SFIAAFF: Cutie Honey
For those of you not familiar with 70s comic book turned TV show turned movie Cutie Honey, imagine a completely non-ironic present-day Wonder Woman film, and you'll be pretty close. (tangentially, we noted that is was just announced that Joss Whedon will helm the real upcoming Wonder Woman film -- yahoo!) Imagine the super-girl that all the boys loved and the girls wanted to be during their childhood, and make a movie for them as adults, and you've just understood the magic of Cutie Honey.
Cutie Honey (played by the gorgeously effervescent Eriko Sato) died and was revived by her nanobot-injecting father, since deceased. These 'bots are activated when she presses her heart necklace and shouts "Honey Flash", thus igniting her many superpowers.
Cutie Honey has it rough, but she doesn't let it get her down. She has a boring job that she hates, no friends or memories of her past, and the Panther Claw gang is out to steal the necklace. She does her best to befriend everyone she meets as she attempts to uncover why her necklace is such a coveted object, with a lot of karaoke, drinking, ass-kicking, and costume changes along the way.
While we were raptly engaged for the first 45 minutes or so, after a while our Cutie Honey sugar high wore off and the movie started to drag. It's definitely a film for those who have a pre-existing connection to Honey, as we sensed a divide between those in the Castro's audience who were long-time Honey fans and were laughing their asses off, and the rest of us who got more and more quiet as the film reached its conclusion.
If you're not a big Cutie Honey fan, this movie is still worthwhile to rent on DVD (an American DVD release is anticipated). If we had this ultimately enjoyable piece of eye-candy fluff on DVD, it would be one of those movies we'd put in on a regular basis while we're doing stuff around the house, occasionally plopping down to watch a particularly fun fight scene, wardrobe moment, or montage. Now you know what to get us for our birthday!