Ranma 1/2 Live Action

Late again... this is becoming a theme. This time it was a mix of day camp for the older boys, exhaustion and an open house for a new Boy Scout troop we might be joining--nothing like an evening of boys playing with fire and sharp objects.

Last Friday, after working on the Anime RPG book, we sat down and watched the live action Ranma 1/2 movie. We fully intended to heckle it and enjoy an hour or so of mindless entertainment. Within the first few minutes we determined we didn't really need to heckle it so much; it made fun of itself. Considering it is a live action rendition of an animated series, it wasn't half bad. Of course, you have to keep in mind that you really can't expect a whole lot from anime turned live action; I think the live action Sailor Moon is one of the only exceptions to this. With Sailor Moon, the series was excellent--I would even say better than the anime--as long as you look past the hokey special effects.

After giving up on heckling Ranma 1/2 we turned to comparing it to the anime, and we took bets as to what characters would make appearances in the movie, beyond Ranma, Genma, and the Saotome family. I think we were all a little disappointed. My husband wanted to see Ryoga. I wanted to see Kodachi--there was at least one scene at the Kuno mansion, so how hard could it have been to have worked her in? I suppose it is understandable in hindsight why these characters were left out; they weren't necessary in any way to the movie plot, which involved Ranma and Akane taking on a gang of drag queens for access to a spring that would supposedly turn a person into a man. The movie does do some things right. It worked in some of Ranma and Akane's favorite insults for each other, like "uncute". Ryoga didn't make an appearance but Akane's room was decorated with pig-themed things.

Was it good? Eh. It was okay--not bad, not epic. Was it worth watching? Yes. We definitely got an enjoyable evening of mindless entertainment out of it that we wanted. Next up: I'll probably be watching either Ouran High School Host Club live action or Wallflower live action. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment. XD