Anpanman Movie review and overview: Part 2
Dolly's Star of Life review, PART 2!
When we last left off, Dolly noticed something odd about her Star of Life, what could be going on? Let's find out!
This scene starts with a song with vocals in the background. A montage of everyone helping prepare for the Star Festival plays. Dolly is seen playing by herself during all this, snubbing anyone who asks her if she wants to come help or play. Scenes of Anpanman helping other people are also shown. She even refuses to take a piece of Anpanman's head! That's very rare!
The next scene, Dolly sees some of the others in town taking otu their cut-out stars and placing them up on a stage background. Dolly actually thinks this looks fun, for once, and runs over to open up a box of stars.
Of course, the others are surprised to see her there, and many of them less than happy. They say some rude comment to Dolly, probably deserved, and I think mentioning her only playing by herself. Dolly get's ticked and runs off. Dolly wonders what went wrong, when her Star of Life dims red again and more sparkles fly off of her.
It dims a few more times, releasing more sparkles. She notices for sure this time, as it seems to make her feel bad when it happened.
Now we see how this is really becoming a problem.
Next, you see her talking with Uncle Jam in town. She asks Uncle Jam what kind of Star of Life Anpanman has, if it's big, small, or is bright (I think). Uncle Jam says that you can't see Anpanman's Star of Life. I can't really understand what else he says, probably something about it being in his body... or, idk. Dolly gets grumpy again and walks away.
After that, she sits on a bench and remembers the things the kids said about her earlier. She gets up and maches around saying to herself about how she's fine and will keep having fun for herself only. Of course, the star shoots off sparkles again, and she feels some pain from this. She looks and notices how dimly her star is glowing. HMMMM. Maybe it has something to do with this poor attitude of yours??
Outside of the town after looking at everyone still preparing, her star is dimming badly, getting darker and redder, and she crouches down, almost crying. She repeats a few times that she doesn't want to turn back into a doll.
She then looks up and notices Rollpanna there by the water, and they have a talk. (Rollpanna is a cool, mysterious girl "superhero" who fights constantly between a "good" and "bad" heart inside her.)
During this, she asks Rollpanna what she feels she was meant to do, and she replies that she doesn't know. Dolly again remarks that she doesn't believe Anpanman was meant to help people. Rollpanna says that's not true (like everyone does! C'mon Dolly get the hint!), though it's not her own calling.
Dolly then says that she was abandoned. She remembers how she was thrown away into the ocean, and how she wished that she could have life and just have fun, (I think she says only for herself). She tears up, saying she doesn't understand why this is happening and why it's not fun anymore.
Rollpanna says the stars are pretty, tonight, and they both look up at them.
So far, it's getting pretty emotional for dolly! And definitely going downhill. Now is when the main conflict is showing up. But, another problem is also about to show itself.
In his usual manner, Baikinman has created a stupid-looking robot! This one is the Kabidandan. It looks like the Kabirunrun germ-things he has, but with a body. He is proud of his ridiculous robot.
He hooks up some things to it's head, and some antenna jut out of his lair. He has the intention of using the power of lighting to power it. Or "Baikin planet's thunder power" or I dont even know.
Either way, he throws the switch, and nothing happens. A few more times and it does nothing.
Enter Dokinchan, who is sooo excited about the doll Baikinman said he would make her. The Kabidandan is not a doll she wanted. Baikinman of course has no idea what she's talking about, and Dokinchan gets SUPER mad and kicks the thing right through the wall and into to ravine.
It is a frightening sight, and she demands Baikinman go get the doll she saw before from the bakery. Baikinman flees in his UFO in terror, off to go get the doll.
Cut to the bakery, Dolly is worrying about how dim her star has gotten, it barely glowing red now. Uncle Jam knocks on the door, so she hides under the blanket. Uncle Jam asks if she's ok because either she looks worried or others worry about her, can't tell, but either way, she says everything is fine and she's having a good time. He asks about her Star of Life, and that's when she flips. She screams how she hates all of them. She runs away into the woods.
Her star releases more sparkles, when she is snatched up by Baikinman. Baikinman takes her back to his lair.
Oh boy, Dokinchan is so happy to have a cute doll!
Horrorman notes this isn't a very warm welcome.
Dokinchan starts to drag her away to play, when Dolly resists and throws her to the ground. They argue, Dolly says she's not just a doll.
Iyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Suddenly though, as they roll around and fight, some beams from the ceiling fall from their ropes, and come crashing right towards all of them! But, right before they hit, Dolly's star glows brightly inside her, and some sort of force field bursts out and protects them.
The light sends the beams flying off in all directions, crashing into the machinery. Something sparks, and the antenna on top of the lair activate. Then, some lightning appears from nowhere in space (Possibly from Baikin Planet?) and shoots onto the antenna. I have no clue.
The lightning shoots everywhere, causing chaos in the lair, Dolly hides in Baikinman's UFO. Eventually, a bolt of lighting hits the Kabidandan robot, as well. There's an explosion in the base, sending Dolly in the UFO flying far away.
And then this happens to the Kabidandan. It awakens and grows huge and more frightening! I kind of had a feeling Baikinman's robot would be the main thing they "fight" at the end of the movie, and this settles it, but they still managed to make it a bit interesting, as I didn't expect it to grow/change.
Cut to the festival, everyone is having fun, while Anpanman and friends search for the missing Dolly. She is now back out on the ocean, floating helplessly. She thinks about how her Star of Light's power will run out and she'll turn back into a doll.
She's almost thrown into the sea by another large wave, when once again, Anpanman comes to save her.
She shows Anpanman her poor, dim star, and finally breaks down crying.
(I found this to be very sweet. ;v; a character just sobbing into Anpanman like that. Poor thing.) She just cries and cries. Anpanman tells her it'll be ok, and offers her a piece of his head to feel better.
She eats it while still sobbing. "It's delicious. It's really delicious."
Anpanman's friends appear, and they bring her back. She apologizes to them, and they say they're just happy that she's alright.
But uh oh, as they return, things aren't looking good in town.
Not good at all )8
Panic ensues! Their star decorations go out, Kabidandan starts stepping on houses, and Baikinman declares this is no longer a Star Festival, but a Kabi Festival!! ...ok Baikinman.
Also man, I love the thunder and the lighting during this. Very scary feel to it!
Our heroes try to fight it, but nothing works, and it shoots out weird beams that cause people to get stuck in green, rocky formations.
The Kabidandan shoots the beam all over, causing the whole town to be captured and covered in the green stuff. Shokupanman and Currypanman figure out that Baikinman is controlling the robot directly from his UFO, and go to attack him, but...
Anpanman Movie tranformation time! Baikinman hit's them with these weird orbs that transform the two into Kabirunruns! Heheh, cute. As a fun note, in almost every Anpanman movie, there is a transformation like this! Sometimes it's bugs, cats, iron balls, and all manner of weird stuff, but it's always really silly to see.
It's ok because Dokinchan thinks you're cute that way anyway.
Baikinman then turns the rest of Anpanman's friends into Kabis as well, leaving Anpanman to fight the giant robot himself. His attacks are unfortunately not doing much.
Uncle Jam will not sit by and watch, though, so he tells everyone stuck in the rock tower with him to shift their weight and try to knock it over. Don't give up, guys! Look how hard Anpanman is trying!
And now for a really stupid series of events I won't screencap:
- Dokinchan sees Dolly stuck in the rock and wants her
- Baikinman and her fight over the controls on the robot
- Dokinchan succeeds in having the robot grab Dolly, only to break the controls
- Kabidandan goes nuts
- Robot throws Dolly, but Anpanman catches her and they land on a ledge
Kabidandan then shoots one of his rock beams, a different kind, at the two, but Anpanman shields her from the blast.
Each consecutive blast is covering Anpanman more in rock, his cape is also now torn off so he can't fly.
Meanwhile, the rock formation his friends are in falls, and Uncle Jam, Batako, and their special bakery-car are freed. Uncle Jam and co. immediately start to bake Anpanman a new head. In every movie, this always works. Giving him a new head will save Anpanman from about anything, including being transformed. So go, guys, bake!!
Dolly begs Anpanman to stop. She can't understand why he's protecting her. She begs him to run away, but Anpanman will have none of that, and takes each blast. Finally, he's completely engulfed and turned to rock.
But...what's this? Something weird happens. His body sparkles, and the sparkles fly up and away from his body. Oh no... c-could it be...?
The new head is tossed to him in the usual manner.
It hits, bounces off, and turns to stone as well.
Uncle Jam explains the worst possible news, Anpanman's Star of Life has left his body. Even me as the viewer was left a bit shocked at this happening! I really didn't expect them to go as far as, in a sense, "kill" Anpanman.
Dolly is left crying, and then she remembers what Anpanman had told her, about how he knew that his purpose in life was to help others. Dolly realizes something, and she becomes determined not to let it end like this!
She knows now what her purpose is. She realizes her purpose is to give Anpanman her own Star of Life, that has now started glowing brightly!
She holds it out to Anpanman, and the star shrinks as it's power is transferred to him. Anpanman's body glows, and Dolly falls, her body returning to how it was before.
An intense version of Anpanman's theme plays
commence awesome hero comeback!!
Bam! Kabidandan's punch is stopped dead in it's ttracks by a glowing Anpanman.
He proceeds to grab it's finger, lift the robot from the ground, swing it completely over himself and chuck it onto the ground. It was amazing.
They have a cool fight, it's head detaches to chase him, and Anpanman manages to get the robot to punch itself in the face.
Things go haywire, the robot turns to rock, and at the height of the music, a final, sparkling, AN-PUNCH is thrown, and the robot is destroyed!
A light appears, and all of the rock is disintegrated into sparkles, returning everything to normal. Including out transformed friends!
But everything is not happy. Everyone in town gathers around the town square, where Dolly lays dormant as a lifeless doll. Everyone tears up.
"Dolly, please, come back to the bakery and play!" "Dolly, please, come back to school" "we'll be friends, Dolly!" They all say these things in vein.
Everyone moves aside as Anpanman picks her up and carries her. (This part was pretty sad to me, all the animal people backing up and respectfully holding their hats to their chest)
Even anpanman starts to shed a tear, as he tells her he will always, always be together, because she is inside him, now.
But... what's this?
A star glows brightly in the sky, and they all turn to it. Suddenly, Stars of Life shoot out, just like before, and fill the sky. A bunch of them fly off, and Dolly floats up into the air. The stars shoot into her body.
She gets... new hair, and new clothes! I assume this to be a metaphor for how she'd grown as a person. She opens her eyes, and she doesn't look so much like a doll, anymore!
She cried and excitedly hugs Anpanman, everyone is happy, and the lights for the festival go back on! Dolly is now a real girl yaaayyy
The credits roll, everyone is fixing up the town, celebrating the Star Festival, and even Dolly is helping and having a good time with everyone. (Oh yeah, and Baikinman and friends fix the lair and manage to turn themselves back to normal, as they were turned into Kabis too.)
The End
Welp! That was some Anpanman movie! I enjoyed it a lot. I really liked the emotional parts, and the final fight was one of the best, I feel. I was afraid it was going to be the usual "tears fixes everything" type ending, but really a character made a big sacrifice! Even though it was obvious that she was going to come back, it was still very touching. In the end, casting aside her selfishness and helping someone else was what saved the day.
Once again, this movie is one of my fave Anpanman movies. There's a lot of emotion, an interesting story, and seeing Anapanman saying more than the usual things. The Dolly character was a jerk through 90% of the movie and yet I think she still comes out as a good and likable character. Plus it had an interesting moral. Don't be selfish and disregard others, that true happiness comes from helping those around you and everyone being happy. Doing things to make you happy is great, but not when you hurt others. It's definitely a moral I don't see given in kids movies often, or at least, when I do see a similar one, it's not really quite as nice as this.
And I guess that's all, I hope you enjoyed the review!