Initial D
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DVD Cover Information Actor: Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Chapman To, Edison Chen, Jay Chou, Shawn Yue Director: Alan Mak, Ralph Rieckermann, Wai-keung Lau Brand: TAI Seng Entertainment Producer: Charlie Hau Producer: Ellen Chang Producer: Elos Gallo Writer: Felix Chong Writer: Shuichi Shigeno DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; Chinese (Subtitled); English (Subtitled); Cantonese (Original Language); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1 Format: Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen Picture Format: 1.33:1 Running Time: 107 minutes DVD Release Date: 2006-01-24 Audience Rating: Unrated Studio: Tai Seng |
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Movie Reviews of Initial D
Movie Review: Clear Your Mind of the Anime Before Watching
Summary: 2 Stars
I'm not a car fan, nor a racing fan, but when I stumbled upon the anime, I loved it. So, even though I knew the live action film wouldn't be the same, I still looked forward to seeing it. As I have never read the manga, any comparisons I make are between the anime and the live action versions.
Like any movie that is adapted from another souce, they made changes, some significant - Bunta, Takumi's father is a womanizing alcoholic who abuses his son, and Itsuki is a braggard,, rather than the nerdy side kick - both revisions did not appeal to me. On the other hand, Jay Chou, who plays Takumi, did an excellent job of projecting the personality of the character in the anime, and which is part of the appeal for the story - a kid who doesn't know or like cars is a better racer than those obsessed by cars - and then finds focus in his life by racing.
I think the problem with this film is that it tries to do too much. This is worse for viewers familiar with the anime or manga because character and racing development takes place in leaps, rather than steps. Even for viewers who come in with no knowledge of the characters, sometimes you wonder where they are coming from - and basically, I think it comes from trying to imitate the major points from the original story without spending the time to develop it. On the other hand, the movie does revise characters' personalities and histories, so it is also trying to add some original touches. In the end, the movie is neither original, nor a faithful adaptation for the hard-core anime fans.
For me, the movie itself is a two star rating, but might be a 2 1/2 for those who give higher priority to visual racing scenes, or three for those not familiar with the anime - but as far as the Amazon rating stars, it still gets two because, as other reviews have stated, those trailers in the beginning are really annoying. Not only did I spend some extra time trying to skip past the trailers, but when the movie finally started, I realized that I forgot to set the sub-titles and had to sit through the trailers again. If you are going to watch this movie, make sure to see it in one sitting - it's just not worth having to sit through the trailers just to get to the movie and then getting to the point you left off at.