Princess Raccoon

Reaction #1: "Wha-wha-wha-WHAT THE FUCK?"

Reaction #2: "And I LIKED it!"

Prince Amechiyo (Jo Odagiri) is hated by his father, Azuchi Momoyama, because the Prince is the Most Beautiful Person in the World. So his father gets his ninja, Priest Ostrich, to drug the prince and kill him on Paradise Mountain. But the ninja gets caught in a trap, and Amechiyo wakes up in the Kingdom of the Tanuki (shape-shifting mystical trickster racoon-dogs). He falls in love with the Princess of the Tanuki (Zhang Ziyi).

By the way, this is a musical, with lots of big production numbers, some Japanese pop, some Calypso… at least one pseudo-rap number.

So, even though mortals and Tanuki aren't supposed to become involved with each other, Amechiyo and Princess Tanuki pledge eternal undying love. Then bad things happen, which are all solved by a magical golden Buddhist frog.

This is the most excessively weird thing I've seen in a long time. The sets range (often in one scene) from straight-forward stage sets, to outdoor shots, to some weird performance space that looks like it was designed for Richard Foreman; even to green-screen shots of the actors superimposed over Japanese silk paintings.

And while this IS a Japanese production, with the bulk of the dialogue and singing done in Japanese, Zhang Ziyi delivers most of her lines and sings a few songs in Chinese. (That is explained.)

The film is colorful, beautiful, funny and colossally goofy. The costumes are great. Zhang Ziyi can act in just about anything and looks like she's having a good old time in this.

Except for one innocent little pee joke, entirely family friendly (if your family is Yeti).

Sorry, SubGenius Tanuki fans… NO SCROTAL DRUMMING. Any hint of that has been deflected to stomach drumming.

This is the film that Seijun Suzuki's Pistol Opera should have been, instead of the yawnfest it was.

It honestly looks like Suzuki made Princess Racoon and did not give a fuck what was "right" or "wrong"… he just did what he wanted AND IT PRETTY MUCH WORKED.

It good.

– Review by sibu SODDI