When Honey's uncle gets kidnapped by the evil criminal gang known as "Panther Claw," she must use her magical powers of transformation to save him. Meanwhile the same crime group has been responsible for a number of other crime sprees across Tokyo. In the process, Honey teams up with the seemingly cold police woman Natsuko Aki and hot shot journalist Seiji Hayami as well as battle the four "claws" of the Panther Claw gang to save her uncle and the rest of the city.
Similar titles
Reviews
Cutey Honey is a fun adaptation of the animated series into a live-action feature. There's not much depth here; characters are pretty simple and the acting is nothing special. Eriko Sato's main job is to look great, and she does. I'm not complaining here, I'm just forewarning any viewers who might be looking for something that takes itself seriously. Cutey Honey does not.Well, it doesn't take itself seriously until the ending. The final showdown between the creepy Sister Jill and Honey features a awkwardly-toned message about love. It's a fine message but compared to free-wheeling silliness of the rest of the film, it feels very slow and uncomfortable. After all, this is a few minutes after a villain sings to Cutey Honey before a battle.Despite the "downer" ending, I still had a lot of fun watching Cutey Honey, and I would recommend it to others who are willing to relax and enjoy it as well.
And I agree with the other reviewer, i think James totally missed the point! The idea as far as I can tell was to make a live action anime, it was a parody not a serious movie. The way the characters are posed, in particular the journalist, and one scene where a character has a megaphone covering her mouth was a nod to the way animation is shot-ie exaggerated poses, and objects over mouths to save on animation costs.It was supposed to be a large poke of fun at the silliness of magic girl anime series and anime standards, like a live action version of excel saga! I enjoyed it greatly, and laughed the whole way through, i suppose if you have seen the original series its difficult not to get precious about it. But for someone who has watched a lot of anime, it was enjoyable for all the references to other series and the way a master of the medium can poke fun at his own creations.The performances were good and in a way perfectly studied, they all acted like anime characters, which was the point, Anno was having a dig at how simplistic a lot of characters in anime are and in particular female characters. I agree the end with Sister Jill was a bit sappy but again i thought he was trying to make a point about soppy endings to anime series, as well as obviously trying to fill his need to have some comment on human nature in all his productions! All in all a highly enjoyable film!
Cutie Honey is one of the most entertaining bad films that you are likely probably to see. It looks like its made for minors, yet has elements and philosophy that you just wouldn't get whilst watching Power Rangers. Think sexy, sassy and daft: watch this film with no expectations! Both Cutie Honey and Natty are, well like the films name suggests, exactly that. Interesting cameos from what looked like Sakichi Sato, Boba and Suzuki Matsuo. Huge product placement and some great short scenes involving a cat.Shake your head in disbelief, yet at the same time grin.*** (3 stars)
I saw this film at the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal, right after Blueberry. Holy smokes, this movie is totally awesome!!! Why can't north Americans make cool movies like this? It's super happy and action-packed, and it even makes fun of itself = it's perfect!!! For this vein of movies, Cutie Honey is the best I've ever seen!!!If you have a vague idea what this movie is about, you'll be blown away by the extremes and humour presented on the screen. It's not serious. But a most excellent treat indeed!All the acting is superficial, there's a constant(but not tumultuous) music track throughout, all the photography is extreme and the story itself is completely retarded. A lot of the humor comes from making fun of stupid little "cutesy" movies --> also, the sexism is exaggerated too: Cutie Honey behaves in a ... "special" way: always innocently making sexy poses wearing only underwear, etc... All the action sequences are completely over the top, super loud, and mixed with cartoons as well. For what it is, it's unbeatable.