STAND BY ME DORAEMON

(When the night has come and the land is dark)

For 23 years and still counting, Fujiko Fujio’s robotic feline became a Filipino habit for those who can still watch anime in the morning. It won the hearts of all ages because of its humor, values and futuristic gadgets. Unlike in other countries, we pronounce his name as “Do-Rei-Mon” and Takeshi is usually called “Damulag” (Tagalog term for huge kid). Luckily, I’m one of those kids who grew with the show. Loved a lot of episodes even if the plot is oftentimes the same. I only saw what’s aired in TV, probably half of the entire series, but this film made me relive those memories of wonder, fun and learning as if I was brought back through time.

There’s plenty of reasons why it’s the perfect family film. It’s funny and the 3D animation intensified the energy of the anime. The film has a handful of messages that we should learn like gadgets can’t make the people fall in love or that an act of kindness can change everything or to be brave enough against our enemies or not everything stays with us forever. We meet a lot of people in our lives. Some of them remain, some vanish abruptly and some were only meant to teach us a lesson.

Even if the show conveniently escapes logic by having surreal scenarios, I was bothered by the time travel plot holes in it. There was a scene where the young Nobita trusted his older self to remember a moment in his life and it was effective. After that were two scenes where the young told the old that Shizuka accepted the proposal and where the old Nobita forgot his wedding date. He should’ve remembered those if he saw or did it when he was a kid. I can see that non-fans will have a hard time buying Nobita’s interest in Shizuka. There’s not much room for character development on side characters and it’s a letdown seeing Suneo and Damulag do a cheap bromance joke only. Lastly, the English dub was slightly off, especially on Nobita’s voice. I hope that a Filipino dub will be shown someday.

The time travel act was indeed the lowest point of the movie but it had the most tear-jerking moment. That is when the old Nobita refused to meet Doraemon in the park and told the young that he belong to his childhood. That small line of manhood made me shed tears every time I think of it. Doraemon was also our childhood friend. As we grow, we face bigger priorities and the only thing we can do, perhaps, is to cherish those wonderful mornings we had with him.

Stand by Me Doraemon recaptures the genuine laughs, kind-hearted spirit and emotional depth of the classic tale despite its struggles in compressing decades of awesome memories into a full feature film.

YUMMY BUNTASTIC! ★★★★☆

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