes of Pokemon or Digimon. Contemporary cartoon series liked “Ben 10” is a stranger to me now (“Ben 10” occurs during an awkward conversation with a veteran colleague of mine who were discussing about his son’s latest obsession). As the years go, with the exception of those major Hollywood animation exports, I’m basically lost when it comes to cartoon series or animations.

Finally, there’s something, which I no longer feel embarrassed to be left out of any conversational topics and provide me with the freedom to brag about - A futuristic robotic blue kitty called Doraemon.

Adapted from the very first Doraemon movie from 1980, “Doraemon the movie”, loosely translated from the Chinese title as “Da Xiong’s Dinosaur” tells the story of Nobita (Da Xiong) who found and hatch an actual fossil egg after a boasting bout with his friends, Suneo (pointy hair) and Gian (the overweight boy) over the discovery of fossils. As time goes, the dinosaur grew to a length whereby it’s no longer an option to keep it in present time Japan, Nobita has to enlist the help of Doraemon to send the dinosaur back to the cretaceous era. But unexpectedly, a dinosaur hunter appears midway during time travel to seize control of the dinosaur. How cool is that? And that’s where our dear friends have to find a way to save the dino and mankind.

The best luxury of course is seeing Doraemon digging into his magical pocket of tricks. It’s better and far advanced than what Sony or Toshiba can offer. When they lost their only way of transport, Doraemon offers the group each a flying device that is attached on the head and runs on batteries. Forgot your swimsuits? No problem, Doraemon can offer you a custom suit of your own design. Can’t find a shelter for the night? How about a portable capsule that comes with a nice cosy bed and shower.

Indeed, it’s always the power of Doremon’s utmost creativity that set kids' imagination running even decades old adults like myself is still enthralled by it over the years. It even touches on the importance of friendship. Nobita, Suneo and Gian get into countless fights, arguments in almost every episode of the series but they remain friends despite their differences.

I didn’t realize it has been a long while since I last seen traditional hand-drawn animations on the big screen. The obvious rough outlines and less than perfect colourings don’t seem a matter anymore. Those hand-craft dinosaurs, characters and Doraemon’s kawaii (cute) expressions were a delight to behold once again.

Without the existence of Disney’s trademark “smack-right-on-your-face” goodwill messages and DreamWorks’ silly pop-culture references, Doraemon on the other hand smells like good vintage wine although “wine” seems an inappropriate word to be use in this kids-friendly movie. In the end, I had an enjoyable 105 minutes of fun, tears and nostalgia. You might want to sneak in a Dorayaki as well.

Movie Rating:

(The best animation film for the whole family this year!)

Review by Linus Tee