One Piece Movie: The Desert Princess and the Pirates: Adventures in Alabasta

Plot

The film opens with Nefeltari Vivi flying with Pell in a brief flashback. Returning to the present, Vivi and the Straw Hats meet Crocodile's subordinate Mr. 2 Bon Clay. Mr. 2 shows the Straw Hats his devil fruit ability, which allows him to assume the form and voice of anyone whose face he has touched. Vivi describes a brief history on how the Baroque Works leader Crocodile has used Dance Powder while posing as the country's hero. He has also tricked the rebel and royal armies into fighting each other. Once in Alabasta and after crossing the desert, the Straw Hats find the rebel's base deserted, while the rebel army, led by Vivi's childhood friend Koza, witnesses the port town Nanohana being burned by members of Baroque Works disguised as soldiers of the royal army. The rebels decide to attack Alubarna, where at the same time Mr. 2 impersonates the king, Nefeltari Cobra, and orders the royal army to engage. Meanwhile in the desert, the Straw Hats are intercepted by Crocodile and his partner, Ms. All Sunday. Crocodile aims for Vivi, but Luffy stays behind and distracts him, while the other Straw Hats escape. In the ensuing fight, Crocodile defeats Luffy by impaling him through the chest with his hook and buried alive.

The Straw Hats arrive at Alabasta's capital city, Alubarna, where the officer agents of Baroque Works are already waiting for them. The Straw Hats lure them into the city, allowing Vivi to try and stop the approaching rebels. Vivi's attempt fails and she rushes to the palace. Meanwhile, Usopp and Chopper defeat the officer agents Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas, while Sanji manages to defeat Mr. 2. Vivi finally reaches the palace and convinces the acting royal army captain, Chaka, to blow up the palace to make the fighting sides listen to her. However, Crocodile and Ms. All Sunday arrive and interfere with her plan. Back in the streets, Nami defeats Ms. Doublefinger and Zoro learns to cut steel by defeating the blade-bodied Mr. 1. Back at the palace, Koza witnesses Crocodile questioning Vivi's father who stands nailed to the wall, about the ancient weapon Pluton. He and Chaka attack Crocodile, but are quickly defeated. With the two armies' leaders in his control, Crocodile engulfs the palace plaza in a sandstorm, making it even harder to stop the fighting. After that, he follows his partner and the king into the royal mausoleum. Luffy arrives and follows Crocodile. In the streets, Vivi and the remaining Straw Hats try to find a bomb set by Baroque Works to wipe out both armies. Luffy and Crocodile fight in the mausoleum. Crocodile hits Luffy with his poisonous hook, but Luffy is not stopped. The Straw Hats find the bomb, as well as Mr. 7 and Miss Father's Day in the city's clock tower. Vivi takes out the agents and prevents the bomb from being fired; however, Vivi discovers that the bomb has a timer. Pell arrives and supposedly sacrifices himself to save Alabasta. Meanwhile in the mausoleum, an enraged Luffy breaks Crocodile's poisonous hook and defeats him.

Back at the plaza, it starts to rain and, with Chaka and Koza presenting the defeated Crocodile as the rebellion's orchestrator, the fighting stops. It rains for three days. After that, Luffy wakes up and a banquet is given for the pirates. News arrives that a marine fleet is on their way to Alabasta. The Straw Hats decide to leave as fast as possible, leaving Vivi with a choice. The next day, she appears at the coast, to say farewell to the crew. From there, she uses a transponder snail to broadcast a speech through the country. The film ends with Vivi asking whether she was still their friend, but the Straw Hats show the sign of their friendship on their arms. In the end credits, Vivi finds Pell alive and peace eventually returns to Alabasta.

Cast

Adaptations

Shueisha created two adaptations of the film: a film comic and a light novel, both titled Gekijōban One Piece: Episōdo obu Arabasuta: Sabaku no Ōjo to Kaizoku-tachi (劇場版One Piece エピソード オブ アラバスタ 砂漠の王女と海賊たち, lit. One Piece The Movie: Episode of Alabasta: The Desert Princess and the Pirates). The film comic (ISBN 978-4-08-874236-6) was released on the 4th, the light novel (ISBN 978-4-08-703178-2) on the 7th of March 2007.

Soundtrack

The score on the film's soundtrack was composed by Kōhei Tanaka, Shiro Hamaguchi, Yasunori Iwasaki, Minoru Maruo and Kazuhiko Sawaguchi. The ending theme "Compass" was written and performed by Ai Kawashima. For the English release, the score was used, and an English remake of "Compass" was created for use in the English dub, but a defect in the DVD caused the Japanese version to play instead. However, the English version was used in the theatrical release as well as the Blu-ray release.

Reception

In its first week of showing, the film entered the Japanese weekend box office on place two. In its second and third week, it placed fourth and ninth, respectively, before falling out of the Top 10 the week after. In its fifth week of showing, the film re-entered the Top 10 for a final ninth place. In the Japanese market, the film's gross revenue summed up to $7,075,924. Including non-North American, foreign markets, the film made at total of $7,084,304 and after Funimation Entertainment's limited showing in the US, the figure rose to a worldwide total of $7,090,891.

Funimation Entertainment's DVD and Blu-ray releases of the film were also the subject of several reviews by a number of publications for films and anime. Carl Kimlinger of Anime News Network described the film as "a feature-length recap with slightly revised editing and a heavy layer of theatrical gloss" that is "Squeezing an enormous plot into a teeny little film like a man in mid-life crisis trying to squeeze into high-school jeans", but noted that "The soundtrack is a joy to listen to, rousing and fun". Bamboo Dong, another reviewer of Anime News Network, said that the film's pace is "anything but smooth" and that the battles are "cobbled together". She commented that the film is "syrupy good fun" for those who are fans of the series, but noted that for non-fans it will hold only "limited appeal". Although Todd Douglass Jr. of DVD talk said that "you really have to be affirmed in One Piece lore in order to full [sic] appreciate [it]" and commented that it felt "incomplete and unbalanced", he still recommended the film, stating that it is "short on story but ... a lot of fun." In regard to Funimation Entertainment's adaptation, he said that "[their] team does a great job of capturing the spirit and personalities of the show's characters."

Bryce Coulter of Mania Entertainment said that the film "cannot be recommended for someone who is not familiar with the series" but otherwise recommends it, cautiously, while commenting that it gives "a neat perspective" on its source material, but ultimately does not do it "any justice". In reference to the English adaptation he said that "the ... voice actors ... did a great job of portraying the Japanese cast." Davey C. Jones of Active Anime said that he liked the animation, in particular the backgrounds, and commented that the film "takes the character designs right out of the manga and TV show and ups them with theatrical quality shine." N.S. Davidson of IGN rated the film with 7 out of 10, stating that the animation is only "Slightly more sophisticated ... than in the television series" and that the film itself is "most likely ... for One Piece fans only." Dustin Somner of Blu-ray.com agreed on the film being primarily for fans, stating that the film's lack of context makes it "frustrating (with a capital 'F')" for those unfamiliar with the series.