Cutie Honey: Live Action (2004)

Cutie Honey: Live Action (2004)

Release Date: 29 May 2004 (Japan)
Quality: DVDRip
Language: Japanese
Runtime: 94 min
Director: Hideaki Anno
Company: Gainax, WoWow
Movie Info: IMDb
Cast: Eriko Satô, Mikako Ichikawa, Jun Murakami, Mitsuhiro Oikawa, Hairi Katagiri, Sie Kohinata, Mayumi Shintani, Ryo Kase, Ryô Iwamatsu, Suzuki Matsuo, Kyûsaku Shimada, Ryûhei Matsuda, Masaki Kyômoto, Hideko Yoshida
Genre: Comedy | Fantasy | Sci-Fi
Watch: Trailer
Size: 700MB

Plot: Hideaki Anno's live-action adaptation of Go Nagai's 1973 anime Cutey Honey is a love-it-or-hate-it affair. For every single thing a fan could put forth as a justification for liking the movie, a detractor could probably view that same "quality" as ample reason for hating the film. Fortunately for me, I fall into the far happier, former group. One good thing about Cutie Honey is that from the get-go, you'll have a pretty clear idea of whether you're going to like it or not.

The film begins with the nubile Honey Kisaragi (newcomer Eriko Sato) merrily bathing in a tub filled with strategically placed bubbles sure to frustrate the more hormonally-charged members of the audience. Upon learning that her scientist uncle has been kidnapped, Honey promptly hops out of the tub, strikes a pose, and yells out her signature catchphrase, "Honey flash!"—a move that's supposed to signal her transformation into Cutie Honey, a pink haired Wonder Woman-esque superheroine.

But when Honey touches the heart-shaped Ai-system device attached to her collar, nothing happens. Realizing she's low on energy, Honey does what any normal young girl caught in such a situation would do: she runs out of the house dressed in nothing more than a bra, panties, and a midriff-covering garbage bag and sprints through the streets of Japan in search of her neighborhood grocery store. Makes sense, right? After loading up on water and onigiri to power herself up, Honey rips off the garbage bag (to give the boys in the audience a little show, I imagine) and transforms, suddenly landing on a motorcycle (where'd that come from?) in full racer regalia (how did she do that? Don't ask). Does that give you a sense of what kind of picture we're dealing with here?