Critic Reviews
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Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times
It's weirdly -- and often wonderfully -- entertaining.
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Patrick Z. McGavin, Chicago Tribune
By the second hour, Miike's story fails to punctuate its powerful setup, and the work, much like the family itself, ends up a tangled mess.
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Michael Booth, Denver Post
There are so many moments in Happiness of the Katakuris that beg us to walk out on the movie, it's hard to pick just one.
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Jonathan Curiel, San Francisco Chronicle
A kind of strange, existentialist comedy.
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Janice Page, Boston Globe
It's a ball when it works, which is why fans of Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark, Francois Ozon's 8 Women, and other darkly inspired, genre-bending musical fusions must introduce themselves to the Katakuris.
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Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
None of this is nearly as hilarious as surely it was meant to be.
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Michael Dequina, TheMovieReport.com
Love it or hate it, such a feat of highly demented cinematic imagination simply must be seen.
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Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone, TheMovieChicks.com
The Katakuris may not be your typical innkeepers, but the family that sings together and buries dead bodies together, stays together...this is hilarious, macabre, and entertaining.
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Ian Waldron-Mantgani, UK Critic
It's shot and acted in a way that's hastily, amateurishly theatrical, through digital photography that tries to look beautiful but just plain can't.
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Eric Henderson, Slant Magazine
Happiness of the Katakuris is probably the film best equipped to fill that black-camp-karaoke-musical-horror-claymé-domestic-dramedy void in your DVD library.
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Sean Axmaker, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
...for all the black humor of this deliriously bizarre fantasy Happiness is a warmhearted film about sacrifice, support and four generations of family togetherness in face of mounting corpses.
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Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle
It's freakishly interesting and even outright hilarious at times, but, then again, so are most funerals.
Read all 12 critic reviews
Featured Audience Ratings
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It?s like the Sound of Music with Zombies, murders, a volcano and general madness. It?s fantastic, Takeshi Miike is a genius!
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I admit I haven't seen many musicals & I don't intend to but this one is right up there along with Hedwing and the Angry Inch as my favourite musicals of all time, My first Takashi Miike (Audition) was really disappointing so it took me so long to see this & Gozu but… More
I admit I haven't seen many musicals & I don't intend to but this one is right up there along with Hedwing and the Angry Inch as my favourite musicals of all time, My first Takashi Miike (Audition) was really disappointing so it took me so long to see this & Gozu but these two made me want to see his other movies
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How can you seriously not call Miike a genius after making a film like this? The man spoofs the musical genre, and ends up making the best damn film ever in said genre. A one of a kind zombie/comedy/musical/drama/clayanimation that surprisingly enough happens to be a rather charming… More
How can you seriously not call Miike a genius after making a film like this? The man spoofs the musical genre, and ends up making the best damn film ever in said genre. A one of a kind zombie/comedy/musical/drama/clayanimation that surprisingly enough happens to be a rather charming film, where the family unit is put to test.
Screw Bjork and Lars hack Trier, this is the ultimate musical satire.
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First things first. Takashi Miike has got a h*** of an imagination. If there is somebody that can create a G-rated porno, Miike is your guy. Well, this isn't a G-rated porno. It is more of an R-rated musical. That sounds interesting enough right?<p>Like other movies… More
First things first. Takashi Miike has got a h*** of an imagination. If there is somebody that can create a G-rated porno, Miike is your guy. Well, this isn't a G-rated porno. It is more of an R-rated musical. That sounds interesting enough right?<p>Like other movies from Takashi Miike, this one is no different in the weird and abstract department. The difference between this and a movie like <i>Izo</i> is that this one is easy to follow.</p><p>The pace of this film isn't fast, but it isn't all that slow either. I guess that makes it an average paced movie. The pace of this film should be one of the last things on your mind though. As I mentioned earlier, this film is weird, but quite entertaining. You can't help but chuckle when the characters break into a song and dance when you least expect it. For example, there is a dead body on the floor and when members of the Katakuris family open the door and discover it, they start singing about it. There is even a karaoke segment where the characters tell you to sing along and the words appear on the screen. So you have an out of this world, but entertaining story with lots of singing and dancing. What else could you ask for? How about clay animation? There are multiple segments in this film that are shot in that fashion. Remember the "Three Little Pigs" video by <i>Green Jelly</i>? That is what it is like.</p><p>The acting in this film is not bad. I guess what I mean to say is that it matches this style. The singing isn't all that great either, but like the acting, it matches.</p><p>If you are looking for a little violence, a little sexual content, some romance, comedy, clay animation, singing, and dancing then this film is exactly what you are looking for.
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Quite happily takes elements of musicals, romance, family drama and horror, puts it together with comedy and clay animation and uses it all for a very bizzare purpose. This film is quite possibly one of the strangest I've ever seen, but it beats tons of regular films in terms of… More
Quite happily takes elements of musicals, romance, family drama and horror, puts it together with comedy and clay animation and uses it all for a very bizzare purpose. This film is quite possibly one of the strangest I've ever seen, but it beats tons of regular films in terms of enjoyment and entertainment value.
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Words fail me. This is one of the most beautiful, wacky, thoughtful and touching movies I have ever seen.
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A humorous, creative and unusually heart-warming movie about...claymation zombies. You'll love it.
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Way too much random nonsense and not enough substance.
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The beginning made no sense what so ever, the story was being told through the daughter, but loses that perspective the rest of the film. The songs were okay, but I felt that the pacing was off. Points for uniqueness only go so far.
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Odd. Odd. Very odd. It's a film that has touched every single genre possible from gore-flicks to musical and even claymation. This is the craziest Japanese remake film off a Korean film EVER!
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This is a musical/comedy/horror!Its about a family who buy a guest house but things start turning strange when the guests start dying.Theres some really random bits,the musicl numbers come from out of nowhere but its great,i don't think i've seen a film like this before!
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Interesting comedy/musical similar to Little Shop of Horrors. Cool usage of interecutting clay stop-motion animations.
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One of the few films that have changed my life. Such a nice movie, despite being demented, really focuses on what's important in life. Being happy and making those who are close to you (eg. family) as happy as possible as well. Such a simple concept, but this movie pulls it… More
One of the few films that have changed my life. Such a nice movie, despite being demented, really focuses on what's important in life. Being happy and making those who are close to you (eg. family) as happy as possible as well. Such a simple concept, but this movie pulls it off spectacularly. The Quiet Family is great, but I like this one even more.
Read all 13 featured audience ratings
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