The Great Yokai War

Infobox_Film
name = The Great Yokai War


director = Takashi Miike
producer = Fumio Inoue
writer = Novel:
Hiroshi Aramata
Screenplay:
Takashi Miike
Mitsuhiko Sawamura
Takehiko Itakura
starring = Ryunosuke Kamiki
Chiaki Kuriyama
Mai Takahashi
movie_music = Koji Endo
distributor = flagicon|USA Tokyo Shock
released = flagicon|Japan August 6, 2005
flagicon|USA June 30, 2006
runtime = 124 min.
country = flagicon|Japan Japan
language = Japanese
imdb_id = 0425661
website = http://yokai-movie.com/
amg_id = 1:332991
budget = |

nihongo|"The Great Yokai War" |妖怪大戦争|Yōkai daisensō is a 2005 Japanese horror-fantasy children's film directed by Takashi Miike and produced by Kadokawa Pictures. In the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival and on its June 30, 2006, American premiere, in New York City, it was released under the international English title "The Great Yokai War" by Tokyo Shock.

The Toronto festival site defines "Yokai" as "bizarre-looking monsters and supernatural beings from Japanese folklore who like to play tricks on unsuspecting humans". "Daisensō" literally means "great war".

It borrows the title of a 1968 film, which was released in the US by ADV Films as "Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare", part of the "Yokai Monsters" series and directed by Yoshiyuki Kuroda. The only common element shared by the 1968 and 2005 films is the concept of a yokai war: for example, the original is a period piece about a Babylonian demon that migrates to Japan, where it is opposed by the local spirits; the new version is set in contemporary times, and the villain is a spirit of refuse / waste. Whereas the original used tokusatsu special effects, the 2005 version makes heavy use of stop-motion puppet animation and CGI.

Plot

A young boy moves to a small town after the divorce of his parents. At a local festival, he is picked to be that year's "Kirin Rider," a protector of all things good. He soon discovers that his new title is quite literal, as a nefarious spirit of waste begins to wage war with the local yokai and human populations.

Cast

ome yokai that appear in this film

* Kirin
* Bakeneko
* Chochinobake
* Futakuchi-onna
* Hitodama
* Karakasa
* Kitsune
* Kyonshi
* Noppera-bō
* Ookubi
* Rokurokubi
* Tanuki
* Yama-uba
* Yuki-onna
* Hitotsume-kozō
* Ittan-momen
* Mokumokuren
* Nurikabe

References

* [http://yokai-movie.com/index.html Official site]
*
* [http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2005/films_description.asp?id=114 "Yokai Daisenso" at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival]

Reviews

* [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/30/movies/30yoka.html Scott, A.O. "The New York Times" (June 30, 2006), p. B6: "A Motley Crew of Spirits Recruit a Boy to Be Savior" ]
* [http://filmjournal.com/filmjournal/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002914654 Lovece, Frank. "Film Journal International" (review)]
* [http://hollywoodgothique.com/yokaidaisenso2005.html 2005 Film Review]
* [http://hollywoodgothique.com/yokaimonstersspookwarfare1968.html 1968 Film Review]