Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer (1984)

Lack of good storyline.

A lot of fun.

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The TV series was relatively funny and watchable but did not let any great memory. This movie however is playing the dream and let you a long and delightful taste. Simply put, with 15 years in retrospect it appears to me being one of the best anime movie I have seen. The atmosphere of the film is light and joyful, using the characters we all knew from the series, but it adds a layer of complexity and philosophy (movie level...), of deep down narration based on old legends allied with humour that makes it a thoroughly enjoyable experience. This is one of Mamoru Oshii's finest production in a career that counts among the richest and more creative. Definitely to be recommended.

Being from England this film was not easy to come by, but was well worth the wait. I own the DVD of this movie (Subtitled and Dubbed versions on the disc). Although I think the dubbed version really spoils the feel of the UY characters, (Mendou doesn't sound like the rich snob he is portrayed as in the Japanese version) it was still enjoyable.As far as the narrative if the film goes, I think it is certainly the most atmospheric of the UY movies (closely followed by Movie #4) the scenes of Tomobiki from Mendou's harrier, and Lum washing a water melon just pitch miles above anything I have ever seen in Anime.Well worth buying no matter where you live.

For the record, I saw the dubbed version of this movie. The American voices are pretty good, but I still like the Japanese ones better. Ataru and Lum's voices are in the spirit of their JP counterparts, but Lum just sounds a bit off. The NA voice, while still very good, just doesn't have that super sweet, cuteness her JP voice has. Atuaru's voice suits him, but doesn't quite give off that air of lechery his JP voice does. The other voice are all well done, with Sakura, Perm, Ten and Mendou being especially good. Mendou's VA really captures his arrogance.As for the story, the only thing I can really compare it to is "Dark City." I know UY and Dark City are about as far apart as you can get, but both movies really convey the whole "What is a dream? What is real?" idea. While I was disappointed that this movie didn't have the wild physical antics we see on the show, I found myself enjoying the intelligent and philosophical script.Overall, this film has a few flaws but I enjoyed it a lot. "Beautiful Dreamer" should be in the library of any anime fan.

This is widely held to be one of the finest of the Urusei Yatsura movies, although rumor has it that creator Takahashi Rumiko was not overly fond of how it turned out. Along with the slapstick romantic comedy that is the UY hallmark, "Beautiful Dreamer" features a deeper, more philosophical note. Those who have seen some of television episodes and rejected it as being too simple or childish owe it to themselves to reserve final judgement until they have seen this movie.In a nutshell, the story begins much like any other UY storyline. It's the day before the school cultural fair, with all of the craziness which that entails, and the usual gang of idiots is getting their cafe ready. But some strange things are going on - a tank which was destroyed yesterday is whole again this morning. And wasn't YESTERDAY the day before the fair? And why do all roads return to Tomobiki High School? The only two people who seem to be aware of the problem, moreover, are school nurse Sakura and every student's nemesis Onsen-Mark.This sets up an exploration into the meaning of reality and dream, and the place of love within each. With lots of Takahashi's visual references and sight-gags, this is a film that NEEDS to be watched more than once - it's just not possible to catch everything the first time!Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer features a few mild curses and comic-book violence, but has nothing that would be offensive to most people. The storyline, however, because of its frequent blurring of fantasy and reality might prove a bit hard to understand to some younger viewers.