Anime 38234 One Piece Movie 14 Stampede Reviews Filter Check 2

I saw this movie in Japan with one of my friends a few days after it released, so I'll throw in my 2 cents.

I want to preface this review by saying, if you're not already a die-hard One Piece fan, this movie has next to nothing for you.

Despite my fairly limited Japanese ability, I was able to comprehend the entire plot and the vast majority of the dialogue, (maybe to an extent of about 90% or so). I think the reason being is that this movie has barely any substance. When the movie starts we're introduced to the island and then the "first event" starts.
Shortly ... after the battle begins the movie devolves into "oh hey look it's [insert one piece character here]" that character does an attack or something and then we get another character show up and the same thing happens all the way till the end of the movie.
I kept expecting some hint of story to be mentioned but it never really happened, aside from a few short moments.
The villain is highly forgettable and leaves no real lasting impression, even writing this review I was struggling to even remember his name, despite being able to remember the Z and Gold villains easily, despite having seen those movies a much longer time ago.

This isn't to say that the movie is bad, if you're a die-hard One Piece fan you will find enjoyment in this movie. The battle is enjoyable, the animation is good and the soundtrack just adds to the excitement.
But I think the lack of a decent story and over-reliance on fan service really brings the movie down.

For me I think the movie would sit at a 5 or 6. It's better than average and I enjoyed watching it, but I would be in no great hurry to run out and watch it again. And if you're eagerly awaiting the western release, and expecting anything more than fan service I recommend you lower your expectations to get more out of seeing this movie.

TL;DR The movie is severely held-back by it's lack of narrative, over-reliance on fan service and rushed pacing. Lower your expectations before watching to get the most enjoyment from this film.

Seems like a big cashgrab to me, glad I didn't pay to go to the cinema for this Movie.

It felt like their Budget on Animation was just as much on this 1:40h Movie as on a normal 20 Min episode of One-Piece. The animations are horrendous and PC 3D animations are used waaaay to often, they didn't care animating many scenes. About 40% of this movie is made in some 3D software and not Animated. Very disappointing concidering Cinema movies rack in way more money than just a single episode.

The character Bullet also seems like a cool idea also coming off of GolD Rogers ... ship but his backstory and especially his Devilfruit concept are very bad and just made to be over the top. And on top of that he looks very bad in the Anime only being animated in 3D....

Consistency to the Main story is also close to None, for example with Luffy being able to Use Gear 4 Multiple times within 5 Minutes. Oh and dont even get me starten on the "King King King Kong Gun" or whatever it was.

All in all there are some enjoyable moments (Sabo and Ace Fire Fist in the end) but all the bad aspects of the movie push me to beg you to not support this movie in any way shape of form. Dont buy the CD, dont buy Figures of this movie etc. We have to choose what we want and we definetly dont want trashy 3D animations. Vote with your wallet and show them we want something better. I get it's just a filler but they probably spent more money advertising the movie than actually making it.

This might be the worst One Piece movie yet, not only because its inconsistent but also just poorly made, and despite being a HUGE fan of One Piece(see my review for the series in general).. I just can't recommend this movie.

People call this an "all stars" movie. We get 30+ characters alive after the time period of Dressrosa to just have a fun blast with the action, not caring much about plot, and I agree, it's not the plot I have a problem with, but it's the badly directed action/animation with too much redundancy.

Maybe it's because I'm a huge fan of OP is the ... problem so I have high expectations, but here we go:

1: Stop redundancy:

Smoker re-iterating for the 10th time "why do I have to work with pirates/these idiots?". We get it already, please write something else in. This is also inconsistent with the character because in Punk Hazard, he set aside his differences to work towards a common goal without overly complaining about it. There are ways you can convey irritation without vocalizing it in dialogue every single time. Likewise execution of already known character tropes didn't hit me hard with emotion because they were poorly executed. There are entire unnecessary cuts just for a character to say what they're feeling rather than expressing it through action.

2: Stop unnecessary cutting:

Yes, there are 30+ characters that need screen time, but the answer is not to scatter action in every direction and cut so much that I lose track of whats going on. Some characters get weird small fractional slices of screen time and it's off putting. Why did the rest of the supernovas just get knocked out completely? The solution is to have characters split into unusual pairings, e.g Zoro and Killer, Boney and Nami, Sanji and Hancock, etc etc, and emphasize attacks/action in combinations, which not only gives us something new but also gives characters a more balanced amount of screen time and paves the way for more comedic/interesting interactions(since they only have Dressrosa level info on the characters).

3: Pretty animation is not fun animation:

Kill la Kill, John Wick(1&2), Mad Max Fury Road, Kingsman(church scene only) etc are examples of media that have a very simple plot or virtually no plot, with emphasis on pure gorgeous action. Pretty action doesn't sell everything, more important is timing and framing. The animation was well drawn but not well paced is my problem. You can have media with no plot and all action work but this movie was not one of them.

Your mileage may very. This movie was released at a very bad time, where if the intent was to just show off cool attacks in luscious animation, it has failed. There is lack of information on new moves for Kid, Zoro/the crew, Killer, etc because not many of them have went all out since after the time skip. They will during Wano, so all in all, this movie should have been done after or sometime during the climax of Wano. I don't see the point in making a movie about the crew at Dressrosa level power because the previous film, Gold, already did this in a fun way. Weirdly I think I might have enjoyed this more if it was the movie done right after Dressrosa to showcase the new world.. but even then it doesn't fix the issues as noted above.

Things I liked about the movie:
There were some surprising cool moments, e.g with Boa's kick, that got me in awe.
Massive giant world being showcased.
The gripping thing in the treasure chest

Maybe upon a re-watch will I see the glory since it seems like I'm in the minority of crazy OP fans that don't enjoy this. I overwhelmingly disagree that this is better than Z or Gold though. Honestly they should have spent the budget on this movie on making a game or improving the current anime

Plot - 6/10
Art & Animation - 7/10
Music - 5/10
Themes - 5/10
Enjoyment - 10/10
Overall rating - 7/10

I think to argue about whether or not this movie is good is unnecessary since theres a contextual variable to why some might find it garbage and why others found it absolutely perfect; it depended heavily on who the target audience was. If you’re the target audience, you’re going to have a completely different opinion than someone who isn’t. Although my critiques are harsh about various executions, it didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the show because of all of the loved characters interacting with each other. Like yes, the ... movie was a god damn mess, lmao. But it wasn’t made to be a phenomenal masterpiece, It’s called stampede for a reason and the motives were there from the start. It was made to put all the loved characters in one spot all at the same time so the fans could see them interact with each other. It didn’t go the way i was expecting, but the most important part of this experience was that it was fun and exciting.

Plot - 6/10
Like i said, It was mediocre and chaotic in the sense that it was all over the place. But it was the kind of chaos that is normal for One Piece. The the concept of an underground annual pirate showdown was interesting, which was why if they had did more with that concept, it probably would have gotten a higher score than a 6. I think this would have made more sense for an “all-stars” movie instead of some antagonist nobody really cares about or have a special connection to. It would have been cooler to see everyone fight each other instead of having a common enemy that’s insignificant If (based on my assumption) the main reason for this movie is fanservice for dedicated One Piece fans. They could have definitely done more to make it interesting.

Art & Animation 7/10
I actually really like this artstyle and its definitely a nice surprise/update compared to the series, though I believe the animation could have used some work. The fight scenes between the antagonist and the other characters were generally OK, but the way Luffy defeated the antagonists (stronger) form was unsatisfying. It was too underwhelming for what was supposed to be his defeat. The fight scenes between the other characters was kind of lacklustre too. Sometimes the art would look a bit janky which is kind of disappointing given that this is a movie. I also personally didn’t mind the CGI and actually find that the combination of 2d and 3d art can make scenes look interesting. CGI art can actually make things like antagonists or abilities look way more intimidating standing in the midst of 2d characters.

Music 5/10
Usually I have a good ear with music used for OSTs, but the music didn’t cut it for me really. I don’t even remember any notable ones.

Theme 6/10
assuming the message was the typical “you dont get anywhere without friends” troupe, which although very overdone for anime; is not unheard of for one piece. It would have been cool if they actually explored the antagonists past a lot more, but because viewers don’t know much about him other than him being a villain for the sake of being a villain, the message didn’t really…pique any interest.

Enjoyment 10/10
I’m not going to lie. Despite all the plot holes, the convenient coincidences, the mediocre plot and theme, i was still grinning like a cheshire cat for almost the same 2 hours, because i was extremely happy to see all of my favourite characters running into eachother and putting aside their differences and making temporary pacts to defeat the antagonist. I was still reacting to every plot twist, every advantage and disadvantage they were put in. It was still so fun and that’s what makes One piece so great to watch. It was nice to just be able to turn my brain off and watch some cool fight scenes while seeing my favourite characters interact. I’m so heavy on the interaction between One piece characters, especially when characters interact with Luffy because I think the interactions is part of the reason One piece has such a massive fanbase. Luffy is a complete dunderheaded and reckless character, but time and time again people are drawn to him; even those who claim to hate him when in reality have a very sore soft spot for him and can’t help but not fight back when he wants to do what he wants. I love seeing a group of friends doing dumb and fun crap together and getting each other out of a pickle whether it was situation they were put into themselves or because of Luffy’s antics.


Overall 7/10
In conclusion, I averaged this score out to a 6.6/10 and rounded it up to a 7. I think this movie had a lot of flaws, but it was still a very enjoyable watch in my opinion. I think two things can be simultaneously true at the same time, though it entirely depends on you as a One piece fan, or a new comer coming into this. This might not be the movie for you if you haven’t really seen Onepiece before, but If you want to feel the nostalgia of seeing past characters in the series and just want an “all star” feel-good kind of movie, this might be for you!

Before saying anything bad about this movie, I gotta give credit to it first.

I love how they included so many characters you havent seen for 100x episodes. The fight scences were looking very good, the overall animation as well.

But, I didnt get the "One Piece vibes" from this movie. It was like a damn long fighting scene in my opinion. And because there were so many charcters, there was no screen time for any serious interactions between them. I had the feeling that they just wanted to throw as many characters as possible in there so you can attract many viewers.

!SPOILER!

For example, Luffy was ... meeting Sabo again, his brother he doesnt see often. The interactions were no longer than:
"Hey Sabo!"
"Hey Luffy!"
-End

This whole movie, Luffys just fighting Bullet, Sanji and Zoro out there for some little clashes that last a couple of seconds, but look dope. And the other strawhats ( except Ussop the GOD ) are just running around doing pretty much nothing.

!SPOILER END!

The Story was just poor, and I miss the typical "One Piece adventure feeling" in this movie. It was just a long decent fight, but it was still enjoyable.
However, there are definetly better OP movies out there.

A decent enjoyable movie:
6/10!