One Piece – The Movie 8 Review

3 stars for this great story, retold and repackaged yet again.

One Piece – The Movie: Episode Of Alabasta is the eighth film based on the characters created by Eiichiro Oda and the first one to be translated into English, so you can enjoy it with the familiar voices we are so used to hearing in the series.

This film tells the story of Princess Vivi, whose homeland, Alabasta, is under threat from Baroque Works, a powerful mercenary organisation lead by the fiendish Crocodile.

His dastardly plan involves framing the King Cobra (Vivi’s father) for stealing all of the rain from the Kingdom, using Dance Powder. With the help of Bon Clay, who can change to mimic anyone he has touched, the Kingdom of Alabasta is on the brink of civil war.

The rebel army is gathering, intent on revenge and the Royal Army stands poised to attack the rebels.

It is up to the Straw Hat Pirates and Vivi to stop the fighting before it can begin, defeat the evil Crocodile and prevent him from getting his hands on the Pluton (a powerful weapon) and to prove her Father’s innocence before blood is shed.

If all this sounds rather familiar, that’s because it is. This film is basically an abridged version of the Alabasta Arc (as seen in One Piece Collection 5). The story-line is exactly the same, the only difference being that the whole thing feels a bit rushed and there is little or no character development due to how condensed it is.

One Piece – The Movie: Episode Of Alabasta may be a good buy if you don’t have time to watch the full version, but even then, if you are a One Piece fan this is a bit of a waste of money, as it can already be bought as part of One Piece Movie Collection 3, and with that you get the added bonus of Movies 7 and 9 as well.

“We caught ourselves a Man Lady!”

One Piece – The Movie: Episode Of Alabasta, The Pirates and the Princess Of The Desert is available to buy on DVD and Blu-ray from 05th Jan 2015.