![[Review] Case Closed: Captured in Her Eyes](http://www.anime3000.com/images/front_page/caseclosed02.png)
Case Closed: Captured in Her Eyes
Have you ever wanted to go back to being a kid knowing what you know now? You would probably hesitate to do so after watching Captured in Her Eyes.
Jimmy Kudo is an intelligent high school student who is forced to take a poison that transforms him into a kid. Kudo takes the name Conan Edogawa and helps Detective Richard Moore by solving cases that Moore can’t on his own.
Moore’s daughter, Rachel, casually dated Kudo when he was full sized. This leads to a recurring dilemma for Conan, who is still in love with Rachel, being unable to do anything about his affections in his current condition. If only Conan could reverse the effects of the poison and rectify his situation. Part of the appeal of the Case Closed series is how much fun childhood looks to adults and how Conan gets a second chance to do so.
Watching Captured in Her Eyes, there are several scenes put this balancing act in the forefront. Most notable is during the opening sequence at Tropical Land amusement park, when Rachel and Jimmy are seen laughing and enjoying each other’s company for the moment. Towards the end of the film, there is a similar scene set at the same park that shows Rachel and Conan together, but it is not the same for Conan because he can only remain a kid in Rachel’s eyes.
Captured in Her Eyes does a great job of capturing your attention right at the beginning. In the beginning, Conan witnesses the murder of a detective in broad daylight. This mysterious killer will continue to baffle police and the Moore Detective Agency throughout the movie. When the killer murders another detective during a wedding party, Rachel develops amnesia and is it up to Conan to use his small size and big thinking ability to save her and hopefully bring her memory back.
Like in any good mystery, smaller mysterious get solved as Conan desperately tries to solve the big mystery of who the killer is and what his motives are. Although the movie moves quickly, the ending was a letdown.
You see, for all the build up and empathy invested in the characters, when the action kicks in during the ending, Captured in Her Eyes falls flat. Part of the reason is how hokey it looks with Conan riding a high-speed skateboard, sailing through the air to land on a roller coaster. It’s out-of-place with the relative realism in the movie up to that point. If this were a crazy anime like Fooly Cooly it would work fine because the viewer would expect something that could never happen in real life. However since Case Closed is presented as being somewhat plausible, the ending jars the viewer by showing hokey stunts and situations that could only occur in animation.
Overall, Captured in Her Eyes has a lot to offer anime and mystery fans of all ages. If only the ending was tightened up more, this would have been a great movie. Even so, there are still wonderful moments and sly humor to make Captured in Her Eyes worth the DVD purchase. You may want to re-watch it to see how certain mysterious as set up and explained.
Grade: B+
Review by: Jason Fetters
Director: Kanetsugu Kodama
Production by: Toho Animation
Distributed by: Funimation
Author’s note: Be on the look out for a special Looking Back editorial on my first viewing of Captured in Her Eyes in Japan, 10-years ago.
Watching Captured in Her Eyes, there are several scenes put this balancing act in the forefront. Most notable is during the opening sequence at Tropical Land amusement park, when Rachel and Jimmy are seen laughing and enjoying each other’s company for the moment. Towards the end of the film, there is a similar scene set at the same park that shows Rachel and Conan together, but it is not the same for Conan because he can only remain a kid in Rachel’s eyes.
Captured in Her Eyes does a great job of capturing your attention right at the beginning. In the beginning, Conan witnesses the murder of a detective in broad daylight. This mysterious killer will continue to baffle police and the Moore Detective Agency throughout the movie. When the killer murders another detective during a wedding party, Rachel develops amnesia and is it up to Conan to use his small size and big thinking ability to save her and hopefully bring her memory back.
Like in any good mystery, smaller mysterious get solved as Conan desperately tries to solve the big mystery of who the killer is and what his motives are. Although the movie moves quickly, the ending was a letdown.
You see, for all the build up and empathy invested in the characters, when the action kicks in during the ending, Captured in Her Eyes falls flat. Part of the reason is how hokey it looks with Conan riding a high-speed skateboard, sailing through the air to land on a roller coaster. It’s out-of-place with the relative realism in the movie up to that point. If this were a crazy anime like Fooly Cooly it would work fine because the viewer would expect something that could never happen in real life. However since Case Closed is presented as being somewhat plausible, the ending jars the viewer by showing hokey stunts and situations that could only occur in animation.
Overall, Captured in Her Eyes has a lot to offer anime and mystery fans of all ages. If only the ending was tightened up more, this would have been a great movie. Even so, there are still wonderful moments and sly humor to make Captured in Her Eyes worth the DVD purchase. You may want to re-watch it to see how certain mysterious as set up and explained.
Grade: B+
Review by: Jason Fetters
Director: Kanetsugu Kodama
Production by: Toho Animation
Distributed by: Funimation
Author’s note: Be on the look out for a special Looking Back editorial on my first viewing of Captured in Her Eyes in Japan, 10-years ago.
