A few months ago I was really into watching the series and figured I should get around to the movies it seems there's a lot of them to go with at least Netflix has a handful to enjoy. Alabaster arc was pretty good except a little to much of the desert nice to see some of the same bits that were from the series, I need to see the one about the 2 year gap after the crew disappeared that will be good. I've been to watch the movies and live action this one is awesome for its vibes! The music, colors, great story, wonderful characters, and intriguing enough all of the One Piece content overall is worth it!

This One Piece movie takes place in Alabaster which is a fictional city in the One Piece Anime world. All the usual heroes team up to fight the known Crocodile bandit and many other Pirates. The best part of this is a newer character named Vivi (a princess) who adds much needed emotion to balance out the awesome brutal fight scenes! One Piece is an awesome Anime. It's also very rocky, but it always seems to hang on the cliff and pull it's self back up. That's the verbal message found throughout the film. Which I find kind of funny. It practices what it preaches.

DUB; I have to say I know there were some problems with the English dub on the external level. There were two dubs. One bad, one amazing. When you would watch the T.V. series online for free you had a 50/50 chance of getting one or the other and I have to say it seems like this movie is the bad. Luffy sounds like a stupid little kid who has no power behind his voice but he does pull off the emotion it just seems a tad wimpier than the other dub which brings me to my next point.

ANIMATION: A lot of people are saying the Animation is better. I'm not convinced. I thought there was a lot of crappy CG here, and a lot of still shots which are a sign of cheapness (or making little kid films). But most importantly Luffy seems like he is drawn by the x**-holic artist and he looks more wimpy than I remember. Yet I do want to say the Animation is still very cool overall.

BOTTOM LINE: One Piece teaches us that even though a movie can have a ton of characters and story lines it doesn't necessarily mean it will be confusing, and that despite some obvious flaws it can still be better than a lot of other Anime out there. The emotional depth of the characters made this great. The scenes with Vivi and Luffy are emotionally pummeling and make you feel like you are in the best 90's Disney movie ever. There are no strings left untied, except for one or two which makes you want more.

RATING: During the movie many times I thought this was like a 6 or 7 but One Piece fought it's way to an 8 because it had a lot to say. I would still recommend sticking with the "good dub" in the first season of One Piece. That I believe is more enjoyable. Hopefully in the future One Piece can take some notes from Inu Yasha which is a little less crazy but sucks you in unpretentiously. If it does this One Piece could be one of the best Animes around. But like I said I think the T.V. series does this already so watch that first.

Since my wife and I have enjoyed some of the box office hits produced by the classic Japanese cartoon directors (mostly subtitled versions of PRINCESS MONONOKE, SPIRITED AWAY, HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE, CASTLE IN THE SKY, etc.), we thought we'd give this title a try when it came to our local multiplex last weekend. After all, our town is so small that the concurrent animated release THE PIRATES WHO DON'T DO ANYTHING: A VEGGIE TALES MOVIE and Oscar-nominated THERE WILL BE BLOOD had NOT made it to our screens; therefore, ONE PIECE just HAD to be good by default.

I could mostly follow what was happening in this, but the dubbing and animation were more reminiscent of the six Pokemon titles I suffered through with my son than the 8, 9, and 10-rated titles mentioned in the first sentence above. My wife was willing to give it a 4 or 5; me a 6 or 7, so we compromised on a rating of 6.

If I had to recommend target audiences for ONE PIECE (other than people who have either read the comic books or seen the original cartoon series), I would suggest A)parents who want to punish REALLY bratty pre-teens, and B)cliques who attend flicks in altered states.