Dororo (2007)

 

You take a look at this story and think: this could be awesome! 

Well, it could, if the final execution wasn't so damn pedestrian, which results in a film that is mostly comprised of boring parts interspersed with some excitement (mainly thanks to fight scenes).

Missed opportunity much?

A lord in feudal Japan (sort of) needs to keep his enemies at bay and in order to accomplish this he makes a deal with 48 demons. These demons naturally demand a price for their help, and they desire his as yet unborn son. Driven hungry with power, the lord agrees. 

The child is born, but it lacks limbs and many organs yet is still alive. The mother refuses to kill the child and sets it adrift in a basket, which is how a lonely shaman finds the infant. This shaman creates organs and limbs and also adds swords with which to defend itself. Fun fact: one of these swords is legitimately a demonslayer and as such, the shaman teaches his adopted child to fight. The reason is simple enough: for every demon the child can slay, he gets one of his missing parts back.

Along the way the boy (now an adult by the name of Hyakkumaru or "One Hundred Demons") meets a thief who adopts the name of Dororo. She is a girl who was raised as a boy and therefore has no feminine manners, keeping her safe from most men. 

She is also pretty much annoying as all fudge. 

Eventually they come across Hyakkumaru's real father and then there's the usual revelations and standoffs and then you realize that by the end of the film Hyakkumaru hasn't even come close to defeating all 48 demons. That's the problem when you base your film on a lengthy manga, of course. 

To be fair to the film: the opening scene and barfight is pretty cool. The same goes for the backstory of Hyakkumaru, which could have made a very interesting film in and of itself. But mostly everything else is a bland slog where the pacing feels painfully slow and a lot is just people talking. And more talking. And (you've guessed it) more talking. The action takes a backseat a lot of the time, but there isn't enough character development to keep things interesting. Add to that CG that doesn't hold up as well as one would like and you're left with a film that could have worked wonders, yet falls short in most respects. 

You could try and give this a watch, but it doesn't hold one's interest for long, alas.