Yattâman is the live-action adaptation of the anime. It was directed by Takashi Miike and stars Shô Sakurai, Saki Fukuda and Kyôko Fukada.
Plot:
Gan (Shô Sakurai) and his girlfriend Ai (Saki Fukuda) are Yatterman: a crime fighting duo, who are pretty crafty with toys, gadgets and robots – so called mechas. Mostly they fight Doronjo (Kyôko Fukukda) and her gang. But then the mysterious skull stone turns up in four pieces and the god of thieves Skullobey really, really wants those pieces. And he’s committed to getting them through Doronjo. But when all the pieces come together, something awful will happen.
Yatterman is silly, colorful and extremely entertaining. Will it make people stop to think about their lives? Probably not. Will it make you smile? Definitely.
Yatterman is full of silliness, but the awesome kind. It doesn’t mean to be entirely logical, so it isn’t and nobody cares. Why does that guy have a rat nose and the other a pig nose? What’s that little pig doing there? Why does the god of thieves need the help of a hapless group like Doronjo and her minions? Why are you still asking questions? Just sit back and enjoy the ride.
If you do that, it will feel like a day at the fun fair. Cotton candy, flashing lights, giggling, dancing and yattereverything.
The cast is well chosen and does an admirable job of overacting as is fitting with their roles and the style of the movie (which is sometimes pretty self-conscious and meta, which is always nice). The production design is great – the costumes, the mechas and look at the sphinx in the first poster!
The only thing that was a little… ugh… was when Doronjo’s minions built a robot that looked like a woman. Yatterman’s robot (Yatterwoof, of course) got incredibly aroused by that, which I found weird, but okay. But then the female robot gets completely destroyed and I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was still a sexy times metaphor and that just didn’t work for me.
Turn off your brain and watch it. It’s awesome.
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