In-depth review free of spoilers This is my first review in MAL and English is not my first language, so I did the best I could! Glad to visit again my hometown's cinema (Girona, Catalonia) after corona outbreak and watch this film dubbed in Catalan, my mother tongue. Finally, a Detective Conan film is released almost worldwide the same day it opens in Japan! Public in my movie theater was about 50 people and 90% was over 16, being the other 10% children accompained by their parents. Overall, this is a solid movie compared to the last ones. It revolves around a good case (for being amodern Conan movie): FBI, murders, kidnappings, Olympics, and thousands of people at risk. Animation is top-notch and a lot of important characters are shown working together -this blockbuster is a must-watch for any Detective Conan fan, but it has some drawbacks for people new to the franchise or Detective Conan adult fans looking for a good mystery film.
Script: story, case, characters and tone
Before saying anything about character or main story development, remember: this is a Detective Conan film, a side story to the main plot (the manga). It is not supposed (as of today) to deliver anything else than “fanservice”, so there is no character development affecting the main series.
About the case, it's not the best nor the worst in the franchise, just average: people seeking their own justice in relation to tragic events that happened a few years ago… using violence and in the context of the Olympics. So the case is not really special, but the way the characters work together really is. In fact, it's their interaction to solve the problems what I like the most about this movie: it feels natural to see how they work and relate together. Conan's relationship with Ran and Ai's partnership (and jealousy), Akai family collaborating together and the FBI people also working in a serious incident as a team, and even Kogoro worried about his family and the kids. There is a lot of good character fanservice, showing some of the best dialogue and interaction bits of the franchise in a long time (specially for Ai and Sera). The only one I felt missing was Heiji: almost all famous characters are there and part of the action is outside Tokyo, so I was expecting him for a small cameo that actually never arrived. Also, I'm glad they cut on Shonen Tantei screen time a lot compared to other films, thanks to this fact the most important parts of the film feel more adult and serious compared to the beginning.
Overall film pace is accelerated but well directed, with short emotional moments well mixed in-between the never-ending action sequences and some humour scenes to break the ice (Yumi or Ai nail it).
It follows the modern blockbuster way of doing cinema: action, action and more action with just a few minutes between the sequences leaving some time to the audience to relax and prepare for the next action sequence to come along. This kind of film, on its own, is not actually that bad… until you realize this was supposed to be a Detective Conan film, not a one starring Tom Cruise and his stunts. For me this is a drawback: less time spent in deduction and investigation and more in stunts and car chases means cases in newer movies are not as complex or attractive to solve for the viewer as the older ones.
The overall tone of Detective Conan anime and films, in my opinion, was better when the series was starting back in the 2000s. Newer episodes and films don't have genuine dark moments and plots, they are really childish in this aspect. Just take a look at the new Moonlight Sonata remake: sure, people die and there is a reasonable amount of blood, but psychological dark moments are either missing or taken in a light way (like the dinner scene in this movie, when Kogoro is worried about his relatives). Even the manga is getting lighter, so I think it's impossible for a show airing Saturdays at 6 PM, a family-friendly time slot, and well-known by both kids and adults in Japan, to change this aspect as of today, because of business issues.
However, this leads to some sequences too childish to be enjoyed by adults and some too difficult for small children (who will basically enjoy Conan's action scenes). It's different from a Pixar movie, where an adult and a child can read the same scene with different complexity levels for each: here you have only one -very- fluctuating level.
This film could have been a lot better if it had been directed only to +14 or +16 fans (like Marvel does). A darker atmosphere (or more mature at least) would have suited this movie a lot, maintaining humour but reducing sequences for kids. But knowing they'd lost a lot of public and revenue, they opted to create a weird mix between adults and kids films. And the result is disappointing. The intro scene and the technical explanations about MAGLEV trains and liquid helium explosions are aimed to adults (even if the superconductor graphics look childish), but child-friendly moments (like Genta acting like a dog, the kids having fun in a Kamen Yaiba show, the Agasa quiz or the final train scene) make adults think why are they watching this immature film -nostalgia factor wise. Hence, it's a movie difficult to be fully understood outside the main action scenes for children but also awkward for adults, as it feels it is not serious or mature enough to be taken seriously and considered a good action and mystery movie. It's in the middle of nowhere.
Also, some Japanese language and cultural jokes or the Agasa quiz are difficult to translate from Japanese. I hope knowing the next movie is going to be released around the World they write a more global-relase-friendly script.
*OLDER FILMS SPOILERS AHEAD
Finally, the ending trick is weird as hell: I hate the impossible action endings we are given with every new film. In the first movies action was limited to escaping from some collapsing buildings after bombing or fire, relatively "normal" emergency situations. Stunts increased exponentially in crazyness after in the 5th movie they jumped between buildings driving a car, although the way it was animated (Ai and Conan used basic physics to calculate the needed jumping speed, time and distance) felt this jump was kinda possible in reality. But it was too late to stop the crazy action hype train.
For example, in the 8th movie Conan lands a 747 in a loading dock and in the 13th a chopper destroys the Tokyo Tower. And even after that, I bet someone in the production comitee was like “Why don't we think bigger? After all, destroying a hacked satellite being used as a terrorist attack weapon to wipe out Tokyo falling from the sky by shooting a giant inflatable ball with the power shoes while jumping from a car in a parabolic trajectory falling from the 30th floor driving at 100 km/h in a building under construction and with Ran and the other main characters in danger as always isn't enough.” And we ended up here: what we see in this movie is totally crazy, neither possible in our real world or in the Fast&Furious films. Like the ferris wheel in the 20th or the Marina Bay giant surfing board in the 23rd, it's absurd. I know current Conan films relate more to Fast&Furious, James Bond or Mission Impossible than to Agatha Christie's Poirot, but down-to-Earth final scenes would improve A LOT Detective Conan's films: endings that could be replicated in real life would make this films more mature and more suited for older fans.
Animation and editing — 9
Because it's a film with a very high budget, it's really well animated, nothing like the cheap -sometimes better described as awful- TV animation: action scenes look sharp, fast and vibrant, and 3DCG is well integrated most of the time (car chases in this film are brilliant, almost feeling like they were from Initial D).
Even though, I feel there is too much 3DCGI: cars, trains, background crowds… Also, as a fan of traditional animation, I feel there still is room for improvement, specially in the details (colors, reflections, lighting, details of the models...) Sometimes 3DCG may even distract because of the lack of uniformity compared to the rest of the elements on each frame. But it's nice to see it's getting better over time (and with more budget).
Hand-drawn characters look alive (not like in the cheap Conan TV animation) and some key frames could be used as a wallpaper. In-betweeners are also light years away from the usual TV standards, so action scenes feel fluent as hell. Brilliant job here.
Photography and color are also better than in normal TV episodes. Wider shots with crowds, usually avoided for cutting costs in TV, are more used than ever. Backgrounds look more realistic and lighting and color are more worked on than usual. Overall, it feels more realistic than TV cases.
Editing is also great: simultaneous action takes place all along the movie, so there is a lot of parallel editing done well (FBI vs culprit vs riding Maglev train, for example). The editing and camera in the introduction sequence is also worth mentioning (if they had used that style for the rest of the film it could have been epic...)
Finally, the opening credits were also great and are very useful to fully remember everything (or introduce the film to non-Conan fans). But for me it appears too late. Also I'm glad it has been a little simplified and updated (in some films there were so much digital effects that you couldn't even see the characters).
Music and sound - 6
Detective Conan's original OST was terrific: jazz at its best, like in the old-school detective shows. However, nowadays the OST is mediocre. Except for the main theme, the ending song (kinda catchy J-Pop) and if I remember correctly a few sax solos, the rest is nothing special. Just average, fitting but nothing special.
About the sound, sound effects were ok (maybe some were exaggerated, but we all know sounds in movies related to technology are exaggerated).
Dubbing - 9,5
Overall dub in my language (Catalan) was excellent as always. Ran's and Agasa's old voice actors were replaced by new ones, but they fit as well as the originals. The voice acting for the rest was brilliant as usual, and the sound mixing was also great.
Enjoyment - 9
If you are a Detective Conan fan you will enjoy this film A LOT, specially if you are a fan of the characters with more screentime (FBI, Akai Family, Conan, Ran and Ai).
From Akai to Jodie, from Mary to Ai, they are complex and intelligent, they have their own personality traits and play their roles even better than you would expect.
La crème de la crème of Detective Conan stars using their special habilitates or showing how they relate to each other, all of this presented with a gorgeous animation. Just for this, this is a MUST-WATCH.
However, if you don't like Conan, this movie feels empty. Sure, you can go to the cinema with your Conan-fan friends and enjoy some parts of this action film, as the animation is breathtaking and the action sequences are brilliant, so you won't be bored. But as I said before, some parts will make you feel awkward as they are so childish, and you'll miss almost everything important that transcends the case this film is about in the dialog between the main characters.
Overall score: 8.5/10
Pros: Characters, animation, character interaction, Olympics scenario, brilliant action sequences, editing
Cons: Too much action, crazy ending, average OST, childish and Japan-only sequences
