I thought the movie was great. Most of my thoughts were mentioned already by the general consensus but here's my take. It's another "long" post with slight ramblings so I'll spoiler it.
! I'm really glad that Brook got as much screentime as he did. It's nice to see Brook "shine" especially given he is the newest crewmember. I also have a slight fear of ants so that opening attack was extra badass. His lullaby attack also looked really nice. All of his funny moments were funny. I didn't think the skeleton jokes were overused like in the manga sometimes.
! Franky's moments were more subtle. His inventions were hilariously awesome, even the banana hat. I just wish I heard him say SUPA once in the movie and have more variety in attacks. Then again that's a complaint for almost all the Strawhats in the movie.
! It's disheartening that the most stand out moment Robin has was her wearing glasses. :sad:
! Chopper was a mixed bag. Along with super cute in normal mode, he has man boobs in heavy point but his arm point looked glorious and it was cool watching Usopp ride him. It might have been more coincidence, but I liked the parallel of Xiao and Chopper when Xiao was "punished" for just trying to collect the medicine for a loved one. I just flashed back to Hiluluk then.
! Sanji was Sanji, which isn't a bad thing. I REALLY like his movie 10 music and hope that it's used for all future Sanji badass moments.
! Usopp did fantastc. I felt we all every side to Usopp in this movie and everything balances really well. And despite his "lame entrance" I felt that he was a lot more reliable in the movie than normal. Sure his attacks toward Shiki missed but I believe there was no hesitation at all then and during the climax scenes.
! And his final attack looked really cool. Can somebody explain to me whether that attack created the lightning for Luffy's final attack? I'll probably ask again since I doubt anyone reads this long wall of text. It's more just for a theraputic sense for me at this point when I post long posts explaining my thoughts.
! Nami was looking fine. I almost didn't mind the excessive fanservice shots. Really cool how she escaped on her own the first time and devised her own plan instead of just relying on her crew to help her out. And her message was sweet.
! Zoro's fight was underwhelming like a lot of people have said. He also didn't really have any "cool" moments I thought. The direction scene was funny though.
And was the final attack Zoro used new?
! And Luffy was Luffy. Nothing more, nothing less. I did "man-crush" when he took off the pirate coat and went after Shiki. Red dress shirt and black tie. Simple yet effective.
! The animals were COOL. Another thing about typing long posts is that I realize how limited my vocabulary is which makes me feel pathetic. But this movie was cool and awesome and amazing and nothing less could describe the animals. They were handled effectively.
! Billy is an enjoyable character to watch. I couldn't help but think about Pikachu whenever he thundershocked somebody and I wished there would be a pokemon based after him.
! I first thought Scarlett was a woman. I was surprised when I realized he was a guy. Otherwise he was a generic sidekick/villain to me with an interesting design.
! Dr. Indigo was way more quirky and interesting. Too bad his fight was short. I like his character a lot. Second favorite only to Shiki and these two shine way above the rest.
! I felt really bad for Shiki. I'm on the "Shiki was defeated too easily" bus. Honestly, I felt that he would've just let Luffy suffocate in the water if the plot didn't require Luffy to live. His attacks were visually stimulating and he was a very effective villan. It's a shame to have him go down like he did, though it's nice that it was foreshadowed that the weather was his only weakness and that was used in the final attack.
It also didn't help that Shiki was a legend. I mean if this was random pirate X on the Grand Line then maybe I wouldn't be so disappointed, but this was a man who faced Roger and needed both Garp and Sengoku to take him down.
! I thought the plot was okay. I thought Shiki's diobolical plan was fine but I thought the village was meh. I never connected with them and that ending scene with the villagers meant nothing to me.
! Shiki's dance was really amazing. When the high-def comes out I want a gif of that dance.
! I was initally irritated that the gun scene came out of nowhere but Rule of Cool definitely applies. I will cherish this badass free-for-all shootout because I doubt something every close to this will ever happen again for the strawhats.
! Yeah this movie was good, except the village felt like generic filler village #34, and I wished that the backstory on the villagers were expanded explaining the wings thing along with Shiki's initial takeover. I also wished Zoro and Sanji could've had longer fights, Robin and Franky had a bigger role, and that the villain was taken down by more than one hit since he seemed to have the edge for the majority of the battle.
! But in the end I would put it on par with the story. This definitely felt like a "One Piece" movie but not a "One Piece movie" if that makes sense. The movie definitely has the feel that Oda made it. It's not his masterpiece, but it definitely isn't bad. It's a very fun movie to watch and everybody feels in character.
I can't think of comparisons to other movies because it's been awhile since I've seen them, especially the ones that weren't retellings of old storylines. But like I said, this movie had a "canon" feel to it. It didn't feel like this is a filler story. I'm not saying it is canon but that's the best I can describe it right now.
! One final note that I might post in the thread about disappointing things in one piece, but after watching this movie I really wish those general zombies were utilized better in Thriller Bark. I know this might seem way off topic but I need to get this off my chest.
It might seem weird but the animals in the story along with those pirates that were allying with Shiki made me think that they could've been used effectively in the storyline better.
I mean when Sanji was going to save Nami he could've ran into a general zombie or two and beat them like he did with the wild animal on the tight rope. And since they knew the weakness of zombies it wouldn't be too much of a copout for the crew to "beat" the general zombies by putting salt in their mouths. At least it would've been nicer than just having "Oars" defeat them all with one blow. Phew. That felt good to get out of my system.
! So yeah great movie.