User Reviews

Some directors have a clearly defined and instantly identifiable style that makes their films impossible to mistake as the work of another. Think of David Lynch, or Martin Scorsese, or Wes Anderson. You can generally tell pretty quickly when one of their films begin that it's a work of their art because of their particular, distinct style and approach. Though there are many similar threads and stylizations that run through Takashi Miike's films, the only thing consistent about his cinematic style is that it is ever changing.

Loosely based on Kim Jee-woon's 'The Quiet Family,' 'The Happiness of the Katakuris' is a black-comedy musical that is as bizarre as it is entertaining. It follows the titular family as they open a bed and breakfast nestled in the foothills of a volcano. They believe a new road is being built nearby that will bring them customers a-plenty. However, the only visitors they receive are strange, introverted people who mysteriously and consistently pass away shortly after check-in. The Katakuris dispose of the bodies, but they keep piling up; and the machinations of a suave conman threaten to expose the bloody fiasco once and for all.

It's a very strange film from a director who specializes in them. The tale is truly unpredictable, quite funny and surprisingly heartfelt. The importance of the family unit is made quite clear through the wild, wacky story, as well as the idea that one shouldn't fear death. It is a certainty, and the film treats it as the natural part of life that it is; not as something to be feared. While this is hardly the main thrust of the narrative, it is a welcome additional element. The comedic antics of the family- trying in vain to control a situation getting dangerously out of hand- is the main focus, which makes for an eccentric and entertaining viewing experience; even if the latter half gets to be a little overly frenzied.

The film is rife with musical numbers, which seem to pop up at random, and are hilarious and surprisingly catchy. The choreography to them resembles the videos that would go along with the music in a cheap karaoke bar, and will really make you laugh. The songs themselves- composed and written by Kôji Endô and Kôji Makaino- are all snappy and memorable, in terms of lyrics and melody. 'Everyone Is In Love' is a real corker that you'll surely be humming for a long time; it burrows its' way into your subconscious like an earwig.

Visually, the film is less exciting. Hideo Yamamoto is a fine cinematographer, who has done striking work in films like 'Hana-Bi' and 'Why Don't You Play In Hell,' but his efforts here don't come to much. The whole film looks like it was shot on video and made for television, lacking the flair usually associated with both Miike and Yamamoto. It is not terrible by any means, merely average work that is rather underwhelming.

The cast are all brilliant, in terms of singing, dancing and acting. In fact, as the film is an ensemble piece and everyone performs wonderfully, it's difficult to single out any one person to discuss or applaud. However, it's not impossible; so let us speak of the late Kiyoshiro Imawano. He plays the conman, who goes by the name Richard Sagawa, claims to be related to the English aristocracy and sports a crisp white naval officer's uniform- even while trawling through bogs. He is hilarious, completely unhinged and excessively corybantic. Sagawa plays the seedy but charming character perfectly, all but stealing the show with his delightful madness.

'The Happiness of the Katakuris' is a madcap melodrama featuring murder, mayhem and music. Takashi Miike once again proves he can do anything he puts his mind to in movie-making terms, cementing his reputation as one of cinema's most versatile directors. As funny as it is strange, the film features excellent performances from the cast and some terrific songs that linger in the mind long after the credits have rolled. It's certainly not for everyone, and it's by no means Miike's best effort, but if you like the strange, the humorous and the abstract; you can't go wrong with 'The Happiness of the Katakuris:' it's fabulous, frantic and fiendishly fun.

When you think about Japanese cinema, what comes to your mind? I'm sure it's movies like Audition, Ichi the Killer, et cetera. Nine times out of ten, you'd guess it's a horror movies, but nine times out of ten you wouldn't guess a comedy. Even less, you'd say a musical. But if you combine all three, you get The Happiness of the Katakuris, a crazy hybrid (directed, ironically, by the guy who directed the aforementioned Audition) of the three. Actually, four, since I just remembered about the animation. This four-genre film is far from perfect, but it's pretty damn good for the combination of the genres.

The Katakuri clan owns a guest house on Mt. Fuji, because they hear a road will be built leading up to the house, therefore, much business. However, the road hasn't been built yet, the Katakuris haven't had a single guest, and Shizue (Naomi Nishida) is recently divorced. Soon, however, she finds Richard Sagawa (Kiyoshiro Imawano), and they fall in love. But is everything what it seems? And once the first guest comes, he mysteriously dies (Murder? Suicide? the song-complete with smoke and blue lights-asks). Soon more guests come, they all die, and the Katakuris have to bond together to figure out a solution to this problem.

The movie starts off with a couple minutes of claymation that serves as an odd transition to the actual story. I guess it was a pretty low-budget movie, because for two other "action-packed" scenes, claymation is also used. It works well in the context of the story, but a little unexpected, too. It's not jarring or anything, and the clay characters look like the real ones (as much as possible), so that's good. Some of the humor comes from the obvious (when the father is swinging on a swing he claims to safe, it breaks), some from the absurd (a man singing in a music video in drag, obviously, that everyone thinks is a woman), and some comes from the quirkiness of the musical numbers, like that aforementioned one. There's also a delirious ballad, some slow songs, and some joyous ones. There's even a sing-along. There're some lulls in between songs, as expected in all musicals, but you'd be surprised how much reading subtitles doesn't distract you from the songs. It's just like reading subtitles throughout a film. It is a bit weird during the sing-along, though.

It's not really a "true" horror, although there's a few gruesome images, and the themes are quite dark. They're presented humorously, though, and that's all that counts. Taken apart, each lacks. The comedy's not hilarious, the horror's not scary, the animation's just random, and the musical numbers, except for a few, aren't really memorable. But I still think you should see it. I'll bet that you've never seen anything like it before, and you probably never will until Hollywood remakes it.

My rating: 7/10

Rated R for violent images and some sexual content.

Okay, I don't have the best taste in movies, but when I read the synopsis, I have to admit, I was unhealthily curious. My boyfriend walked out from this movie, but I had to stay to finish it. What would happen to Shizue and the rest of the nutty Katakuris?! I've never seen such an odd film, and with my taste in movies that's saying a lot. Some of my favorites involve anything by Stephen Chow, Rocky Horror, Hedwig, and even blockbusters, like Batman Begins, Dark City, and HitchHiker's Guide. This movie was hilarious. I found it in the horror section of Blockbuster but it should have been placed in the comedy section. At the beginning I thought it was going to be awful but when great-grandpa hit the crow with a chunk of wood, I knew it was going to be awesome. The songs are cheesy and goodhearted and I bet the actors had a blast making this movie. 8 out of 10 from me because it was, straight face here, the Weirdest movie ever. :)

Please excuse me while I take my jaw off the floor... Whew! Okay, so Miike's movies are always full of genre-busting surprises, and I should have known what to expect with 'The Happiness Of The Katakuris', but NOTHING could have prepared me for what a nutty movie experience this is! A feel-good cheesy musical full of claymation and some singing and dancing zombies?!! I loved every minute of it! The actors playing the Katakuris were all good, but Kiyoshiro Imawano stole every scene he was in. He played "Richard Sagawa" the charming conman who romances Shizue. As soon as he broke into song I was laughing hysterically! If you are looking for something unusual then head straight for the Katakuris! I highly recommend this highly original and entertaining movie.

Masao Katakuri (Kenji Sawada) has moved his family--his wife, his divorced daughter, her child, his formerly criminal son and his father--to the country, near Mt. Fuji. He purchased a large old home with the intention of converting it into a kind of bed & breakfast, since the road running nearby is supposed to be expanded, which would bring tourists. But the road hasn't been expanded yet and the Katakuris subsequently have no guests. When one finally shows up, mysteriously, he commits suicide during the night. They hide the body to avoid bad publicity. But they seem to be in a patch of bad luck, and more things begin to go wrong. Through it all, however, the family sticks together and sings happy songs.

Oh how I wanted to give this film a 10! It has so many elements I love. It's an absurdist mix of horror, surrealism, a musical, claymation, a black comedy, and one of those progressively "going to hell in a handbasket" films ala After Hours (1985), Very Bad Things (1998) or My Boss' Daughter (2003). Unfortunately, Happiness of the Katakuris suffers a bit from being unfocused. All of the individual elements are superb, but director Takashi Miike simply abandons too many interesting threads and the film ends up feeling more like a loose collection of skits. If it were tied together better, this would easily be a 10.

Happiness of the Katakuris, which is a "mutated" remake Ji-woon Kim's Choyonghan kajok (The Quiet Family, 1998), begins with a restaurant scene that ends up being unrelated to the rest of the film. While a woman is eating, a strange creature appears in her soup. This initiates a long sequence of claymation. The creature is a small, skinny, albino, white-eyed "demon" who wakes up from being stabbed in the neck with a fork and proceeds to rip out his would-be-consumer's uvula, which he turns into a heart-shaped balloon. The claymation has a strong Tim Burton feel ala The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and provides a wonderfully surreal and somewhat gory version of a "circle of life", also known as a food chain. At this point I was completely loving the film.

Oddly, Miike drops this material and we go back to a standard live-action mode as we learn about the Katakuris, initially from narration by toddler Yurie (Tamaki Miyazaki). I kept thinking that the claymation demons would return somehow, but they're forgotten about, even if claymation eventually makes a return later in the film, with a style more reminiscent of Bruce Bickford, who did the claymation in Frank Zappa's Baby Snakes (1979).

Fortunately, the Katakuris are intriguing in their own right, and for a long time the film settles into more of a quirky art-house drama style, albeit with a darker edge due to the fate of the hotel's guests. During this period, a romance subplot enters as we meet Richado Sagawa (Kiyoshiro Imawano), who is courting Katakuri divorcée Shizue (Naomi Nishida).

There are a few interesting musical numbers, and the love song between Richado and Shizue has attractive, bright production design. Although some of the songs were a bit bland to me--I prefer the music of, say, Jisatsu saakuru (Suicide Club, 2002)--they are all intriguingly staged, ranging from spoofs of rock videos to The Sound of Music (1965). Miike keeps a wicked sense of humor going throughout the film--there is something funny about most of the characters, most of the ways the characters relate to each other, and most of the scenarios.

All of the technical elements in the film are superb. Miike treats us to a lot of interesting cinematography, the location/setting of the Katakuri home is wonderful, and the performances are good.

Later, Miike shoots for more of a madcap Monty Pythonesque style, complete with "zombies" nodding their heads and toe-tapping to a song (ala the Camelot dungeon prisoner in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 1975, or the group of people being crucified in Life of Brian, 1979). The latter reference is particularly apt, as the "message" of The Happiness of the Katakuris, insofar as there is one, ends up being remarkably similar to the message of the song "Always Look On the Bright Side of Life" from Life of Brian. Namely, life is short and often brutal, so we should focus on enjoying ourselves and having a good time with others while we're here; and once we're gone, others should celebrate our life and the time we had on the Earth rather than mourning our passing--somewhat like the funerals in some Caribbean cultures, which involve joyous singing and dancing rather than dour moping and tears.

Those are messages that I couldn't agree with more. It's just too bad that Miike couldn't have made the film a bit tighter, but even as loose as it is, you can't afford to miss this one if you have a taste for anything more unusual/surreal.

Delightful and bizarre movie by Miike's perverted mind. Funny, curious, original and irregular too; like all his production. Using football (soccer) terms, it reminds me to a typical attacking midfielder (f.e. Özil, Guti) who plays like god one minute but the next plays like the worst player of the worst team; too much quality but discontinuous. That's how I see him, if you make a thousand works per year it's very hard to keep high standards of quality. Let's focus in this film, great staging, well used resources (good option using stop-motion for most complex scenes), delirious characters (Sagawa, sumo and the schoolgirl are awesome), big hit moments (when the first body is found out, I laughed a lot with the family) and the plot… well, the plot doesn't matter. Aesthetically it's a great work, from an original and bold film maker; there is no doubt about it. But I may say, in my opinion, there are points which don't allow this movie be perfect. Some of this points; most of musical interludes are boring and childish, lack of rhythm in some passages (musical moments don't help with this), father's character performance doesn't get me at all (perhaps is something cultural, some Asians performances exasperate me due to their lack of realism and that submissive silence I can't understand). In short, it's a worth see movie and it will sure split people in their opinions. But we must put aside our conventions and prejudices to enjoy it and let us embraced by the creativity and the universe of Takashi Miike.

A note to those who are familiar with other films directed by Miike. Although some of his other films have been very violent and disturbing (such as AUDITION), this film is completely unlike these films and is a must-see. This is NOT a violent or overly bloody film despite there being zombies mid-way through the movie!

I love foreign films, so I am VERY willing to watch a wide variety of strange and sometimes "artsy-fartsy" films. However, my wife and I have urged our friends to see this film and all agree that it is a real gem. It is important that you watch the movie with an open mind, as the first few minutes of the film are, believe it or not, done in claymation! Then, it fades to the present-day Japan and the totally bizarre adventures that occur to a genuinely nice Japanese family. Through no fault of their own, this family's bed and breakfast seems to attract patrons fated to die (in rather comical ways, at that). The family's response? Simple--break into SONG!!! The songs are meant to be very silly and overly dramatic and turn out to be GREAT FUN!! The best of these has got to be the song and dance number featuring this sweet family and zombies (dead hotel guests). I'm sure NONE of this sounds funny or charming, but it is without a doubt both of these things as well as, believe it or not, a family values-affirming film.

The bottom line is, if you are brave and want something that is TOTALLY unpredictable and engaging, watch this film ASAP! Also, if you like weird and surreal musicals, I also recommend the Dutch film, YES SISTER NO SISTER.

An extended family move out to the country to run a B&B, only to find that each rare and sorely-needed guest winds up dead on their property. Naturally this prompts a series of frantic musical sing-along productions before the shovels come out.

One of Seven films made in 2001 alone by the absurdly prolific Takashi Miike (best known in the west for his more intense horror works such as the magnificent "Audition" and "Ichi The Killer"), this loose remake of Korean film "The Quiet Family" has all the rough edges and scatter-shot structure you'd expect of a film presumably made over a quiet weekend between projects. But for all that, it's frequently very funny, admirably off-kilter, and features quite the finest claymation soup- sprite that I've seen this year.

Should you find that "Les Miserables" simply doesn't have the epic scope and emotional punch you want in a musical, then this combination of "The Sound Of Music", "Saturday Night Fever", "Shallow Grave" and "Shaun Of The Dead" is absolutely what you've been looking for.

There is little more to say about this film than to recommend it heartily to anyone with a sense of humour. I mean a proper sense of humour. If you have ever wet yourself sitting through Monty Python you are going to enjoy this. This isn't Will and Grace.

Most of the songs are great, the song based around a dead man with scissors in his neck is brilliant. They are cheesy, OTT and have some of the best dance moves since Ricky Martin tried dismally to samba his way into the charts. I am still humming along to some of the tunes (from the Katakuris, not Ricky Martin. Although I wish he'd been a guest at the Katakuri's guest house.) My greatest problem with the film comes from its advertising. It is labelled as a "Cannibal Musical" in some press releases. Ignore this. There is no cannibalism in this film. Not even a suggestion of it. Nobody even says in close up; "Oh I am hungry" and then is juxtaposed with a shot of a dead body. The only feasible description of this film which mentions cannibalism is: "Is not about cannibalism, unless if by cannibalism you mean songs".

You are going to have a great time watching this film and if you are familiar with Miike I think it is safe to say that this film is more shocking that even Ichi the Killer. Why? Because at the end of it you feel all warm and fluffy inside and I dare say nobody expects this from Takashi Miike. I certainly didn't.

The maverick like Takashi Miike, who sends up Japanese culture in many of his films, directed this film about a family who have a guest house in the middle of nowhere, where the (few) lodgers end up dead by morning. And, its a musical! The film is all over the map and even includes some claymation. It is not bad, but it is somewhat uneven. I wish I cared more for the characters, they are somewhat one dimensional. However, Takashi is always interesting as a film maker, so I do recommend it, but he has done better. Its strange in its approach, a black comedy if you will. Once you understand it, you can watch it. Be warned, though, its a little out there.

When I bought "The Happiness of the Katakuris" from Amazon it was under the impression that it was a musical with zombies, plus it is a Takashi Miike movie, two good things combined, or so it would appear.

First of all, you had to wait 76 minutes into the movie before the zombies make their appearance, and then even so, you see them for less than 5 minutes. So don't acquire this movie under the impression that it is a zombie musical, which I did. You will be sorely disappointed.

I do enjoy Takashi Miike's work and have most of it on DVD, this however, I will say it not amongst his best work. Sure the movie in itself was entertaining enough, it had a perverse dark comical touch to it, which is one of Takashi Miike's trademarks. But the movie was fairly slowly moving with very little actually happening, which in my opinion weighed the movie down.

Also, the DVD cover has 'the hills are alive with the sound of screaming!' boasted on the front cover. Yeah, that was false advertising of a grand scale. And on the back of the cover it boasted 'The Sound of Music meets Dawn of the Dead" ... yeah, right!

The story itself was entertaining, especially since all those people tragically died at the family's guest-house, which was kind of strange and coincidental. And the family itself was quite interesting and weird at the same time. The characters in the movie were nicely portrayed and had lots of depths to them, which really worked in favor of the movie. And the make-up of the zombies was actually quite good, I enjoyed that quite a lot, even though it was less than 5 minutes of screen time.

If you enjoy Asian musicals, then "The Happiness of the Katakuris" is perhaps a great choice for you, personally, I enjoyed the Korean musical "The Fox Family" a lot more than I did this movie. But hey, it is all a matter of preference.

Version: Japanese audio, English subtitles (by SBS).

Oh my, I think I have a new favourite movie, and the only way I can describe this is as a death musical about happiness. Wow, 'Happiness of the Katakuris' is possibly the most incredibly awesome movie I've ever seen.

In an effort to keep the Katakuri family together and happy, Masao (Kenji Sawada) opens a guest house in a secluded mountain area. Unfortunately, the first guest lacks clothes and apparently a reason to live, and kills himself. In a panic, the family sings, dances, and buries the body in the forest. The next guests are a sumo wrestler and his underage girlfriend, who both cark it while getting - ahem - intimate. Such a rising body count will test the Katakuri family's unity and their ability to break into impromptu song and dance numbers.

I was under the impression that 'Happiness of the Katakuris' was a zombie musical (like 'Battlefield Baseball'). Zombies only appeared in one scene in 'Happiness of the Katakuris' and yet the lack of zombies didn't disappoint me at all. Miike proves just how versatile his insanity is by directing something insane, yet far away from his standard fare. We get dancing zombies in one scene, a very strange claymation scene that seems to exist for no real purpose, and cheesy musical numbers that are well over the top. This funny and happy Miike is so much cooler than the Miike obsessed with exploding brains and unsettling torture scenes.

Ever seen the Monty Python film 'The Life of Brian'? 'Happiness of the Katakuris' ends with the same message: "always look on the bright side of life". 'Happiness of the Katakuris' is very entertaining and funny, and a great film, although I doubt it would appeal to everyone. It is my new favourite movie. In fact, I think I'll go watch it again now... - 10/10

A typically irreverent and offbeat Japanese musical comedy from one of that country's most eclectic directors, Takashi Miike. I previously watched DEADLY OUTLAW REKKA last week and was disappointed in its predictability and lack of outrageous eccentricity that Miike is best known for, so I came to THE HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS in two minds, hoping to enjoy it and hoping it wouldn't let me down, knowing that Miike films can be all over the place tonally. The good news: it didn't let me down; far from it!

This is a unique stab at musical cinema, with a plot that somehow manages to incorporate claymation, zombies, murder, death and a volcano. The setting is a seemingly idyllic hotel run by a family of diverse characters, who find out that their guests keep on dying strange deaths. Rather than calling the police or getting upset at the impact on future bookings, they decide to bury the bodies in the local forest while taking part in one song-and-dance number after another.

The film is filled from beginning to end with verve and vitality and the music numbers really zing, proving real highlights. The whole film has a bright and colourful look and feel to it and lashings of black comedy only add to the appeal. It truly is an anything-goes experience and one that's hugely entertaining from start to finish; a more original piece of film-making I haven't seen all year.

OKAY. First off, I have to thank my friend who got to the theater one minute before the film started. Secondly, we thought we were going to see "City of Lost Souls" and it turned out that they were showing this film. Oh well, it's by Miike, it should be good.

Wow. I find it's best viewing japanese cinema with no knowledge of the film beforehand. I saw Audition tha way and am proud to say I am now 97% fully recovered (j.k.). While Miike's ability to grab your attention and slowly drag you into the film is still present, the musical numbers probably had me (and others) laughing in the crowd. The Katakuris are a bunch of characters, let me tell ya. Miike's dark side is there, but in a twisted, strange, more subtle way. Watch the expressions, faces, and exaggerated acting in this film which are definitely major highlights. Some of my faves were the navy guy, the guests of the house, the grandpa, but overall, the family are hilarious when all onscreen.

It's definitely has its moments of light-heartedness, laughs, and 'interesting' claymation. Very entertaining and fun. A lot of people (including myself) were cracking up in disbelief and bewilderment. Definitely see it!

Miike Takashi's `Katakuri-ke no Koufuku' is a wonderfully bizarre black comedy musical highly reminiscent of the music videos and live concert performances staged by the now-defunct 80s & 90's J-pop powerhouse Kome Kome Club. Miike's choice of Sawada Kenji as Katakuri Masao further accentuates this similarity, since he strongly resembles K2C co-front man `Carl Smoky' Ishii Tatsuya. The somewhat unpolished song & dance routines (unlike K2C), along with episodic fits of overacting and self-depreciating man-on-a-wire work combine to create a totally off the wall mix of dark humour and Miike's trademark visual gross-outs.

In synopsis, Katakuri Masao is a downsized urbanite who stakes his family's livelihood on restoring a run-down country inn. Masao, along with wife Terue (Matsuzaka Keiko) and father Jinpei (Tamba Tetsuro) reel in their troubled son Masayuki (Takeda Shinji) and divorced daughter Shizue (Nishida Naomi) to create their family dream. But alas, location is everything, and without a major road nearby, the `White Lover's Inn' waits patiently sans customers. When guests finally do begin to arrive, the Katakuris find (through no fault of their own) that their guests have an annoying habit of dying. Not to be discouraged however, the Katakuris do their best to persevere as a family, and find time for a number of offbeat musical numbers in between.

The most irritating character was the second-rate con man Richard Sawada played by actor/singer Iwamano Kiyoshiro, who also played a deadbeat suitor in the TBS dorama, "Boku no Shusshoku". He actually does a fair job at speaking bad gaijin-sounding Japanese, and he's one of the only actors in the movie (to my knowledge) with a musical background. Oh, and the shot with him wearing the Oakley `OverTheTops' is pretty funny. One of the strangest elements to me (besides the opening claymation sequence) was the fact that the prologue & epilogue narratives were voiced in retrospect by the young grand daughter, for no apparent reason. Some reviewers point out the moralistic undertones of family values and such, but I suspect that even this was thrown in by Miike as part of a cold-cocked slap in the face with regards to anything being morally relevant in the film, or making sense for that matter.

At times this movie was rather enjoyable, at other times it got to be a tad tedious, and still other times you stare at the screen in amazement thinking to yourself that this movie is really messed up. Welcome to the movie "Happiness of the Katakuri's" which is the title I bought this movie under. A movie about a family trying to make an inn work in the middle of nowhere and getting no customers, and then finally they get their break and they have a string of customers only to have tragedy strike again and again. Some scenes are really funny, some scenes make no sense this movie runs a gambit of being this and that during its runtime. Then there are scenes that really make me wonder what the heck they were thinking, mainly all the claymation scenes which they did not even really attempt to make those look real. Granted seeing the dog in claymation was funny and I am guessing they did it because I know that final scene would have been very difficult using real actors. Still, that opening scene with the creature in the soup seemed a tad pointless to the whole movie. The musical numbers were somewhat good, usually the ones involving the bodies and such were best, the one involving the husband and wife seemed a bit to long and really was not all that funny. So an okay movie, loved the discovery of the sumo guy, the scene of the family that looked sickly and needed cord, and the wound the son got in the end. Maybe a bit of reworking and taking a bit of runtime off this movie would have made it more entertaining as a whole instead of having a few dead spots that brought this one down a notch.

This is by far my favorite movie! The first time you watch it and see the happy dancing and singing mixed with what looks like a frightening acid trip some junkie would have- you think- this is going to be so stupid...but it isn't. After the first 15 minutes the movie really takes off and you become engulfed in translating the bright lights and crows into something understandable. Honestly, buy this movie! It is the best horror/comedy/musical/clay-mation/live action/drama/romance/anti-romance/thriller I have yet to come by. (not that many horror/comedy/musical/clay-mation/live action/drama/romance/anti-romance/thriller have crossed my path) --this is an awesome film. I highly recommend it!

Takashi Miike is one of cinema's true mavericks, a bold auteur who flirts with disaster every time he settles into the director's chair, and yet somehow, more often than not, he still manages to pull something out of the bag to surprise and delight fans of the bizarre.

Take The Happiness of the Katakuri's for example: on paper it sounds positively dreadful, a horror/comedy/musical remake of Jee-woon Kim's The Quiet Family, with random claymation sequences thrown in for good measure; once again, though, Miike's unique, off-beat approach to his work, which eschews virtually every convention of mainstream cinema, makes for a visually innovative, one-of-a-kind viewing experience.

It takes less than a minute for the madness to begin, when a woman eating soup pulls a small animated imp-like creature out of her bowl, after which the film becomes progressively more bonkers—a wild ride through a world where mid-movie karaoke singalongs and dancing zombies are routine occurrences. This might not be the most coherent thing Miike has ever made, and there's a good chance viewers unaccustomed to Miike's style will be left scratching their head by the time the end credits roll, but there's definitely never a dull moment.

A odd movie good to watch in the evening, some moment of the movie is maybe not suit for children ( one sex scene, for comedy purpose but enough explicite to warn you ).

To give you a simple summary: It's a darkly humorous musical that places us as spectators in a family trying to reconnect by working together.

But the universe seems determined to put in their way a good dose of corpse and problem, which they will try to solve sometimes by parody passages of musical comedy.

An honest film that delivers what it promises: Bizzare Japanese entertainment, but quite interesting for an evening.

This is terrible, certainly one of the worst films I have ever seen.

The, animated, opening sequence is startling and weird in a dark and funny way and sets the scene for a great film but unfortunately what follows is rubbish.

The acting is terrible, the first scene with the family is cringe worthy and is a good indication of what's to come.

The song and dance numbers are deliberately over the top with the intention of being funny but they are just annoying and there are far too many of them, every few minutes has a stupid song and dance routine.

The writing is awful with no decent dialogue or jokes or any intelligence.

There are one or two funny bits but they are small visual jokes and that isn't enough for a film that is supposed to be a comedy.

Takashi Miike's remake of "The Quiet Family" is a humorous, insanely happy

example of Japanese family dynamics. Miike succeeds in crafting a film which pulls the viewer into a true relationship with the characters, from the chronically depressed father, to the perky, squeeky-clean mother, their subtly slutty

daughter and punk son, and finally the crotchety old grandfather. Personally I have never watched a film in which relationships are made so imperceptibly.

The Katakuri family bonds through the film so thoughtfully and naturally that by the end the audience is so enamoured and captivated by their lives it is

impossible not to cheer. Even the con-man Richard Segawa, a character who

could have easily become the antagonist in the film, is a hilarious and ultimately human part of the film's narrative. "Happiness of the Katakuris" comes across as a heartfelt ode to the Japanese tradition of "New Years" movies - i.e. feel-good family entertainment. Quite possibly Miike's greatest film.

The fact it never really holds a consistent tone is somehow both one of the film's charms yet also something that holds it back.

If it had had a little more of a grip on what it was building to, and maybe a slightly (SLIGHTLY) more discernible plot, I think it could've struck the perfect balance between being weird and emotionally satisfying, and become something amazing.

Still, there are moments of greatness, and for a film this all over the place, it seldom lost my attention. Feels like the rare example where they were probably trying to make a cult-type movie and actually pulled it off.

If a Takashi Miike comedy-horror-musical sounds like something you need in your life, then you'll probably enjoy this. I came close to loving it, and thought some individual sequences were great, but I can't quite say it works masterfully as a whole (so frustratingly close, though).

Also, the great-grandpa throwing logs at birds and knocking them out of the sky made me laugh every single time (it makes sense in context, if you watch the movie... oh wait, no, it doesn't, really).

Takashi Miike is a director with huge energy when making a film. His trouble is that often he makes features based on only one idea, and doesn't bring up any better ones during the film. The idea in "The Happiness of the Katakuries" is combining horror comedy with musical. The result is completely pretentious. Every song number seems to be there just to point out the movie's obscurity. There is no real reason for the characters to burst into singing: the songs tells us nothing about their emotions. Same goes with the animated sequences. It is everything but enjoyable to watch a film, that tries deliberately to appeal with its oddity. "The Happiness of the Katakuries" tries so hard to be a cult movie, that it is disgusting.

I advise everybody to concentrate on better Miike films, like "Audition" and "Ichi the Killer", to name but a few.