Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Jellyfish Eyes Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 12, 2015

Takashi Murakami's "Jellyfish Eyes" (2013) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film's upcoming sequel; new video interview with Takashi Murakami; new featurette with cast and crew interviews; and documentary film with raw footage from the shooting of the film. The release also arrives with an illustrated leaflet featuring Glen Helfand's essay "Gods and Monsters: Murakami Goes to the Movies" and technical credits. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The unusual F.R.I.E.N.D.

The film has a plot but only a small part of it makes perfect sense. The rest feels like the creation of an ambitious game developer who wanted to prove a point. What’s the point? It’s difficult to tell -- which is the reason why the film is actually so amusing to behold.

The main protagonist is a young boy named Masashi (Takuto Sueoka) who finds himself in a very strange reality after he and his mother (Mayu Tsuruta) relocate to a rural town somewhere in the Japanese countryside. Here the kids carry small tablets which can literally produce animated creatures that are ready to serve their owners. Some of them are nice and friendly, but some are exceptionally mean and even dangerous. The tablets are manufactured by the Black-Cloaked Four, a team of wacky youngsters with some very dangerous ambitions.

Masashi also meets his F.R.I.E.N.D. His name is Kurage-bo (Jellyfish Boy), he is a white jellyfish-like creature, and he loves to fly around and play games. For a while the creature helps Masashi forget that he has lost his father and that his mother is still grieving.

Soon after Masashi is enrolled in the local school, however, he and the creature are confronted by the local bullies and their F.R.I.E.N.D.s. Initially they get hurt, but then Masashi befriends Saki (Himeka Asami), a lonely girl from his class, who helps him get even with the bullies.

While Masashi and Saki begin spending more time together, the Black-Cloaked Four force Masashi’s uncle (Takumi Saitoh) to conduct a series of dangerous experiments that could give them great power -- or unleash a massive amount of negative energy that would destroy the planet. Masashi and Saki then accidentally discover the lab where the uncle works and decide to confront the Black-Cloaked Four with the help of their F.R.I.E.N.D.s.

Japanese artist Takashi Murakami’s directorial debut, Jellyfish Eyes, is a film with multiple identities. There is a part of it that is designed to appeal to younger viewers interested in contemporary animation and the flashy live-action films the likes of Takashi Miike and Shinsuke Sato are known for (see Zebraman, Yatterman, and Gantz). Indeed, despite the modest budget Murakami had to work with, the film goes overboard with all sorts of different special effects and tries very hard to impress with elaborate action sequences that mostly hardcore gamers would appreciate. Another part of the film focuses on current serious soco-political issues that should resonate strongly with older viewers. (The film was inspired by the tragic earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in 2011 and there are many elements of its plot that are essentially raising red flags and highlighting the great dangers the world faces as it continues to develop and rely on risky technologies).

While the intent to store so much in a single film and make it appeal to a very wide and diverse group of viewers is admirable, the end result isn’t. At best it is amusing to behold -- but only for a while. For example, up until the moment where Masashi and Saki become friends it is easy to understand the polarizing realities in which the kids and the adults exist and why a dangerous vacuum has emerged between them. But then the story is slowly expanded in various directions at the same time, and the more Murakami attempts to please, the less effective the film becomes.

The final act is seriously overwhelming. Instead of bringing all of the scattered pieces of the story together, Murakami completely abandons it in favor of visual treats that make the finale look as if it was created for an upcoming video game. Obviously, given his diverse work and specific interest in animation this shouldn’t be too surprising, but there is just way too much here for the mind (and eyes) to process and make some sense of it.

Jellyfish Eyes Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Takashi Murakami's Jellyfish Eyes arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

Thew following text appears inside the leaflet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"The film was shot with a digital camera, and the entire production was completed in a fully digital workflow. The final color-corrected DPX files were output to Rec. 709 high-definition color space for Blu-ray and DVD release. The original 5.1 surround soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from the original digital audio master files using Pro Tools HD.

Blu-ray mastering: Radius60, Los Angeles."

The presentation has the classic characteristics we have come to expect from recent films that were shot digitally. When there is an abundance of light, depth, clarity, and sharpness are excellent. In fact, many of the the static close-ups actually look like digital photographs (see screencapture #7). During the darker/indoor footage there are some minor fluctuations in terms of depth and occasionally clarity, but they are inherited. The special digital effects can also introduce some minor inconsistencies, but they, too, are part of the film's original visual style. (It is not difficult to tell that the film's creators did not have a massive budget to work with as some of the digital images are are far from impressive). Colors are stable and natural. Overall image stability is excellent. Finally, there are no purely transfer-specific anomalies to report in our review. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Jellyfish Eyes Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The film has a very atmospheric score that helps tremendously in solidifying the odd reality in which its protagonists exist. The original sound design, however, is far from impressive. Indeed, anyone expecting a great deal of surround movement and a fantastic range of nuanced dynamics will surely be disappointed. There are a few sequences with big explosions and effects, but even they can't quite match the dynamic intensity that is present in big-budget Hollywood production. This said, clarity and sharpness are superb. Also, there are no pops, distortions, or audio dropouts.

Jellyfish Eyes Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Jellyfish Eyes 2 Trailer - original trailer for Jellyfish Eyes 2. In Japanese, with imposed English subtitles. (2 min, 1080p).

• Takashi Murakami - in this new video interview, artist/director Takashi Murakami explains how the idea for Jellyfish Eyes emerged (the original intent was to create an animated feature), and discusses the impact television and television shows have had on his work and his generation (specifically the success of the Ultra series), the powerful quake and tsunami that devastated Northern Japan and how the disaster is reflected in his directorial debut, how the exotic characters that are seen in the film were created, his interactions with the child actors, etc. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion at the Kaikai Kiki studio in New York in July 2015. In Japanese, with imposed English subtitles. (23 min, 1080p).

• Making F.R.I.E.N.D.s - this new featurette takes a closer look at the work that was required to bring to life the various F.R.I.E.N.D. creatures that are seen in Jellyfish Eyes. In Japanese, with imposed English subtitles. (16 min, 1080i).

• Takashi Murakami: The Art of Film - presented here is a collection of segments with raw footage from the pre-production process and the shooting of Jellyfish Eyes. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (40 min, 1080i).
  
  1. The script
  2. Production design
  3. Costumes
  4. Rehearsals
  5. Action!
  6. The classroom scene
  7. Luxor and Oval
  8. Parting Shots

• Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring Glen Helfand's essay "Gods and Monsters: Murakami Goes to the Movies".

Jellyfish Eyes Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Japanese artist Takashi Murakami's directorial debut, Jellyfish Eyes, is a very ambitious project that was clearly intended to appeal to a wide variety of viewers. But this seems to be the film's Achilles' heel -- it is seriously overwhelming. My feeling is that it will be appreciated primarily by folks who have seen and enjoyed some of Takashi Miike and Shinsuke Sato's similarly busy and bold films (Zebraman, Yatterman, and Gantz). Criterion's technical presentation of Jellyfish Eyes is excellent and the Blu-ray release features some very informative supplemental features with the director and various cast and crew members. RECOMMENDED.