Watches
August 22, 2020
Delve a bit deeper into Ôbayashi's oeuvre and you'll soon find out that he made quite a few films aimed at younger audiences. Samurai Kids is such a film, though luckily it retains Ôbayashi's distinctive style, so if you're a fan of his weirder output you shouldn't worry too much about this being a complete dud.
The film follows Satoru, a young kid who finds a miniature samurai along the river banks. The samurai isn't doing too well after being exposed to the polluted river water. Satoru decides to take care of him, but a pesky raven is tailing the samurai and keeping him hidden from his parents also proves to be quite a challenge.
Don't expect technical excellence, instead Ôbayashi aims for charm, with some fun stop motion scenes, plenty of odd camera angles and hyperactive camera work. It's a bit weird to see this in a children's film, but it does a good job of setting it apart from its peers. A fun an amusing diversion, though not his best work.