Yu-Gi-Oh! - The Movie (Yûgiô: Gekijô-ban) (2004)

5% of critics liked it
(63 reviews)
52% of users liked it
(10,341 ratings)

The popular anime series Yu-Gi-Oh! makes the jump from television to the big screen with the franchise's first feature film. Yugi (voice of Dan Green) is a boy who, like thousands of others, is a loyal fan of "Duel Monsters," a card game that's sweeping the nation. Yugi joins many other players for… More The popular anime series Yu-Gi-Oh! makes the jump from television to the big screen with the franchise's first feature film. Yugi (voice of Dan Green) is a boy who, like thousands of others, is a loyal fan of "Duel Monsters," a card game that's sweeping the nation. Yugi joins many other players for a Duel Monsters tournament in Battle City, where they make a startling discovery -- the "Duel Monsters" cards have supernatural powers that have resurrected Anubia, an evil leader from ancient Egypt. As it happens, one of Yugi's ancestors was a pharaoh who vanquished Anubia centuries before, and now the young man and his pals must use their skills with the cards to conquer the foe once again. Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie arrived in American movie theaters in the summer of 2004, six years after the Yu-Gi-Oh! television series (and its attendant flood of merchandise) made its debut in Japan. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Play Trailer

Rating, Runtime: PG, 1 hr. 30 min.
Directed By: Ryosuke Takahashi
Genres: Action & Adventure, Animation, Kids & Family, Science Fiction & Fantasy

In Theaters: Aug 7, 2004 Wide
On DVD: Nov 16, 2004
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures

Critic Reviews

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader
Like the gods, the trading cards are capricious, with ever-changing rules and strategies so intricate that only Yu-Gi-Ohlogists will fully enjoy this adventure.
Scott Brown, Entertainment Weekly
A feature-length anime commercial.
Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle
This cartoon based on the popular and complicated card game might as well be written in another language.
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
The latest kiddie con job to float over from Tokyo.
Gene Seymour, Newsday
If your pulse quickens when you hear lines like, 'Not so fast! I still have two cards face down, and they'll bring down your life points to a measly 1000!', then Yu-Gi-Oh is the movie you've been waiting for all summer.
Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger
A feature-length sales pitch aimed at kids.
Nell Minow, Common Sense Media
More infomercial than movie. For series fans only.
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com
Feature-length animated movie based on the television series, and Manga comic book of the same name, is like watching a Japanese video game being played on a movie screen.
Urban Cinefile Critics, Urban Cinefile
It's essentially an advertisement for a similarly titled trading card game.
Jim Lane, Sacramento News & Review
The popular kiddie cartoon show comes to the big screen, looking exactly like a TV cartoon blown up to colossal proportions.
Angel Cohn, TV Guide's Movie Guide
While this probably constitutes a good tutorial in the trading-card game's lingo and lore, it's tremendously boring to watch an animated series in which most of the fighting doesn't even involve combat, just characters looking at cards.
Stefan Ulstein, Christianity Today
Like Harry Potter, Shrek and Spider-Man, it will become part of the currency of grade and middle school conversation.
Uri Lessing, www.kcactive.com
Yu-Gi-Oh translates from the Japanese into 'Intense migraine in elders.'
Kim Williamson, Boxoffice Magazine
Various other minuses for the uninitiated -- the changing powers of the cards, the intricate strategies of the participants, the almost-lethal nature of gameplay -- are great pluses for aficionados.
Anthony Del Valle, Las Vegas Mercury
I suspect even children will be sophisticated enough to understand that a film should feel more alive than a trading card.
Mark Collette, Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
Looks like 'Transformers On Speed: The Autobots Take Japan.'
Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena
Tecnicamente limitado, o filme não é esteticamente melhor do que uma animação produzida para a televisão.
Kimberley Jones, Austin Chronicle
It's a lot like hearing the play-by-play account of a heated game of bridge. Only not half as gripping.
Eric D. Snider, EricDSnider.com
Watching it is vaguely like watching someone explain how to play poker when you have never played it and in fact have no intention of ever playing it.
Vince Koehler, Entertainment Spectrum
It was mostly over my head but the kids in the audience knew what was going on and loved it. If you see this movie, take a kid and let him guide you through it.

Read all 23 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Michael E

love the show love the card game love the movie another great anime childerens show adaption
Kalel J

Why have I seen this? Who knows, but the fact still remains that this is a bad film. I'm putting it into the context of children and their conceptions towards it and still I see only schlock. The concept of a game of cards deciding the fate of the world and ultimately saving the… More
Why have I seen this? Who knows, but the fact still remains that this is a bad film. I'm putting it into the context of children and their conceptions towards it and still I see only schlock. The concept of a game of cards deciding the fate of the world and ultimately saving the apocalypse from an ancient tormentor reaches beyond the levels of stupid witnessed in Poke'Mon. Speaking of this antagonist there is something overly ridiculous about him in this movie - he is in the last 5 - 10 minutes of the film, then dies. Even for children this is absolute nonsense and while I may be harsh towards a childrens movie such as this I am seeing something that is catering with it's wacky hairdoes and farout action. This is just bull, there is better children's entertainment out there.