Stand by Me Doraemon is a retelling of the classic Anime/Manga series. It starts by introducing us to Nobi, a little kid who doesn't seem to be good at anything at all. His great-great-grandson then shows up from the future, bringing with him the talking robot cat Doraemon. Doraemon grants Nobi the use of various gadgets from the future in the hopes of changing his lot in life. Eventually, the film focuses on Nobi's pursuit of his crush Sue, and the consequences that come with his future happiness.
The general formula of a typical Doraemon episode involves Nobi getting into some kind of trouble because of his ineptitude, getting a gadget from Doraemon that temporarily makes things better before backfiring horribly, and then fixing the problem while learning a valuable lesson along the way. The overall thrust of these episodes is to show that there aren't really any shortcuts to success, a lesson that the main character seems to forget with every new chapter of the story.
The movie mixes things around a bit. There's a brief Montage near the start of the film that shows Doraemon's gadgets doing a whole lot of good for poor, helpless Nobi. But then as the story shifts focus to Nobi's crush on Sue, the movie starts to play as a cautionary tale, with Nobi's various schemes to eventually win the heart of Sue never really succeeding. It's an interesting distinction that points to the overall problem with this particular plot. It's kind of creepy to have the main character manipulate the object of his affections with the goal of having her marry him some day.
But Stand By Me Doraemon goes to great lengths to make these characters worth rooting for. There has always been something compelling about Nobi, a character who is petty and unlikable on paper, yet capable of showing great heart when it matters. The movie thrives on those moments when more is called of the main character. The trick is that Nobi doesn't magically become more capable. He is simply determined to make things better, in spite of his limited abilities. And as weird and at times awkward as this film gets, it finds strong material in just how Nobi finds small measures of triumph and a world that seems stacked against him.
The only flaw is that there's so much finality to his happiness. He doesn't really deserve it yet, and the film's insistence on providing clear answers to his ultimate fate gets in the way of telling a better story. Also getting in the way are the production values. Perhaps it's just a projection issue, but the animation looked blocky and a little fuzzy at times. The English dubbing is manageable, though it's a little distracting to have the dialogue so out of sync with the mouth movements.
Stand By Me Doraemon feels like a relic at times. Though there are a few strongly realized sequences, the animation isn't up to the standards that we've become used to. And then there's the main plot, which feels a little more squeamish than it probably ought to be. But in spite of all that, there's something undeniably charming about this film. Perhaps it's just how it roots for the loser, how its protagonist doesn't have secret powers that make him destined to be great. Like all of us, he actually has to grow and learn to succeed, and not just go through a series of meaningless power ups. That's a sweet lesson, in spite of the shaky circumstances.
My Rating:
