My god was that a ride to remember, no really, if anything, these movies were written by Oda are the most I've ever seen in the history of anime movies, like for instance, Naruto movies were not that good except for some, but in One Piece, those are shinning like Tesoro's gold on a dark night. That was the type of movies you would expect to rewatch at least once a year, while it was slightly different from what a pirate does, it turned out to be a fantastic journey, the humor, twists, backstories, and action are all present, and let me tell you, would youget a huge treat for unique character, someone them will let you wish they were canon, but we've got to only have faith in Oda, and he will surely deliver.
- Story (9/10):
The story of the movie has been teased long before the actual events of the movies started, and it made for heck of an amazing build up, and that had a great reward on itself, like for instance, we heard about Gran Tesoro the first time back on that filler after Dressrosa, the “Sliver Mine” arc, it was a decent one, they kept referencing Tesoro and hyping him up as “The monster of the new world”, and yes, he did live up to that reputation, and then, there was the prequel to the movie, yet another fantastic special, would really recommand it, it was called “Heart of Gold”, it served itself as an amazing teaser too, and then again, there was that “episode 0” special about them going to Gran Tesoro, all of those animations were such a great hype up, leading to the finale, which is this movie.
The movie starts off as the straw hats arrive at Gran Tesoro, the so-called biggest entertainment city in the world, owned by someone that's not only is recognized as the biggest entertainer but also one of the top richest people that have 20% of all the world's berries, the so-called king of casinos and gambling, and to our surprise, he has quite the depressing backstory surrounding him as well.
This movie, or at least for me, is quite special, and more distinguishable than others, because, in addition to the adventure, it has an extra “new” element, you get to see some big budget planning for probably one of the biggest thefts in the history of One Piece, you see the straw hats working together as burglar, going undercover, sneaking around and acting according to plane, it really has that big “Ocean's Eleven” trilogy vibes to it, but ofcourse, there would be a lot of goofying off by the members of the crew at times, but as you should know, when it comes to action, they would break quite the havoc. The world of One Piece seems a lot more massive now that I look at it, how Gran Tesoro is a country on a ship, recognized by the world government, there must be a lot of crazy stuff out there. And the fights were so spot on, as soon as the movie starts, you get to see the straw hats showing off them moves to the public, living up to their reputation, and the matter remains throughout the movie, something else I found intreging is the existence of cars, very odd to see in One Piece, the last time I remember seeing functioning vehicles other than ships, where Ace's special boat (or whatever it's called), and Smoker's bike that run on smoke, that added a lot to the movie, to be honest, the lore was crazy.
- Art (10/10):
No need to make this over the top, but believe me, those were some crisp looking eye candy right there, and it is expected from such a heavy budget movie of One Piece's, you better get yourself to immersive that animation, everything looks very fluid, the facial animations, the movements, even the backgrounds feel so much alive, you can get that the world is moving, and people are interacting out of view.
What are very amazing, were the outfits, oh my, it's been a while since I saw that straw hats in mafia suits back on Film: Strong World, and get this, this movie was no difference, seeing the straw hats in them luxury tuxedos, and the girls in those fashionable dresses, that was amazing, and don't get me started, how they captured Robin and Nami's feminine side's, they were both beautiful.
- Sound (10/10):
I haven't been much of a picky guy when it came to the sound effects and music tracks in movies, but ever since the last movie, Film: Z, a new guideline was set off to me, I can't tolerate pitchily and cheat sound-craft special in heavy budget projects like this one, I expected something big, and boy did I get more than I saw coming, yes, everything from the music, or the most silent wisp of wind, you can see it so clear, the work on the soundtrack was fantastic, for each moment their track, the most sutable you can think about, and let's not overlook the voice acting here, boy, the cast knows what they're doing, I'm talking big performance here, even for those side characters, Baccarat did a phenominal job, replicating that accent while speaking some english words, it really captured the type of character she was playing, let's not forget about Gild himself, that villain laugh of his, second only to Doffy's.
- Character (10/10):
I don't usually give this high score to a movie project when it comes to characters and development giving the time span of the movie and events plus, most of the time, your characters are your usual straw hat members, but this movie falls into a special case, filled with new faces as well as very familiar ones, I spotted a lot of them in fact that I am pretty sure I could have missed a few.
Let's talk about Carina for a second, a match for Nami, she was shown for a very brief shot on the prequel special for this movie, “Heart of Gold”. Foreshadowing her coming, and there she is, sharing a past with our cat burglar, they both shine in the profession (can I even call it that?), she was clearly in the spotlights, manages to steal your attention for once, the same can be told about Tesoro, as I mentioned before, the monster of the new world, totally lives up to his potential, and really seemed like a threat to the crew members, his ideology blent so well with his past, and his resulting present.
Among many amazing characters, there was one specific annoying individual that appeared on the first even teaser of the movie on that “Silver Mine” arc, that cat looking man, or is it a man looking cat? Whatever he is, he was a nuisance.
As I said earlier, in addition to those new characters, we got to see old ones, like Spandam, and Lucci, there was also Absalom and that guy from cypher pole whole Sanji fought on the train heading to Eniese Lobby whom he had to structure his face for a chance, it really makes you wonder about the odds. There was also Sabo and Koala, let's not forget Akainu too.
- Enjoyment (10/10):
Like the action-adventure-comedy-thrill loved I am, I enjoyed the heck out of this movie, the 2 hours animation felt like a journey, that ended very fast, time sure passes when you have fun the most huh!!
I would like to see upcoming movies of the same quality, that would be quite the treat, to be honest, it's been a while since I watched a movie and ended up liking it, this one is out there among the best of the best.
- Overall(9.8/10):
Thye way this movie is, makes me want to recommend it even to the non-One-Piece-fans, it would even pull people to getting into One Piece, I pinned this to my to-watch-list 6 months ago, and I'm wondering why I have ignored it this whole time, totally a worth watching movie.