One Piece Film Red (2022)

Nope, sorry! Didn't get the memo. This is just a mess. "Uta" is a famous singer who believes she may have the power to use song to unite the largely dysfunctional world against some marauding pirates. The world government and it's navy tries hard, but it cannot quite combat these ruthless and quirky characters - amongst whom she must count her own father "Shanks". The thing is, though, that "Uta" and her slew of unremarkable power ballads strides two dimensions and gradually we begin to worry that she is perhaps not the altruist that it appears at the start. Perhaps she has evil aspirations of her own; or is being manipulated in some way? I am a big fan of Japanese animé usually, but this is all over the place. The story is weak and nigh-on impossible to follow with the characterisations shallow and almost non-existent. The supposedly cherubic voice of the young girl got right on my nerves from very early on, and the animations (except for, perhaps, at the end when the are lively and vivid) are almost comic book page-flicked in their delivery. Of course there is an inevitability about the ending, but in this case the journey to that conclusion is a maelstrom of confusion and un-engaging plot and personalities that left me cold. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood - but I just could not get into this.