The Deer King - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Deer King



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
Epic fantasies were once a massive staple of anime films. Miyazaki about perfected it with films like Princess Monnonoke and many others have followed in his path as well, so you can be sure that The Deer King peaked my interest when I saw the trailer. However, I was a bit nervous about the film as it was helmed by a pair of directors whose only credits were animation directors and directing a few episodes of Anime TV series and Fuse: Memoirs of a Huntress, which didn’t exactly blow the doors off of the anime world. Unfortunately The Deer King is a mixed bag as I suspected, with luscious visuals and intense world building, but a plot that really doesn’t deserve all of the world building that went on.

Based upon a series of fantasy books written by Nahoko Uehashi (which are DENSE and chewy novels from what I’ve been able to ascertain), the film opens up with a narration of how the Zolian people have enslaved the Aquafan people, leaving them bitter and distrustful of their Zolian masters. The Zolian’s have enslaved the conquered nation and we are first introduced to them in the coal mines where a mysterious dog attack leaves everyone dead but one man. A man who survives the mysterious plague the dogs carry and is immune to said disease. Taking a young girl prisoner who also survived, this man (Van, voiced by Shinichi Tsutsumi), he heads out into the wilderness to survive.

Simultaneously the Zolian Emperor is suffering from the disease as well, and sends out Hohsalle (Ryoma Takeuchi), his best doctor, to figure out a cure for the disease. Once Hohsalle realizes that Van has survived the illness from the dog bite, he sets out to capture the man in order to draw his blood and synthesize a cure. However, there is much more going on under the surface than just a mysterious dog attacks. The defeated Aquafa officials are only giving lip service to the Zol emperor and are instead masterminding the dog attacks and the diseases that they spread in hopes of wiping out their enslavers. But naturally they aren’t exactly keen on letting it be known that they’re controlling the dog, and even MORE upset that Van might hold the key to curing the disease they have weaponized against their overlords. Thus a spy is sent along with the good doctor to kill Van before his natural immunity allows a cure to be found.

The film is tenderly and loving made, with an intense build up of world creation. The first 30 minutes or so are a bit confusing, as we’re wondering just what is going on with the mysterious dogs, the spies in the mix, and even where the plot is going. However, the near 2 hour film spends every single minute of the film building up a world of politics, intrigue and doubling back on plot points as each faction is vying for power. At the heart of it is a love story between Van and the little girl Yuna, with Van having a troubled past as a disgraced commander in the Zolian military, and Yuna being his chance at redemption. In that aspect the film is simply wonderful. Yuna and Van’s relationship is the core element of the film, and you feel every second of their love for each other.

However, the film fails to really grasp the complexities of the Japanese novels, and instead spends so much time world building that it fails to actually allow the world building to mean something. Much of the last act is only partially explained, as is the mystical powers of the dogs that Van and Yuna are seemingly able to control. The political machinations sort of get a little bit of resolve, but it’s like And and Miyaji ran out of time to tell the story, and left all of the intricacies and nuances of the novel on the cutting room floor, making do with what they have available. As such the film feels incomplete and sort of confusing, especially after so much world building is done to lay the groundwork for a nuanced plot. Instead we feel like we have been given an appetizer for a 4 course meal, and the rest of the courses were sadly omitted.




Rating:

Rated R for some violence




Video:

The Gkids flick looks really good on Blu-ray, with a nice healthy mid 30s bitrate for most of the time. The animation looks very hand drawn and old school in it’s aesthetics, which makes the classic fantasy tone of the movie all the more visceral. Colors are bold and beautiful, with deep greens, luscious reds and various shades of blue dominating (and some wickedly gorgeous purple for the dog’s mysterious clouds). I did notice some banding during transition changes from light to dark or vice versa, but it’s fairly subtle and not something you really notice except out of the corner of your eyes. Otherwise the dark levels are nice and inky with wonderful textures and fine detailing. Excellent encode all the way around.









Audio:

The fantasy score works wonderfully for the 5.1 DTS-HD MA tracks in both Japanese and English (myself, I really prefer the Japanese dub, but the English one is rather impressive). Sonically the film is rather front heavy and dialog centric, so the surrounds don’t get a massive amount of play until the final act the film when the Zol army meets the Fire Horse forces. The score sort of fills out the low end and the surrounds the rest of the time in a subtle and rather calm manner. It’s not going to be a massive stunner of a track, but it’s rich and vibrant with a nice warm front end of the sound stage that is fulfilling for all of the dialog heavy moments.












Extras:

• Bringing The English Dub To Life
• Interview With Director Masashi Ando
• Introduction From Masashi Ando
• Design Gallery
• Trailers

Final Score: ​

The Deer King is good, but never a great film. In fact, it has the potential to be fantastic, and the directors do an AMAZING job at weaving an intricate tale of world building and setup for what should have been a series or mini series. Instead it just happens to be a bit disappointing as Gkids films are usually quite the narrative treat. Shout Factory’s Blu-ray disc looks and sounds great, and even has some nice extras to dig into (with some of them going into the details of why they had a hard time adapting the source material). Worth it as a rental for long time anime fans, but most others may be a bit frustrated with the watch.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Shin'ichi Tsutsumi, Ryoma Takeuchi, Anne Watanabi, Hisui Kimura
Directed by: Masashi Ando, Masayuki Miyaji
Written by: Nahoko Uehashi, Taku Kishimoto
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, Japanese DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Studio: Shout Factory
Rated: R
Runtime: 114 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: October 18th, 2022

Recommendation: Rental

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I will check it out but it is too bad that it isn't as good as we would expect from the studio!