Lupin 3^rd: Die Nostradamus! (1995)

What a peculiar series.  The story of Lupin 3^rd started out in a very successful manga, based upon the original "Arsene Lupin: Gentleman Thief", the first in a series of French novels by Maurice LeBlanc.  Lupin 3^rd (from now on just Lupin) is, as the title suggests, a master thief, and the manga, TV series, and movies follow his exploits.  Along for the ride are his friends Jigen (an expert marksman), Goemon (a wandering samurai), and Fujiko (thief and love interest).  Forever tracking the thief is the determined Inspector Zenigata (called "tottsan", or "big daddy", a reference to an older man)

In this theatrical film, we join Lupin and Jigen in Rio as they successfully evade Zenigata and escape with a huge diamond.  Lupin smuggles the diamond in a doll, but a little girl named Julia finds it and takes it with her.  It turns out that Julia is being chaperoned by none other than Fujiko and is the daughter of the presidential candidate Douglas.  Douglas, who resides in the towering Earth Building skyscraper, has one of Nostradamus' texts, and Fujiko has been promised $50 million to steal it.  Lupin and Jigen decide to join the caper, but things get out of hand when Julia is kidnapped by a Nostradamus cult leader, Chris, who demands that Douglas resign from the presidential race and give him the text.  Lupin and gang must save Julia and recover the text before Chris gets his hands on it and executes his secret plans.

I didn't particularly enjoy this film, probably due to my lack of exposure to the series.  I thought the characters were simply too odd, with rather contrived relationships with each other.  There's probably a lot lost in the translation, but I thought Lupin was just obnoxious.  I also didn't really enjoy the animation- an odd mix of characterizations and locations.  Lupin is a tall, lanky character that conjures up images of Shaggy in Scooby Doo, of all things.  Jigen is also tall, and looks like he came out of a spaghetti western (kind of like in LucasArts' Outlaws action game).  Goemon is a Ninja Scroll-esque character.  Douglas has an obvious resemblance to Richard Nixon.  The story is reminiscent of the Pink Panther, with the clumsy inspector trailing after the thief.  

Your mileage may vary.  The film does have quite a bit of action, and it is rather fun in the nonchalant way that it causes mass destruction.  Rent it (I think this one is only available fansubbed, though) and see what you think.

Posted: 5-17-1998

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