Cutie Honey

Hideaki Anno's Cutie Honey (2004) is a live-action adaptation of a popular anime series. Anno's extremely campy take on the silly show goes even beyond the boundaries of a parody. It is outright silly, as it should be, and provides more laugh-out-loud moments than you could probably even imagine. Instead of a proper plot introduction (which would only be in vain), I'll just introduce you to the main characters. Cutie Honey is a superhero (well, sort of) who has a double identity as a lousy office worker. She seems to live alone in a huge mansion - and dont ask me why, but she spends her time there only in her underwear. Detective Natsuko is an uptight and lonely detective who runs into Cutie Honey on many occassions. The Panther Claw is a group of four freakin' weirdos who fight against Cutie Honey. Then there's also a mysterious journalist who has his own agenda.

It is easy to point out that Cutie Honey is a parody with limitless camp value, but the film wanders into a different direction in the end. I dont know if this is only because the viewer gets so used to the film's quirky mood or it might actually be an intended choice by Anno. Who knows, he might have actually made Cutie Honey seriously - simply to make his fan flip out yet again.

The film stinks of camp value. As a campy parody/tribute, the form is fine as it is: an absurd adaptation of anime editing and character design into a live-action film. The music flows from a silly theme tune to "serious and dramatic" string-dominated compositions that can either be interpret as an attempt to be serious or as a different way to get more laughs out of the audience. The problem is that I felt so nonplussed by the end of the film that I dont have my own opinion which one it is in the end. Even though it's my second time watching the film, this unevenness bugs me still.

In overall, it's a nice film for anyone who wants to have a good laugh - whether you want to direct your laughs at anime or not. 100% camp entertainment guaranteed. The film gets a few extra points for the sheer amount of honest camp value that even made me happy.

Score: 7 out of 10