Meitantei Conan Movie 05: Tengoku e no Countdown

Story: 10 One might think that the idea or inspiration for this movie came from the 911 attacks, however, this is not so, the same way as Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers had no relation. This was released in April of that same year, so it was months before the attack happened. Why the comparison to the attacks? Well, because for one thing there are a few simularities and second, one might feel a bit of nolstalgia from this movie, a good kind, as... well, the thing about detective mysteries, it is very rare that the detective gets to die, so you know that thereis a happy ending, which is nice in comparision to the 911 attacks.nnArt: 9nnIt had beautiful art work in this. I loved for example, the design for the two towers, and I also liked the paintings of the painter. There are other things I liked about the art, but hey... that would kind of give spoilers for the movie.nnSound: 7nnThis one didn't have much varience from the typical Detective Conan score, not from what I could see.nnCharacters: 8nnHow to go about this without spoiling things. I have to say that the murder in this happened to have such a beautiful, dramatic reasoning behind it, but murder is still murder. It was one that I have to say I definatly liked.nnI loved how Sonako is rather concerned with her looks, but when isn't she? I also liked how quite a few of the canon characters, expessully Ran and Conan get their kicks of heroics. Sherry is as always, her pesimistic self.nnI am seriously trying to think of things to say that doesn't give away the plotline here. The new characters almost have no character development along the way, until the very end. So that is a problem.nnEnjoyment: 10nnMy enjoyment was high, but I related this to the 911 tradgedy. And it wasn't like it was, oh... they based this on 911, but I did wonder and go research that small detail there. I had to say that I was rather impressed with the action scenes too. I can't tell much as for this one it would give away the plot line... and for murder mystery, that can be a bad thing.nnOverall: 8nnFor this movie, I would say that a lot of people might like it, but there are going to be a few people who don't, might call it clique. Some people might go and say that it is based of 911 and they are trying to make money off of it, much like someone did with the Two Towers Movie for Lord of the Rings. nnI also wonder if this is going to be brought over here, or if they might skip bringing the movie over here. Or if they will release the third and forth movies in time, they will be able to release this in time for the tenth anaversary of 911, which to me would be cool, but for some people, they might not like it.

I can't help myself, but this movie isn't just one of my favourite Conan-movies, no, it is one of my favourite movies overall and, so I guess, one of those movies I've re-watched most (tied with great movies such as LotR, Titanic, the dark Knight-trilogy and so on). But why do I think so? There are a plethora of reasons! The animation, the storyline, the dramatic and the score... I just got into it so fast and I can't get away... Of course, the animation might be a bit outdated, because this movies goes back to the very beginning of the last decade; however, it's still wonderfulto watch it! The Animation and the score, side by side, work wonderfully together! And that's why there's room for the story - it allows to improve itself even without much dialouge!nnI did enjoy (and I still do so) the characters and their background stories - which is for a conan movie always quite important!nnSo, I just can say: go and watch it!

Many Detective Conan fans hold the first 6 movies near and dear to their hearts. Not only were these the only 6 to be released in America, but also because these movies had some of the best writing and character moments of them all. While many would point to The Phantom of Baker Street as the best of these films, I would argue that Countdown to Heaven is the best of the vintage Detective Conan movies. My first reason is that this movie is bursting to the brim with great moments from the main cast. Conan, Ran, Kogoro, the Detective Boys, & Haibara all get theirmoment to shine in the spotlight. The moments with these characters are so charming and fun that it's able to carry the audience through parts of the movie some would consider to be boring without. That's not to say that the story sucks. In my opinion, it's a very-well told story with several twists and turns that keeps the audience engaged all the way to a satisfying conclusion. I think everyone can agree that everything that happens in the third part of the film has some of the best moments in the whole series(save for maybe Haibara's quick lesson about physics). If I had only one nit-pick about this film is that it is too dark. That is, a lot of scenes in the latter third are shrouded in darkness, making several scenes, including those epic ones, feel significantly less epic. If this movie received a visual update, it could easily become a strong competitor for my favorite Detective Conan movie.nnIf you are still deciding if you should see Countdown to Heaven, then put those doubts aside and go see it! While it may not have aged well in the art style, don't let that put you off from enjoying this fun and classic movie that showcases the best that Detective Conan has to offer.