Yohei Suzuki has a Jarmuschian taste for mining social alienation for the occasional stray deadpan punchline.
The film now stands as frontrunner for 2003’s most mindless and physically offensive moviegoing experience.
By film’s end, it’s clear that family values are every bit as important to this kiddie empowerment saga as the inventiveness of its gizmos.
Frailty is especially difficult to pin down for a film that feels like just another kooky thriller with a trick pony up its sleeve.
Harold Becker’s easily digestible fil may be too efficient for its own good.