I legit forgot I watched this, and I wish I saw it with a friend rather than by myself because I could only raise my eyebrows or laugh at how absurd it was. Jesus.
So I literally have no qualms with Ukkomon being a thing now with him being the reason Digivice exists, and everything about the stakes in the story either. It makes sense, really. Kid stumbles upon an all powerful Digimon and wishes for friends. Ukkomon knowing nothing about morality creates Digivices, Digimon partner bonding phenomenon, and brainwashes his family/friends to cater to Lui and fulfill his wish. Now they have to stop him because it got out of hand and Digimon are literally gonna flooding the world and be forced into loving their human partner. Cool. Makes sense.
But right of the bat they just kinda drop the ball at the first mystery. How in any kind of way is Lui the first Digidestined? They legit confirmed him to be around the same age as 01 cast. Huh? But literally the last movies had Maki, Daigo, and Menoa? They are older than him. ...Huh?
Ok. Whatever. Lets set aside the whole inaccurate premise and reason for the whole damn movie for a darn second. Ukkomon seems to be a very important threat, and the whole reason for Digimon partners. Hey, where the hell is Gennai? Seems like a pretty important time for him to uhm, inform the Digidestined?? Maybe just react to this whole info since he's THE Human-Digimon person of the story??? Like in the original series AND Kizuna? I guess we'll get an epilogue with him or someth- ok the movie just ended. I guess he just doesnt exist.
Yea, just couldnt get over these egregious continuity errors. It just gets to the point where it might as well be its own little timeline, spinoff or whatever but like.....why bait us with the 02 cast in the first place? You can literally put this in ANY Digimon season (fuck, even Ghost Game) and have it fit. Theres nothing that Davis or ANY of the characters contributes that make it feel like "yea, ____ really spoke from their character and what they've been through to convince Lui to stop being edgy and have a dialogue with your Digimon." You could have ANY Digimon protagonist do it really. And because of this, them confronting Lui didnt really hit and came off preachy instead of emotional. Like...it basically went: "Your bonds with these monster are FAKE. It was all created by accident because of me and Ukkomon" and they go "Nuh uh, I know my Digimon and they arent like that. I really like them and they like me," and like yea no shit. Got anything spicy? Like hell, make Yolei go off on his ass or something. Entertain me movie.
It just makes Lui kinda stupid and rather hard to...I guess give a shit about? Cus setting aside how he calls himself the first ever digidestined which immediately makes him seem like he's been living under a rock, lets see his decently done tense backstory. Lui was legit about to die as a kid from parent abuse/neglect and Ukkomon saves him, monkey-pawing it up in the process and manufacturing fake relationships for Lui ala mind control. Everythings been great since he wished for friends until he notices something aint right when watching Diaboromon Returns. But the Ukkomon reveal scene was kinda...hilarious? Like Ukkomon tells him everything in THE most serious voice ever, mind controlled parents evilly smiling and everything. And then Lui seemingly turned on some switch and went all Shinji Ikari and tried to kill Ukkomon. Like, a sheltered and seemingly docile nice kid goes school shooter against essentially a mind controlling alien is kinda....I dunno, left field? The dark backstory kinda gets counteracted by his goofiness of his actions. Like kid you kinda just got hit with the consequences of your own actions, monster eye included.
To be completely honest, it doesnt even feel darker than 01 and 02 at all...like compared to Ken's backstory with wishing his brother died (which he did). Holy hell, I just realized they coulda had Ken going off on Lui about his past with his brother and be the one to actually hit the emotional highs and convince him. Fuck, the building blocks were all there but they just had to focus on the damn "Digimon are actually able to be friends with humans all along" message instead. And the movie spends the majority of the time on these plot points so I sincerely find it all unsatisfactory. Especially when theres maybe 10 minutes of action with the Digimon (dont mind no new evos, just wanted to see like Imperialdramon do their own thing with like Magnadramon and Seraphimon in HD) and little time with Ken and everyone... We only got Davis moments, which was great, and some montages for Kari whos a kindergarten teacher (awesome) and...god dammit TAI AGAIN.
The film feels like a confused product. It doesnt develop like its for fans keeping up with Digimon, but it doesnt really appeal to newcomers either. Sigh... |