Legend of the Gold of Babylon is Lupin's third animated adventure and is one of my least favorites in the series. After The Castle of Cagliostro, I didn't really expect any Lupin film to top it. It was a masterpiece. Nearly flawless. But I didn't expect a mindless, unfocused mess of a film to succeed it.
In this film, Lupin is searching for the legendary Gold of Babylon. The legend says that the Babylonians pooled all their gold together into a single form. Some speculate it was a statue, some say others. So Lupin teams up with Jigen, Goemon, and Fujiko once again to track down the treasure. Also assisted by a mysterious drunken old woman named Rosetta, Lupin finds he's not the only one looking for the gold. In his way is the villainous Marciano, who is obsessed with gold and would do anything to find the ancient treasure. Also in tow, is the bumbling Inspector Zenigata who is, of course, determined to have them all arrested.
So, it's a great setup. Saying it like that makes it seem like a pretty exciting adventure. However, ti never pulls through and falls flat pretty quickly. One of the most noticeable problems is the animation. After two Lupin films with fantastic animation to rival Disney, this movie looks more like a Saturday Morning Cartoon. Now, there were many Lupin TV specials that looked like this, but this movie had a much bigger budget than those films.
Another problem is Zenigata. Now, some people could say that Zenigata was just pointless comic relief in the last two movies, but in those films, he actually had a purpose. He contributed to the story. Here, the most he contributes to is the run-time. Basically, he has a subplot where a bunch of nominees for the "Miss ICPO Beauty Contest" are angered by the fact that they didn't win and tag along with Zenigata on his quest to arrest Lupin.
First of all, why does the ICPO have a beauty contest? Yeah, way to show how strong and independent the women of the police are by showing them off as brainless sex symbols. But, to the ICPO's credit, I don't really think any of these women really have brains to begin with. Second of all, do the losers get this angry every year? Do they always have to go with another officer on a mission to blow off some steam? Third of all, this whole plot line is completely wasted. At first, I thought these women were going to be badass and their story would result in some pretty awesome action sequences, but all they do is goof around with Zenigata all day. Remember that episode of Family Guy where Stewie kidnaps the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation and they just play around the entire episode? That's what this feels like.
Another big disappointment was the villain, Marciano. He's hardly in the movie. And whenever he is, he doesn't really do anything interesting or particularly evil. He's just really boring. And his demise isn't really anything special to say the least. I won't spoil it, but trust me, it's really nothing to get worked up about.
Finally, there's the third act. I've already written a review on The Mystery of Mamo and complained that the third act of that movie spiraled out of control and got a little too weird for me. Well, if you thought Mystery of Mamo was weird, then wait 'till you get a load of this. Again, I won't spoil it, but....... never, even in my meth-induced fantasies would I ever see anything like this in my life. The sheer amount of insanity that occurs during the climax is really the only reason to see this movie.
So, those are my thoughts on Legend of the Gold of Babylon. As you probably guessed, I really didn't like it. Since I've seen the movie, I've learned that the director, Seijun Suzuki, has a reputation for caring more about visuals than about story and characters. If only I'd known that coming into this movie. But, it really does show. The visuals in this movie are very creative and the craziness near the end makes this, admittedly, a very unique film. That's really the only reason I gave this a 3 out of 10 instead of a 1. So, bottom line, I'm not saying don't see the movie. If you're a Lupin fan and you really do want to see it, then go ahead. Just proceed with caution. Or if you want your brain to leave your body for a couple of hours, even better. You're all set! Me personally, I probably wouldn't see it again.
