It's been awhile since I watched One Piece: The movie back in January. At the time, I had only watched about 50 episodes and the series was still relatively unassuming. The Straw Hat Pirates still only had four members, they still hadn't reached the Grand Line and a simple, yet fun adventure seemed to be the right fit for a One Piece movie. But by the time Dead End Adventure was released (146 episodes in,) quite a few things had happened. The Straw Hat Pirates had already been in the Grand Line for a while and discovered the waters there were a lot harder to navigate.They had had their most complex and interesting adventure yet in Alabasta in which they were faced with a civil war where neither side was bad. The group had been joined by Sanji, Chopper and Nico Robin, making for a lot of characters to share the screentime. At this point, a lot more is and should be expected from One Piece. It has gone from a simple action shounen to having a huge organic world and interesting storylines.
Even the filler episodes were impressive and always took the opportunity to show us more of the world and characters. It's the first time I've thought that having extra episodes with stories not taken from the manga can not only be enjoyable in its own right, but can be a good thing and teach us more about the series itself.
All this to say that even though I've been lenient with the first three films, perhaps more than I should, it's great to finally see a One Piece film that feels like a real movie. It's the first feature-length film and the first one that's good enough that I would recommend it to any One Piece fan. When the movie started, the words "One Piece: The Movie" appeared again, and this it feels earned. If the film had a more interesting antagonist, and perhaps a more consistent story progression, it could have truly been great, but the way it is, it's bar none the best One Piece film so far.
I think I could recommend this film on the animation alone. Unlike previous films, the art style is very close to show, but the art is a little more detail and there is consistently a lot more motion. Characters and environment move around a lot more fluidly, which is certainly impressive considering how detailed the drawings are, and even in the scenes where people are just talking, you'll often see things going on in the background. The action is snappy and engaging, especially with the lack of the waiting around that the show is infamous for. (Plus, for an action franchise, it's about time one of the films had some proper action.) There are definitely shots that are better animated than others, but the ones that are well animated are a lot of fun to watch. I also want to give credit to the second shot after the title is shown where the camera moves around in a 3D modeled town inhabited by traditionally drawn characters. It's showing its age for sure, (mostly due to the horrendous framerate,) but the 3D modeling maintains the art style pretty well and it's well enough made that it doesn't feel out of place and is impressive to watch.
The story is once again an excuse for shenanigans, but with more thought put to it this time. The film takes advantage of its longer running time to flesh out the story and characters much more than previous films. Each character gets at least a little bit to do and they all have their moments. My favorite moment is Sanji cheering up an almost suicidal kid, then casually wondering why he's being so nice. Nothing more is ever said about the subject.
There is also better executed drama, mostly centered around another kid and adopted guardian. I don't know why every single One Piece film so far has felt like having a kid who the drama centers around, but I suppose it works fine as long as the kid's name isn't Mobambi. I wasn't too impressed by the plot twist towards the end, but the both characters take advantage of the longer runtime to develop decently well, and the kid interacts pretty well with the main characters, even if it reminds me a bit of Apis from the Warship Island arc. I think it's also an advantage that the main characters have some emotional weight to them as well, not just the side characters. In fact, the kid's emotional development kind of connects nicely to some of the other characters, especially Luffy, Nami and Sanji.
My one gripe with the story is that I think they could have taken better advantage of the concept of the ship race. I can't be the only one who thinks there were more possibilities with a race on the sea where the ships can openly sabotage each other. But after an admittedly pretty awesome start, the race ends up not mattering at all anymore with the direction the story takes. And even with the past of having been a marine before running off with a marine ship to become a pirate, the antagonist lacks any real characterization beyond causing problems just because he thinks it's fun. His personality does clash against Luffy decently well as he has a distaste for what Luffy enjoys about being a pirate, but it still feels a bit too simple as he doesn't have a proper goal. Say what you will about One Piece, it's not typically too subtle about character motivation. What I do like about the antagonist is that we're told early on that he has devil fruit power, but what exactly that ability is remains hidden until the climax. The fact that for most of the film we don't know exactly what he's capable of does help making him more intimidating.
What I said about filler episodes earlier had a purpose, because that way you'll know that when I say that even though the film isn't as good as the show's most interesting stories, (like the Alabasta arc), but is still on par with the filler episodes, that's a compliment even if it may not sound like one. The film does take the opportunity to develop the characters and the world that little bit more while telling a decent story, and I for one hope this will set a standard for the films to come.
