Stand by Me Doraemon

A computer-animated adaptation of the Doraemon series. Doraemon has been read and watched in Japan for more than half a century. The premise: a robot cat sent back from the future to help Nobita, a hopeless primary school pupil. With gadgets pulled from his pocket he solves every problem the boy has, and every solution causes another. This film selects several stories from the long series and joins them into one narrative, placing this at the centre: once Doraemon has put Nobita's life right he will have to go back. So the aim of the story is a parting. Visually it departs from the series' familiar two-dimensional drawing and was made entirely in three-dimensional computer animation, which caused argument at the time. It was a large commercial success in Japan and a sequel followed. The right entry point for anyone who knows the series and for anyone curious about Japanese popular culture. For a new viewer the characters' history is conveyed briefly; the final section also rises openly in feeling and the film does not hide it.