It’s time for a One Piece adventure! Generally I’ve enjoyed all of the One Piece movies and this one’s no exception. I would say it is one of the weakest titles in the franchise as it can’t really keep up on a story or battle basis. Still, you’ll be entertained which is the important part and it’s always fun to see the gang in new situations.

The story starts with the Strawhats coming across a girl who has just escaped from a bunch of other pirates. She has a piece of gold with her that will enable her to find a hidden city. The main characters are pirates so this sounds like a good time to them. They all end up getting sucked into a giant fish where the island is being hidden. Can Luffy and friends secure the treasure and get out or have they just stumbled onto a massive conspiracy?

This is a classic adventure which feels like a return to the original One Piece days. The nostalgia adds a nice boost to things and the film also does out of its way to try and give everyone something to do. I’d say the main exception is Franky but you had Chopper blocking projectiles and Brook even got to play the piano. Naturally Zoro and Sanji get to have their big fights at the end while Luffy takes on the big shot. Now there are some power level issues here but you would probably expect that from the jump. Mad is strong but nowhere near the level he would need to be in order to take down someone like Luffy.

The film extends things a bit to make it exciting. I can sort of look the other way, it’s not going to hurt the score or anything but seeing Luffy struggle with some chains was definitely rough. That’s not something that I would expect out of him at this stage in the game. Personality wise the Strawhats all looked good though with the exception of Sanji. For Sanji they really leaned into his more pervy side here so he was definitely taking L after L the whole time. I would have liked him to have done better but I’m not the biggest fan of his anyway.

Now for the new characters, the main one here is Olga who is basically a kid who says her thoughts out loud. It’s a classic gimmick that you see from time to time in different titles and I’d say it’s not a bad one. There isn’t much to her beyond this but her character design is memorable and she has a tough personality so she automatically beats a bunch of the other film OCs. Now if she could just fight then she would really rise up.

Mad is a fairly generic villain. He basically wants treasure and likes a good fight. Nothing particularly bad about him but I don’t think anyone will be talking about the guy after a few years. The chains ability is really handy though and it was nice to see animated. There aren’t a ton of chain users out there so I always like to see another user. If the chains themselves were stronger I could definitely see this guy being a top fighter.

Meanwhile the animation is good but nothing amazing. The chain fights are really the only times when the film is actively flexing. Beyond that it’s fairly standard stuff. Better than what you’ll see in the average mainstream movie but not quite near where you’d expect the anime movies to be at. I did like the effect they used for when Luffy was using observation haki though. The red eyes really looked menacing. In terms of soundtrack, not really any big knockout tunes to change things up. The main themes are good enough though. That’s sort of the feel of the whole movie. It’s all good enough without actively trying to be the best or anything more than that. So it’s a pretty good time and you will have fun with it but then it will blend with the background.

The best character here is definitely Zoro and I dare say that will be the reaction of just about anyone who checks out the film. He gets his fight and dominates from start to finish. There is no point where you think he will be on the losing side or anything like that. He even gives a nice speech the whole time and you wouldn’t be surprised if he was actually stronger than Luffy. The guy definitely carries that level of confidence after all.

In terms of the general story, it may be a stretch to have someone from CP0 losing to the new villain but I know it’s a quick way to build up some hype. The film needs an ultimate treasure and so having a secret elixir or immortality is one way to do it. It’s perhaps a little too overpowered though considering there are basically no side effects and it doesn’t seem all that hard to mass produce. It certainly works well in upping the stakes and everything but yeah the world government would be all over that in a heart beat.

Overall, The idea of a movie to set up another movie is pretty interesting. That’s such a bold movie that I can respect it. One Piece Film Gold definitely looks way more impressive and is also the better movie but this is a good title all around. You do have to ignore the fact that the heroes could have ended this film within 5 minutes when the villains showed up due to the gap in power though. I would recommend it if you like One Piece or generally if you like a good adventure film. It’s a very stand alone adventure and only a few cameos will just feel meaningless to someone who is not a fan. The story’s framework and the general plot are both straight forward enough where this won’t be confusing or anything like that.

Overall 7/10