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Cutie Honey — movie review

by Chris December 11, 2005

dreamlogic.net -- Cutie Honey -- movie review In Cutie Honey the movie, Go Nagai’s android super-heroine blasts onto the big screen. Although the material has certainly undergone a de-smutification when compared to Nagai’s 1973 source material, Cutie Honey is still a cornucopia of cheeky humor, hyper-colored visuals, skin-tight suits, and seizure inducing action mania. With a slap of the heart-shaped button on her ever present iSeries choker, Honey Kisaragi (Eriko Sato) transforms from unassuming bright-and-shiny cutie pie to deep-voiced super-babe, Cutey Honey, in a flurry of spandex and vinyl. Powered by love and junk-food, and armed only with lightning quick reflexes, a disarming smile, and a badass sword, Honey does battle with the forces of evil.

While the glut of recent American superhero films have gone relied on dour machismo and utmost seriousness to tell their tales, Cutie Honey chooses balls-to-the-wall camp and flirty femininity; the realm of reality eschewed forcibly in favor of the realm of fun. It’s definitely a welcome change. Take for example Honey’s opening sequence fight with a barrage of missiles, fired from her adversary’s wrist cannons no less. The CG-aided sequence has Honey dodging back and forth through the sky in action poses impossible for the human body to achieve, slashing with her sword as explosions abound. It’s true anime-action come to life. In another sequence, directly preceding a battle, the contrast loving Black Claw croons about his evil-ity, as costumed minions form a violin quartet behind him. It’s super fun tongue-in-cheek man-in-suit style action, the likes of which may result if Benny Hill took a stab at writing a Power Rangers episode.

dreamlogic.net -- Cutie Honey -- movie review Certainly helping the film are some amazing CG effects. There’s something very different in the way American and Japanese cinema handle CG. The general rule seems to be that America tends to use as much as possible, while Japan prefers to use it only for details (ie: the blood in Battle Royale and Ichi the Killer). In Cutey Honey, however, you have far more than the standard detailing work, with certain sequences splashing the entire cinematic canvas with computer generated elements. The odd thing is, that while some items seem just as, if not more fake than their American effects counterparts, they somehow seem more plausible. I’ve seen the same thing in recent efforts such as Casshern and Zebraman. Whether the effects elements on screen just have a tighter overall uniformity in level of detail, or the artists have a heaver background in classical physics, I’m not entirely sure, but the difference definitely shows.

Eriko Sato, Cutey Honey’s live-action counterpart, seems born to play an anime vixen. Her face can go from puzzled pretzel to jubilant supernova in the blink of an eye, and she’s cute to a degree surpassed only by my lovely Kris. Whether whining with frustration or dashing off headlong into disaster Sato has the audience rolling in the aisles with laughter. Playing the straight men to her effervescent self are Mikako Ichikawa, as no nonsense female cop, Nastuko Aki, and Jun Murakami, as intrepid reporter Seiji Hayama, who may or may not have ulterior motives for helping honey out. Balancing out their good-guy corner are a host of villains, all members of the Panther Claw gang. One of these, the dominatrix Cobalt Claw, is one of the creepiest things I’ve seen on screen in quite some time. Just looking at her feels….icky.

Granted, there are portions of Cutie Honey that drag on, and there are certain jokes that fall flat, but on the whole Cutie Honey is definitely entertaining. The move to a more family-friendly Cutey is a wise decision, as the film proves enjoyable for both adults and kids alike. Honey Flash? Definitely.