One Piece Movie 08: Episode of Alabasta - Sabaku no Oujo to Kaizoku-tachi

It's very hard to rate this movie, because the work that it's based off of is of course magnificent, however the movie itself honestly doesn't serve much of a purpose.

The fact that this movie is lackluster stems from the inherent problem that it tries to condense a roughly one hundred chapter arc into about two hours. Of course this leads to a LOT of editing, so if you've never seen/read the Alabasta arc you will be confused for most of this movie. This would suggest that the movie's intended audience would be those who already have an idea of what's going on, however so much ... has been changed or removed that you'll frequently find yourself saying "That's not how it happened" or "They skipped over that!" or "Where is Mr. Prince!?" if you're anything like me.

That isn't to say you should skip this movie entirely, it does have some merit. It's One Piece, so of course the heart of it is spectacular, and if you're a die hard One Piece fan you will definitely enjoy it for the same reasons you enjoyed Alabasta in the actual series, even if it feels rushed. However I would say if you don't know much about One Piece and are looking to get your feet wet, this is probably not the best choice for you.

I would highly recommend this movie to people with an extreme One Piece obsession, who want to consume every piece of media that has anything to do with it. Anyone else may be disappointed.

Alabasta is an awesome arc in One Piece, as old as the animation is. This movie aims to refresh the audience with newer and much more polished visuals—and while it does accomplish this excellently, the noticeably short runtime is this film’s impassable hurdle. There is little to no room for character development, and the rush barely allows for a moment to breathe.

Fights are cut short, entire scenes are missing , and thus some characters aren’t given the spotlight they had in the source material, or none at all. The fan service is gross too. Sigh!

Lowlights aside, this film still captures the panic, desperation, courage, and ... complexity of the original arc. If it had an extra 45 minutes, I’m sure my score would have been higher. 6.5/10

A mere shadow of the godliness that is One Piece.

This is a retelling of the Arabasta arc, the final arc of the Crocodile Saga from the One Piece tv show. The arc in the show is one of my favs, scoring a rare 10/10 for me and I was expecting great things from this movie, expecting the definitive version with upgraded Animation.

I saw the relatively low score on this site and was puzzled. i soon realised upon watching, this is a train wreck of a movie that has little resemblance to the Arabasta arc.

There are two huge problems with this movie. The first, the lesser ... of the two problems, is the technical failures, referred too in other reviews.

Trying to squeeze so much into episodes worth of Anime into a movie was too much for the creators. The directing and editing is poor. It's like the director is given a list of story events to cover and reels them off, paying no attention to the perfect way they are presented in the tv show. The events are quickly rushed through, the fights suck. The animation is not improved from the show. In fact it just looks shinier, the detail is worse. The voice acting is still good but is poor compared to the tv show. Each scene is rushed so no time for the characters to match the impressive acting in the tv show.

It assumes you have seen the arc before. Any new people will be confused by most of the stuff going on. If it was an original film the screenplay would render the film a total confusing mess. Key events that would allow the arc to make sense are cut out. Key events left in still make no sense. Plot holes abound because of this lack of attention.

The second and more critical flaw is the lack of heart and emotional resonance, which is in abundance in the tv show version. Everything happens so fast there is no time to build up the tension and all the emotional and epicness is lost.

There is no sense of Vivi's suffering and horror at seeing her Country tear itself apart. They ruin many epic Poignant fights. No danger and overload of desperation during Usopp and Choppers fight. No sense of ascension and achievement during Zoro's fight with Mr 1. Luffy's first fight with Crocodile loses the poignant annihilation he receives at Crocodile's hands. Crocodile's character doesn't feel even slightly threatening, unlike the tv show in which he feels like an unstoppable juggernaut for most of the arc. Crocodile's below par voice acting contributes to this, unlike his fabulous acting in the tv show, it lacks the eloquent menace you normally get from Crocodile.

It is sheer travesty that Luffy's final fight with Crocodile is reduced to a pathetic whimper. Most of the right lines are said but the bad directing and editing kill the emotive and epic symbolism of him defeating a Warlord of the sea through sheer willpower. One Piece is the king of Shonen battle because it transcends the genre to become one of the best drama's of all time. That is not present in this movie.

I could go on and on but will just mention one more. The ending, where the crew show they are Nakama to Vivi by showing their marks of friendship, does more accurately reflect the arc of the tv show. But without the Vivi Character development with the Straw hat crew present in the show and the years of suffering, loss and perseverance Vivi has gone through, it lacks all meaning. It's like the ending of the Shawshank Redemption without the character building earlier on in the movie.

If they made the movie 2 and a half hours and made it true to the original then they could have beaten these problems. As this film stands now, it's just a reminder of how bad one of the greatest Animes of all time could be if directed wrongly.

Don't bother watching this, it will just make you weep how badly One Piece is destroyed.