Daily Yomimuri Online has a review of the new Hidden Fortress remake The Last Princess.
Unlike the Mark Schilling review that I linked to earlier today, the Daily Yomimuri piece, written by Ikuko Kitagawa, is overwhelmingly positive about the movie. Kitagawa gives the film 4.5 stars out of five, and praises the actors and the film makers alike for the “fun, excitement, thoughtfulness and tears” that the film provides.
While acknowledging that any remake is bound to be criticised and this one especially so because of Kurosawa, Kitagawa maintains that “The Last Princess is more than a mere remake: It is Kurosawa’s humanity and wit spiced up with a Hollywood-scale fantasy.”
Those of you who are of the view that Japan never properly understood Kurosawa in the first place (a view that I am somewhat sceptical about to be honest) may find some fuel for their argument here — that out of two very conflicting reviews the positive one should have been written by a Japanese film critic, while the negative one comes from a foreigner living in Japan. Feel free to make of that what you will.
