Orochi, the Eight-Headed Dragon (1994)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Yamato Takeru (known to Americans and Canadians as Orochi, the Eight Headed Dragon) was an expensive special effects production for Toho, yet was directed by Takao Okawara, who had directed some successful films like 1993's Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla and 1992's Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth. However, Yamato Takeru suffers from something of a hallow feel and though still somewhat enjoyable, suffers from some problem areas.The basic story is good, but the film fails to explain some things to the audience and just silently transitions at some points with characters not acting the way you'd think they would. In one scene in particular, when Yamato Takeru is accused of stealing an important sword, Yamato just runs right passed his accuser (who is surrounded by guards). He mumbled to himself, then sends the guards after him. The action scenes are generally well done enough, but there are sequences that definitely could've looked better. And when it comes to probably the best known part of the film, the final battle with Orochi (the eight headed dragon!), the battle is anticlimactic. Yamato Takeru struggles against the dragon, then becomes a sort of giant armored knight, and then just pummels the dragon easily. Not very exciting for the viewer, but perhaps they were limited in what they could do, seeing as how stiff and borderline immobile both the dragon suit/prop and the giant knight looked. But in terms of design, everything looks pretty good, although Orochi itself looks like a giant red slug with modified King Ghidorah heads.The original plan was for a trilogy of films, with this being the first. Sadly, this fantasy epic did not perform well at the box office in Japan, causing a delay and eventually cancellation in the second film, which was never started. Not having seen the first Toho adaptation of these legends, The Three Treasures (1959), I cannot say which is the better film. But while the eye candy is plentiful in this movie with nice props and monsters galore, as an entire film the movie is rather dull.*A word on buying this movie if you are interested: ADV Films released a DVD version of this movie in the region one market (United States, Canada). However, this was about a decade ago and with ADV no longer with us the DVD is long since out of print. You can still attempt to track down a new copy online, but it will cost you. So if you are having trouble finding it, this is why. A VHS release was also offered.

I saw this film in the form of a DVD with the title "Orochi: The Eight Headed Dragon," and found it very entertaining. The comment below about a mix of styles is apropos. To me, it almost seems like different directors and/or art directors were in charge at various times. Approximately the first 1/4 of the film is exquisitely stylish, with beautifully composed shots in which color is delicately harmonized, (an upward shot of the hero Prince Yamato with cherry blossoms in full bloom overhead, a procession of people in pastel-hued costumes zigzagging up a path on a green hill, Prince Yamato at the edge of a brook in the middle of a forest), and the costumes and interiors are of strikingly beautiful design. As the scope and action of the film picks up it seems to take on a garish, cartoon-like look, and becomes more reminiscent of the old Ray Harryhausen monster and magic films. Near the end, it seemed to me to take on a more familiar Japanese monster style, with huge puppets and actors in rubber or plastic suits. The special effects are also an oddly mixed bag. Most of them seemed dated by today's standards, but nevertheless pretty to see. There were, however, two or three morphing effects that were obviously done by CGI.The stylistic schizophrenia aside, I found the whole thing quite enjoyable. Not being too familiar with the Japanese sword and sorcery genre, I can only take others at their word that this sort of thing has been done better in Japan, but I had a good time seeing it and found more than one point of reference to more familiar genres.

I enjoyed this movie quite a bit. It had some really nice special effects. It was a fun fantasy movie in the same vein as the US Sinbad movies complete with a Dragon. I first saw this as a Japanese import with English subtitles and was glad when it was released here in the US last year on video with English dubbing. The US video title is "Orochi: The Eight Headed Dragon". A fun way to waste a few hours and get lost in your imagination.

This movie starts out with a great plot and lots of action, it has good special effects, character development isn't all that good. But you still seem to get a bit of "presence" toward each character. This movie would have been one of the best movies I have ever seen, that is if it didn't fall into a "slump". This "slump" beginning after the return from their quest, the movie takes a unseen turn into space, and starts going downhill from there. But still a great movie.