Negadon: The Monster From Mars Review by Bobby LePire. Edited by Courtney McAllister.

 

This twenty minute animated film was created as a part of the fiftieth anniversary celebration of daikaiju films (aka “Godzilla”, original movie and character). With grainy film stock, scratches throughout, even its title font, this movie perfectly replicates the Showa era style. Along with an emphasis on the monster fight, this feels right at home in a kaiju lover’s collection.

 

The plot is fairly basic- a tragic event in his past has left former robotics engineer Professor Ryichi Narasaki broken and alone. His old pal, Commander Seiji Yoshizawa, comes to beg for help when an asteroid from a terraformed Mars crashes into Tokyo and isn’t a real asteroid, but rather Negadon. Upon waking up, Negadon starts destroying everything it sees.

 

The main thrust of the narrative is the choice the professor has to make- seek his redemption and start up his giant mech, Miroku, or do nothing and let the monster destroy more, himself included. With this being a certain kind of film, the choice is obvious, but watching him get there is still emotionally engaging, thanks to a solid screenplay and top notch voice acting. Seriously, in this film’s 20 minutes, it contains more character development, genuine heart, and kickass kaiju action than the entire two and half hours of butt numbing stupidity that is Gareth Edwards’ “Godzilla (2014)”.

 

The animation is a mixed bag, but tends toward the good more often than not. The hair of the humans is very well rendered and realistic. The eyes, in close-up, convey an impressive range of emotion. The settings, backgrounds, and various locales have a lot going on in them as well, which helps make this future world feel more alive. The design of Negadon- cephalopod-ish, with each tentacle a weapon, and a glowing red eye atop a spiked head- is unique enough to be memorable, but incorporates enough old school elements to preserve the style. Miroku has a samurai helmet like head, drill-spike for a hand, thrusters to fly (because duh!), and obvious influences from a plethora of mecha movies/ shows/ manga; but again, works all of these designs its own distictive look. The results aren’t as ripoffy as that might sound, but more loving homage; which is the point, so yay! My favorite homage is a slo-mo close up shot of a moth during a pivotal moment that’s purely gratuitous, but still made me smile- Mothra rocks, and any reference to her, no matter how clumsy, is cool.

 

However, not every aspect is as cool. The characters’ mouth movements never quite sync up properly with the spoken dialogue; this is true in both the sub and dub. When focusing directly on Narasaki speaking, it teeters disturbingly on uncanny valley territory. Luckily, there are lots of cutaway atmospheric shots during the dialogue so this doesn’t bring the movie down too much. The rain, especially in the two shots of looking straight up at it falling, looks rubbery and off putting. Easily the worst animation in the whole film.

 

The music is tremendous, minus the heavy handed, grating closing credits song. Driving and exciting when called for, as well as sad, uplifting, and everything inbetween, the score works on every level. The ending song though, is a pandering mess, too on the nose and sung too nasally for me to really enjoy in any way. Because I don’t feel I should be the only one to have suffered, here are the lyrics, in their entirety, to the atrocious song:

 

        Balloons were floating in the deep blue sky

        A scene of red and white, I remember like a dream

        Dad, I want to ride the small ferris wheel with you

       Just like before, I’d like to go out together again

       We’ve been through so many different things, like in dreams

        Soon the rain will stop, and the sun will shine

       You don’t have to suffer anymore

 

“This is a kaiju film involving a giant robot, so how’s the action?” I hear you asking through the screen (magical abilities for the win!). Simply put, it does not disappoint.  The fight sequence between our hero and villain is really cool. Crisp, clean, fast moving, but never disorienting- the geography nicely laid out, and the enormity/ weight of both the monster from Mars and mech are capably expressed. It’s fast paced, exciting, and fun to watch. The drill-spike thing on the robot is a weapon in its own right, but can also catch Negadon’s energy ball and fire it back at the creature. It’s a really cool thing to witness.

 

Since spoiling everything isn’t really fun for anyone, I shall leave it at that.

 

Outside of the film’s context for existing- anniversary homage- the movie works very well. However, it’s within this celebratory context that it really shines. Again, it captures that original spirit well, but it also includes bits from beyond the big G himself. The Mothra bit has been talked about, but there’s also a unified military outfit that’s very reminiscent  of JSDF. The classic monster Negadon most resembles would be Dogora- the title monster of a totally awesome half-forgotten kaiju oddity!

Despite some flaws, and a truly heinous song, this short works. Solid action, engaging characters, and a cool monster add up for a nicely paced film. All the good intentions and efforts paid off. Smashed buildings all the way!