We acknowledge that it's a good movie, and that the violence isn't completely gratuitous. It makes a solid point about the objectification of women and the consequences of treating people as means to an end instead of showing true compassion. We just would've liked to get that message without so much graphic dismemberment. Does that make us wimps? Maybe. But we prefer to think of ourselves as "filled with child-like wonder and innocence."

Which is part of the reason we broke our Miike moratorium to see (The Great Yokai War) on the SF IndieFest's closing night; it was described as "a kids' movie from the guy who made Ichi the Killer." The other part is that we're big fans of movies that reinterpret Japanese folklore, ever since we saw Kwaidan, Spirited Away and our favorite Studio Ghibli movie, Pom Poko.

Yokai Daisenso doesn't attempt to be as lyrical, profound, or eco-friendly as a Studio Ghibli film, nor as shocking as Miike's over-the-top action and horror movies. But it takes influences from both, as well as a thousand other sources, and ends up being an imaginative and entertaining action/comedy that parodies its influences at the same time it pays homage to them.

More about the movie and other Japanese goblins after the jump

Yokai Daisenso