A mess, but what a beautiful mess.It's clear the director wanted this to be a philosophical film, but he failed to get his vision across to the audience. There are bunch of bizarre scenes and plot points that don't make any sense.Still, this my third favorite UY film. Despite the nonsense, it is very entertaining to watch. A lot of the surreal moments and imagery in this is fascinating.They throw so many things at you that if you didn't like one scene, you'll like the next one. The cast is humorous enough that they manage to ground the film so that it doesn't become a pretentiousness fest. The animation is fluid and gorgeous. It dates very well and is the best animated film of the entire series. It has a unique musical score and I have to give the composer props for creating music that perfectly complimented some very weird stuff.Not technically a good film, but it has always had a place in my heart.

Movie 2, subtitled Beautiful Dreamer is rightly hailed as being a thought provoking, existential entry into the Urusei Yatsura franchise. Viewers are often left to determine the meaning of large portions of the film on their own.The same is certainly true for the fourth film, Lum the Forever. Then why does it fall short of Dreamer? Certainly parts of the film could be clearer, like actually explaining what the legend of the oni was.But the main reason the film falls short is that the film breaks away from the thought provoking imagery during the last reel so that Mendo can wage a totally pointless war in an attempt to force the plot to resolve itself. Pointless not only because it's pretty similar to every other overlong battle in the series, but also because in the meantime the plot resolves itself without their help, or the viewer getting to care about what the plot was.You know the scene in A Very Brady Christmas where Mike is trapped in a building, hears everyone singing, and finds the resolve to get out? Imagine that scene without the singing, or anyone actually knowing he was trapped in the building for that matter, and you pretty much have the end of the film.

ok, this one confused me more than any other anime, even kite. for example, i didn't know lum could talk to birds. in the beginning, things are going good, makin a movie, shoppin, a nice false front (big trouble in little china is where i got the line), but then, there are the birds, the losing of the powers, the strange voices, the dreams, and the entities. let's just say, you'll need a deep psychological and philisophical understanding to watch this one. overall, its ok, but you'll have to watch it five or six times to grasp it.