Operetta tanuki goten (2005)

Director:

Seijun Suzuki

Writer:

Yoshio Urasawa

Release Date:

28 May 2005 (Japan)

Genre:

Comedy | Fantasy | Musical | Romance

Plot:

Amechiyo (The banished prince) falls in love with Tanukihime (a princess of raccoon dog disguised to human). This is an Operetta which includes comedy, singing and dancing, and a love story.

Plot Keywords:

Raccoon | Love | Frog | Dancing | Singing

Awards:

5 wins

Cast

Ziyi Zhang	...	Tanukihime
Jô Odagiri	...	Amechiyo
Hiroko Yakushimaru	...	Ohagi no tsubone
Mikijiro Hira	...	Azuchi Momoyama
Tarô Yamamoto
Gentaro Takahashi
Saori Yuki
Miwako Ichikawa
Hibari Misora	...	CG appearance
Eisuke Sasai
Papaiya Suzuki
Taro Nanshu
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Federico Aletta	...	Nan-bannjin (painter)
Akira Matsushita
Noriko Shiina

Directed by
Seijun Suzuki

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Yoshio Urasawa

Produced by
Satoru Ogura	....	producer
Seijun Suzuki	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Michiru Ohshima

Costume Design by
Sachiko Ito

Makeup Department
Iaso Tsuge	....	creative director

Production Companies

• Ogura Jimusyo Co.
• Dentsu
• Eisei Gekijo
• Geneon Entertainment
• Nihon Herald Eiga
• Shochiku Company

Distributors

• Nippon Herald Films (2005) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Geneon Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Yume Pictures (2006) (UK) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs  funding

Also Known As:

"Princess Raccoon" - Hong Kong (English title), International (English title), UK
"Mosómedve hercegnő" - Hungary
"Prigipissa Raccoon" - Greece (festival title)

Runtime:

Japan:111 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese | Mandarin

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:PG | South Korea:15

Company:

Ogura Jimusyo Co.

Trivia:

Ziyi Zhang spent half a month in Japan training in dance and voice. While her speaking part is in Chinese, she sings in both Chinese and Japanese.

Soundtrack:

omoi Shita ri masu na

A Nutshell Review: (DVD) Princess Raccoon (2005)

I guess playing a Japanese character or acting in a Japanese movie doesn't warrant as much an uproar as having to play a Japanese geisha. And of course no prizes to be given out if you can guess why I would want to watch Princess Raccoon in the first place - that Zhang Ziyi is one of the leads in a Japanese movie, has piqued enough interest to pop the DVD into the player.

The story is a simple one, which somewhat resembles that of Snow White. King Azuchi (Mikijiro Hira) is a terribly vain man, and like Snow White's evil stepmother, cannot stand for his offspring to be more beautiful (yes) than himself. So he hatches a plan to get rid of him, first by getting him murdered, failing which exile doesn't seem that bad of an alternative as well. So Prince Amechiyo (Jo Odagiri) accidentally journeys to the forbidden grounds at the foot of Mt Kairasu, where he meets with the Raccoon Princess Tanukihime (Zhang Ziyi), and thus it becomes a tale of forbidden love, as he's human, and she's obviously not, and goes through its Romeo and Juliet routines.

But as it is, the plot is somewhat meandering and plodding. While its central structure is clear, it tangents off with a number of subplots, and unless you're in a mood for fantastical elements with magic, deities and all in various surreal scenes, you'll find the story going terribly all over the place. There are too many characters here, and most of them the minor ones that just chalk up the number of casts without adding much to the story, and there perhaps to boast the beautiful costumes.

What takes the cake here is the gorgeous sets and special effects. For the most parts, watching the movie is like watching a stage play, in that the camera pretty much doesn't try anything fancy, nor break the invisible 180 degree rule. It's as if you're sitting in a theatre, and watching events unfold in pretty much the style of a stage musical built on intricately designed sets, with the multitude of songs and dances. What makes this movie unique is the visual presentation, fusing effortlessly the elements of computer generated graphics with live action (though some were deliberately cheesy), and that forms the primary appeal when watching the movie, which is part musical, part kabuki, part opera, nothing less than a visual spectacle.

Zhang Ziyi obviously had her handicap in the movie worked to her advantage. Being a magical raccoon, she speaks in an incomprehensible language (which is Mandarin) to the rest of the Japanese folks, while being able to rote learn and spew by heart her lines in songs, given that they're repetitive in nature. Her acting's her a little over the top and exaggerated, perhaps to complement the operatic elements in the movie.

Pick this up only if you are a completist in wanting to watch the movies in the filmography of Zhang Ziyi, or love graphics, sets and beautiful visuals. Otherwise the story is likely to bore you to death.