Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan's Island Review

Synopsis:
In a feature film adaptation of the same-named episode from the original Mobile Suit Gundam series, the crew of the White Base is ordered to investigate a remote island for potential Zeon holdouts. When Amuro Ray pilots the Gundam to the location, he discovers more than he bargained for in the form of a rogue Zaku II piloted by Cucuruz Doan, a Zeon soldier who has seemingly defected in favor of raising a small community of war orphans. 

Release Date:
2022

Timeline:
UC 0079

My Grade:
C

Viewers of Mobile Suit Gundam may recall the 15th episode, titled "Cucuruz Doan's Island", in which Amuro becomes temporarily trapped on an island inhabited by a Zeon deserter and his makeshift family of war orphans. This one-off episode was inconsequential to the main story and original series director Yoshiyuki Tomino was apparently very unhappy with it. Decades later, the idea to re-produce the episode as a feature film was greenlit, and what was once a throwaway 24-minute story has been transformed into a big-budget 108-minute movie. The result? A vastly improved, though still relatively inconsequential experience. 

The first major (and obvious) difference here is the visuals. With a true theatrical budget, the decades-old story has been given new life, though not quite on the level of major tentpole releases like Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway. Still, the animation is (mostly) fluid and high-quality, with character designs that pay loving tribute to the now-quaint art of the original series. The mecha are all rendered using CGI, a technique that can be hit-or-miss depending on the application. I feel in this case that the graphics are too pronounced and artificial-looking, unlike similar CGI used in, say, Mobile Suit Gundam: Unicorn, which blends in much more seamlessly with the hand-drawn characters and backgrounds. 

The plot retains all the bones of the story featured in the original series, though many details are either altered or expanded on. For instance, in the old episode, Amuro pilots the Core Fighter to the island, whereas in the new film, he pilots the Gundam (an appropriate update). Other changes include a more important role for the island itself, which now has strategic importance to the ongoing military conflict, as well as a greater cast of kids orphaned and living with Doan. These updates all help set the stage for a more engaging, fleshed out, and high-stakes experience, though occasional dips into comical and even slapstick moments keep the film from becoming too serious (for better or worse).

Though it's heartwarming to see characters like Amuro, Bright, Sayla, Fraw, and the rest of the White Base crew brought to life in modern incarnations, I don't think the film offers much beyond nostalgia. The updated story is fine, as is the animation, but this was never the most compelling episode to begin with so even with all the modern touches, the production feels more like an extended one-off OVA. There's nothing wrong with that per se, and many viewers seem to really enjoy Cucuruz Doan's Island, though ultimately I'd rate it as being average at best.