Takashi Miike is arguably the most prolific filmmaker of our generation while simultaneously being one of the most controversial. This year he premiered Hara-kiri: Death of a Samurai at the Cannes film festival, follow-up to last year’s immensely successful 13 Assassins, while also making Gyakuten Saiban a video game adapted film. Yet it is Ninja Kids!!! which really steals the thunder as the most odd entry into his body of bizarre work. Based on an immensely popular kids anime Rantaro the Ninja Boy, Ninja Kids!!! is like if you crossed Naruto and Harry Potter with a dash of Miike madness. Featuring an all star cast of veterans Miike players and a bevy of incredible children performances, the film is an odd gem of whacky absurd scenarios. While it may seemed to be geared at the youth of Japan, there’s a lot of bonkers for everyone to enjoy.
The story centers on young Rantaro, played with quirky charm by Seishiro Kato, an aspiring ninja from a lower class ninja family who embarks during the opening credits to his first day of class as a first grade ninja. Training in ninja school includes such essential skills as ninja throwing, digging booby traps and ambushing your targets unexpectedly. As Rantaro navigates his way to the top of his class, he encounters a circus of colorful characters, each more absurd than the next. From a pair of ninjas who are masters at cutting people’s hair to a villainous evil master whose head is so large he has trouble standing up. The story is less one coherent plot than a series of hijinks stitched together from episodes of the TV show but it works perfectly to showcase a school year of adventures.
Miike definitely relies heavily on the source material, accentuating characters with facial prosthetics to enhance the live action cartoonish absurdity. The humor is definitely low grade, bathroom jokes mixed with extreme acts of hyper real violence that strangely enough feel appropriate for the genre. The heart of the film is in the right place, making kids confident in their abilities to succeed but Miike sometimes stumbles with the pacing of unraveling a large tapestry of elements. Still, there are some extremely highly entertaining well crafted scenes that have a great sense of atmosphere which keeps Ninja Kids!!! from ever feeling dull. It’s also great to see Miike have fun with a large budget that elevate the costume design, art direction and the use of funny special effects, despite their cheesy quality, are well sustained throughout.
Ninja Kids!!! is an example of a Japanese mainstream product under the unique direction of one of the countries most peculiar cinematic export. If you enjoyed the Harry Potter movies but wanted to see something a bit more extreme and surreal, then this film will certainly deliver the goods. Takashi Miike, who continues to experiment in every genre imaginable, is in top form and seems re-invigorated with this film and his recent successes. It will truly be interesting to see where his outlandish career takes him from here, but until then Ninja Kids!!! certainly delivers a good old hearty dose of !!!
Ninja Kids!!! has its world premiere at the NYAFF on Sunday July 3rd at 7PM and a second screening on Saturday July 9th at 6PM. Ticket information is available on the Subway Cinema website.