SteinMo What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

mraculeated The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Stinky_Balls i picked up the Cartoon box set a couple weeks ago when i realized one of the characters was suppose to be Freddy mercury which i thought was funny enough to make me buy it without knowing really what it was and when i watch the cartoon it was funnier then i could have imagined. it was hilarious. just so random.now when yesterday i was out again and i saw this live action movie adaption and i laughed just at the thought of it. i had to get it. and it was just as good. It has a lot of scenes from the cartoon with little changes in them to keep them fresh for the movie and all the characters are acted out very well. It also added a lot of new stuff and new twists.The best part of the movie tho, is that its like Cromartie high school and not just an interpretation of it by some artsy directer, its really just like the cartoon. If you're someone who needs a solid plot or any Plot in your movies to be entertained..pass on this. but if you want something that will make you laugh until your head explodes, pick this up.they have both the cartoon and the movie at best buy. (anime section and comedy section)

Chung Mo The Cromartie High anime series is a very high mark to reach. Admittedly it's a specialized taste but the series worked wonders in it's 10 minute episode format. The decision to make a live-action movie is curious but who knows it might have worked if the writers and director had tried to move away from the 10 minute format. The first half of the movie is a series of skits and gags which were all done in anime (and I assume in the manga from where this all sprang). The actors are very good but the casting is strange and some of the characters are visually different from the anime. The problem is the lack of a connecting plot to hold it together, anyone unfamiliar with the anime will lose interest pretty quickly. It sort of like watching your friends at a party act out scenes from a favorite comedy show. Some of the scenes work, some don't. The slow pacing doesn't help either.The second half finally diverges from old Cromartie material but will probably end up confusing people more. That is unless you are familiar with a 1970's sci-fi show, Spectreman. This show was dubbed and released in the US in 1980's on the TBS network. I remember the show and it was fun to have it mixed into the Cromartie universe. Unfortunately, the whole film never becomes coherent enough or inventive enough to be really interesting or especially funny. Recommended for die-hard Cromartie fans.

Gigo_Satana I've seen a handful of unusual comedies from Japan and the most recent one being the Calamari Wrestler followed by Cromartie High School which also featured two well known wrestlers; Takayama and Hashimoto (RIP), playing complete opposites of their fighting characters of course, but in a script that would make the Power Rangers' screen writers shake their heads in disbelief.The film opens with the purposely lengthy lesson of the school's chaotic legacy. The school in the present time looked like a strong candidate for the Battle Royale competition (which I thought the film would eventually rib, but never did). The main character, a composed young man decides to enroll despite possessing higher education, but soon regrets after his not-too-bright friend flunks the 'subtraction exam'. Some promising sidekicks get introduced, including Takayama's character who hates all types of transportation and decides to help the hijackers of a plane just so they wouldn't fly. The film showed much potential, but sidetracked twenty minutes in after shelving these winning characters and spending way too much time with the intros of the gorillas and the "Hard Gay" man who ended up offering very little throughout the film. And where the hell were the Freddie Mercury impersonations?Yes the film needed such off the map characters (like the depressed Pootans), that was a given, but it failed to realize what direction to go with and what characters/situations to stick with in its full feature form. A perfect example of film-making where it seemed like the direction had no working script, just sketchy gags thought out by the crew late at night. Simply putting a blonde wig on an evil alien ape and calling the duo, Gori and Lla wasn't enough to tickle my funny bone. Spoofing of the Exorcist with a possessed robot, revealed to have only been infested with a cat was just a wasted, lazy attempt at parody. Again, I wasn't looking for sensible comedy or in-depth characters here, but even as a sleazy, low budget com-oddity, this film failed to keep me laughing and to exceed the wacky goods and true characteristics of the anime show. But, if you find these types of films irresistible and are a die hard fan of the show then I guess you'll watch and enjoy this movie regardless, as it was mainly aimed at its fan-base.

jabba1_30 ......and loved it. Full of great humor, and over the top antics. A very fun movie, with all the goof ball cheesiness but yet retaining a sense of charm. A great and varied cast make this film one of my favorites so far this year at Fantasia Film Festival (along with Kamikaze Girls and Shutter). Definitely don't pass this one up. Among some of my favorite characters include Freddy, the shirtless queen, the gorilla Whoopi, and Mechazawa the trusty robot (who partakes in a hilarious spoof of a classic horror film we all know). There are times though when the audience may feel the joke is dragging on too long, and I agree with them, but there is also side of me wanting more.