One Piece Stampede REVIEW (Non Spoiler)

Hello and welcome to the Grand Line Review, your source for everything One Piece, and today is a momentous occasion because it is almost 1 a.m. and it is finally time for me to review One Piece Stampede, which I just saw this evening. And before jumping into anything, I would like to point out that this is a non-spoiler review, which I decided to make because I know that many, many of you will not have the opportunity to see the film until October, November, and sadly, perhaps even beyond that for countries which have no confirmed screenings as of yet. So never fear, I'm not going to give anything away beyond general details and impressions here, but for those of you who have seen Stampede or who simply do not care whatsoever about spoilers, I will also be posting a spoiler review shortly. But for now, I was lucky enough to see the Australian premiere of One Piece Stampede at MADFEST in Melbourne, and I have to say that the atmosphere in that room was incredible and will more than likely have positively skewed my review of Stampede. But it really was difficult to walk away with anything other than a smile on my face after experiencing this for the first time along with hundreds and hundreds of other One Piece fans. There was a huge amount of cheering, hearty laughter, and terrifyingly long lines that stretched all the way around the entire theater just to get in. It was a fantastic experience and I highly recommend going out to see this because this film is a once in a lifetime One Piece experience, a true love letter to fans, and who better to spend the screening with as a result? Also, when a highly introverted man is telling you to go out and spend time with other human beings, you know it's for a good cause. With all of that said, I do have to say that this review won't be entirely good because Stampede does have its flaws which we'll get into in a very general manner here and much more specifically in the spoiler review. But for now, if I had to give my overall impression of the film in one word, I'd say overwhelming. From beginning to end, Stampede is a relentless barrage of pure One Piece, which is both one of the most amazing things I have ever laid eyes on and one of the most exhausting experiences of my life all in one. For example, the sheer amount of characters contained within the movie is staggering and most of them are given their moment to shine in one way or another. The best equivalent I can draw is probably Infinity War except Stampede goes even more overboard, especially with cameos by secondary and tertiary characters. In fact, on more than a few occasions, I even spotted characters from previous films which is a wonderful nod to the people who have kept up with the history of the One Piece movies. But as for the primary characters who demand most of the film's focus, well, they're no secret due to how heavily the trailers marketed them, but essentially we've got the Straw Hats, the Worst Generation and the final United Force who command the stage, which even on its own is a ridiculous amount of cast members to keep up with, but I will say that they all received a pretty decent balance of screen time and stuff to do, even if that stuff to do is action for the most part. I guarantee that One Piece fans will not be unsatisfied with what most of these three groups have to do in Stampede, although I was personally slightly disappointed by one or two characters who may or may not have been pretty heavily featured in marketing material and don't really provide what was promised. And my primary example of this without giving much away is Rob Lucci. He just doesn't quite have the role you might expect after watching some of the trailers, especially the later trailers. This is definitely not the case for most of the primary cast though, and I will say that I was very happy with how the entirety of the Worst Generation were handled. And seeing them all together in one place for the first time since the Saburi arc is a momentous occasion, with some interesting action-based surprises as well. There were a couple of things I definitely was not expecting to see from them, so let's just say that they go pretty all out. As for the Straw Hats, they all get their due focus even amongst this powerhouse cast. I don't think that any Zoro or Sanji fans are going to be disappointed with them in this film, but I will say that there is one standout amongst the crew in Stampede, who I won't specifically mention in this review, but just, wow. It really did remind me of exactly why I love each and every one of the Straw Hat Pirates, because they are all incredibly capable of having their profound story moments, which I will say was very welcome in Stampede. Now, something I do need to say is that you will need to suspend your disbelief quite often with the amount of characters that pop into this film and specifically how they make their entrances or even what their overall purpose of being there was. There are certainly a couple I can think of where I was like, yeah, you were there, but there was no adequately explained reason for why you were there. And this applies to some pretty major figures as well. All of whom received resounding cheers and applause amongst the crowd, so they did serve their purpose in that context, I suppose. While we're on characters though, we also need to talk about our film's specific antagonists being Douglas Bullitt and Buena Festa. And we'll start with the more intriguing individual being Bullitt, and my God, is he powerful. If he were a canon character, I'd say that he approaches the level of power held by an emperor figure like Big Mom or Kaido, but not quite getting there. Although in the film, his strength is compared to that of Ray Lee. So, hmm. And so for much of the film, he is incredibly overwhelming. And honestly, that might be one of his greater flaws. Throughout Stampede, I consistently felt like Bullitt was made far, far too strong, which creates a big problem when trying to satisfactorily conclude him. There are other issues though, many of which I won't get into here. But to me, Bullitt was a fairly flat antagonist. He has a one-track mind, a less than satisfying motive, and a backstory that demands significant expansion. In fact, I really do wish that instead of a lot of the action, the film took a bit more time to develop him, especially his connection to the Roger Pirates, because that was another big selling point of Stampede. The fact that this guy was a former member of the Pirate King's crew. And at any given time, I just wanted to know more. In terms of action though, I will say that for the most part, he is very compelling to watch. His powers are a visual feast. And once again, they are just absolutely absurd. And as for our other driving force, Buena Festa, his motive was somewhat more satisfying, but in the end I found myself just not really caring about this guy. He has a classically odorous gun appealing on first impression design, only without the solidly written character to back it up. And yeah, I don't actually have a lot of great things to say about Festa. Every time he was on screen, I just felt like he was stealing time from the billions of other people who we could have been spending it with. Now, speaking of how time was spent, let's talk a little bit about the story in Stampede. And really, there's not an awful lot to say. The premise is the Pirate Festival and the main event is the hunt for Roger's treasure. The second part of that, I'll have a lot to say about in the spoiler review, but that really is kind of that for the story. Do not go into this movie expecting a lot of twists or even development because it lays out its cards very early. And I think banks on you being down for the ride, which for the most part, the crowd and I certainly were. However, in terms of criticizing Stampede as a film, the lack of story does become a detriment at points. There were certain parts where as much as everything going on was amazing fun and often a spectacle to watch, there was a definite desire for some kind of story progression, which does eventually happen, but it is minimal. And I suppose you could argue that Stampede doesn't really need it because of what it sets itself up to be, which is an all-star team-up film. And it might even be a fantastic thing that we don't spend too much time setting it all up, but I'm not too sure about that. For me, after a while, I do need some form of progression because it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Now, as for what that good thing is, it is undoubtedly action and animation. Stampede is nothing less than beautiful at all times, even with some of the CGI stuff happening. There were very few points where I felt like something was off in terms of a model or animation. And for the most part, that sort of stuff can be attributed to the particular art style that was being invoked and is generally forgivable as a result. Having only seen it once at the time of this recording, I'd go so far as to say that the animation is actually pretty damn flawless. And it is always a pleasure to see One Piece given this treatment. But while all of that is amazing, the action can at times get a bit fatiguing, especially when you're jumping in and out of multiple fights happening all around the island for great stretches of time on end. Stampede does not give you a lot of breathing room as the stakes are high right from the get-go, most of which is being delivered to us through action pieces. I mean, there is at least one merciful moment of respite, which honestly is one of the shining moments of Stampede to me. And it really highlighted what I felt was missing from a One Piece story up until that point, which was the space to have great character moments and developments that don't involve fighting. Because despite being classified as a battle shonen, One Piece has always been more than that and arguably excels in terms of story, drama, and comedy at a far greater capacity than it does action, which I guess is why it's kind of weird to see such a physically based film. But your opinion on this is going to change depending on what you're seeking from Stampede. If what you're hoping for is a product that tells a decent standalone story, then you might have some issues. But if what you wanted is an event film that just celebrates a ton of 22 years of One Piece, then you'll love it. Personally, I was incredibly greedy and I was hoping for both, which isn't realized, but it is incredibly difficult to be disappointed with what was delivered. Every time I think of a negative aspect of the film, it is immediately dispelled by the astounding amount of just plain cool moments, characters, and clashes that were in it. And so any flaws that Stampede had were entirely forgivable to me. Although I doubt that will be the case for anybody not familiar with One Piece, because it really is like taking someone who has never seen a single Marvel movie or even read a comic into, say, Avengers Endgame. You really do need to have a solid grasp of the series to get maximum enjoyment out of Stampede. So sadly, this probably is not a good example of something to show a friend to get them into the series, which is a shame because it is beautiful and fun, but Strong World, Film Z, and Film Gold do still exist for that purpose. Also, before I get to talk about this completely, I should have said this in the beginning, but this screening of Stampede was preempted by a message from Mayumi Tanaka. Mayumi Tanaka. I said it three times because it's important. AKA the voice of Luffy, which was really cool because she was addressing MADFEST directly, so it felt like quite a personalized message. The more important thing is that her message actually contains some massive foreshadowing towards a certain event in Stampede, which at the time I thought was just Mayumi being all charming and funny, but looking back on it, it is just very cool to see how that was laid out right in front of my eyes. And I'll tell anybody who was curious about that in the spoiler review, of course. But to summarize my thoughts, let's put it this way. I spent a stupid amount of money to fly interstate for a couple of hours with my wife for the sole purpose of seeing this movie. It's one of the most financially irresponsible things I have ever done, and I regret nothing. This experience was like no other. A true event film that I'm not sure we'll ever see again because no other series really has what it takes to pull something this ridiculous off. And I cannot see One Piece repeating itself with this format on its next outing. And so Stampede is a very special film. I mean, yes, it has problems from a filmmaking perspective, a lot of problems, but if you're a One Piece fan, then I really would say it doesn't matter. You're going to have a good time here. And once again, I'd highly encourage you to see it with as many other One Piece fans as possible. And not only that, but you may even want to see it multiple times because for me, one viewing really didn't feel like enough. I mean, I was exhausted after it, but I feel like there's so much that I missed or wasn't able to appreciate happening, which is a great compliment because I haven't felt that way after watching any of the other One Piece films. Like with Strong World, Film Z, and Gold, I walked away going, great, I've seen it. Now, time to digest it. But the problem with Stampede is that you can't possibly see it all in one sitting. So it becomes a bit more tricky to digest. So I want to see it again, but sadly that won't be happening here in Australia until mid-November. But by then I'm hoping to be more than ready to go back into this incredible creation with a fresh mind and keener eyes. But that pretty much does it for this non-spoiler review of One Piece Stampede. Just a reminder that I will have a spoiler review up soon, as well as hopefully a review or at least impressions from my wife, who knows pretty much nothing about One Piece. So I suspect that will be an interesting discussion. Speaking of discussion, if you have seen Stampede, please be mindful about posting spoilers in the comments because there is a huge chunk of the world who haven't seen it. So let's not ruin its awesomeness. 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