Writer: Elaine Ewe

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Watch this if you liked: "Detective Conan" series

Prodigious high-school student Kudo Shinichi becomes trapped in the body of child after being forced to ingest an experimental poison, APTX 4869, created by a syndicate known as the Black Organization. Adopting the pseudonym Conan Edogawa, enrolls at Teitan elementary school and forms the Junior Detective League with three other children in his class: Ayumi Yoshida, Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya, and Genta Kojima. Also in the League is Ai Haibara, another victim of the experimental poison, only that it is of her own doing, in an attempt to commit suicide after betraying the Black Organization, which she worked for.

The main premise of "Detective Conan: The Eleventh Striker" sees Conan investigating a bomber and the locations of his bombs during the J. League soccer tournaments, whose existence is revealed through his cryptic challenges to Kogoro Mori, the father of Ran Mori, Shinichi's best friend since elementary school who loves him, and whom he is also in love with. This is because the public are not aware that Kogoro is just a bumbling private detective whose prestigious reputation comes from his body being manipulated by Conan when he was unconscious for several times in order to provide solutions for difficult cases.

From the lengthy explications above, it is clear that "The Eleventh Striker" is not a film meant for non-fans of the "Detective Conan" series. The film itself is the 16th film instalment of a long-running manga and anime series. However, if you are a fan that is reading this review, then "Detective Conan: The Eleventh Striker" is a worthy addition to the series, although it is unevenly weighted. On one hand, it has a compelling mystery story with a sense of urgency, as Conan must quickly solve the riddles given by the unknown bomber in order to discover the location of the bombs and stop them. On the other, the characters are too one-dimensional in spite of the near two-hour running time, which does not bode too well for any fans of the series as it is a common trait for the mystery villains in "Detective Conan" (or Japanese mystery films in general) to have a sympathetic history or motivation behind the crime. Thankfully, there is plenty of humorous moments and high-flying thrills to keep fans entertained and thus overlook the shallowness of it all.

Visually, the film is not as striking (pardon the pun) as Ghibli films or even Mamoru Hosoda's films such as "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" and "Summer Wars", which suggests that Gosho Aoyama's "Detective Conan" looks better on paper than on the silver screen. There are a few computer-generated imagery that are jarring such as the Conan's skateboarding scene and the soccer ball, not to mention director Kobun Shizuno's curious decision to employ a live-action scene during the end credits that recreates key scenes from animated film. Further, the manga allows for the mystery villain to be depicted as a shadow while retaining the desired ominous effect, but in film, the shadowed being just looks like a cheap attempt to shroud his identity.

In conclusion, "The Eleventh Striker" is not too shabby a film, and despite its disjointed-ness, it is not too hectoring as it skimps on heavy messages and unnecessary subplots and heaping on the humour and thrills.

Cinema Online, 28 July 2012