Hi Cuteuala's! Here we are, FINALLY, I had time to watch You Are Umasou, and now I give you the review.
I'll be honest here, I don't watch/adore this one as much as One Stormy Night or Wolf Children, but only because I have to watch it online and I don't usually find time, hence why it took me this long to review it. Apart from that, it's actually pretty sweet.
First, the storyline. I'm following a theme with these reviews, sort of a 'X can't be with Y' thing.
Our story begins when a maiasaura (sorry I'm not sure how to spell it) finds an egg washed up n a stream, and taking it back to the nest it eventually hatches into a baby T-Rex, alongside another maiasaura. While the rest of the herd is prepared to kill the baby, the mother stops them, and she and her babies move into a forest.
Eventually, the T-Rex, named Heart grows up a little, and while he and his brother Light are looking for food, they fall into a swamp. A sloth finds them and sings a lullaby about 'Big Jaws', and honestly, the sloth is actually kind of freaky-looking. Anyway, Light makes Heart cry when he innocently asks if his brother is like Big Jaws, who has a rugged body and jagged fangs.
Up to now, its sweet and actually pretty adorable, but then it gets...sort of violent. Heart runs out to the plains, and sees a group of older 'Rexes attacking a triceratops. Then comes along our scary-ass Rex, One-Eyed Baku, who chomps down on the triceratops and kills it, while the other T-resets chow down, with no gory discretion shot at all. Sure, it looks like pink...stuff, but you can see bones. Nightmares, hello!
Heart freaks out at seeing them eat the triceratops, and as he runs back to the forest, Gonza, one of the older Rexes, chase after him, and taunts Light that Heart is a Big Jaw. Hart loses his temper and more or less rips Gonza's tail off, eats it after he runs away, and runs away himself.
So now were at the part where the plot fully kicks off. Grown-up Heart finds an egg that hatches into the MOST adorable dino you will ever see, an ankylosaurus. Telling the baby that 'you're tasty-looking', the baby mistakes Heart for his dad. Heart plans on eating the baby when it grows up to be bigger, but bonds with it.
Heart decides Umasou should go off on his own, so trains him, and when he tricks his kid into running off during a 'race' (geez, he's evil!) Umasou is attacked by Gonza and his...group. Heart saves him by placing him in his mouth and fighting off Gonza without using his fangs, to which Baku arrives and asks why, before exiling Heart.
So then Heart meets Pero Pero, and I don't know what kind of dinosaur...IT is, or its gender, for that matter, and is convinced to go find his mother again. Meeting Gonza again, who stops them going into the forest as a mountain is about to erupt, Heart kills Gonza, who reveals to Umasou that Heart isn't his father. Umasou says that 'a dad is a dad' and that he forgives Heart.
So anyway, Heart finds his mother and Light, but while running from the erupting volcano, Baku reveals himself and he and Heart have...the most violent fight scene since One Stormy Night, with plenty of nosebleeds, headbutts, and body slams for all! (Seriously, its almost as violent as Stormy Night).
And I'm leaving the rest for spoiler reasons.
Animation: While I usually overlook this one, there actually is some decent animation if you pay enough attention. Scenes in the forest stand out due to the bright colours and shading. Apart from that, it's actually a really nice-looking movie.
Music: I can't name any particular track, but parts that stand out are when Heart, Light and his mother are running out of the forest near the end, and Jump Kick Tail Smash, the manliest motivational song since Mulan. (You know which one I'm talking about)
Everything else: I'd have done a better review of this if I'd have watched it more, but still. Overall, it's a sweet movie about a dinosaur finding a son and being a son, and the bond between them.
Sorry for not-too-good review, Cuteuala's, but I Couldn't think of much else to say about it, and I'm saving all my best review skills for Wolf Children, which will probably be up on Sunday.
