Editor Reviews:

Product Description:
A championship wrestling match pits Koji Taguchi against Crush Volcano the latter no match for Koji s signature move the Torture Ring Strangler. Koji beams as he clutches the Champion Belt only to have it snatched away by a mysterious new challenger in the ring a giant squid! A giant squid in fact who not only evades Koji s key attack but destroys him with a Northern Light Suplex! Koji s fianc e Miyako watches tearfully though there s something about this Calamari Wrestler that seems familiar to her The tentacled tackler is the hottest story in the Japanese sports press. The president of the Cho-Nippon wrestling team proposes a fixed match as a publicity stunt but the honourable Calamari Wrestler will hear nothing of it. Wrongfully banned from the sport he retreats to the Monhonji Temple to train and meditate where a young reporter tracks him down and begins to unravel his enigma. But the squid s problems are just beginning treacherous businessmen unrequited love and the wrestling-ring menace of the Octopus Wrestler and the insectoid Squilla Boxer await!System Requirements:Starring: Kana Ishida Osamu Nishimura Directed By: Minoru Kawasaki Japanese with English subtitles. Running Time: 86 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: NR UPC: 825307912593 Manufacturer No: PH-91259

Rating : - Brilliant in its sheer stupidity.
The Calamari Wrestler (Minoru Kawasaki, 2004)

In a month when I saw two of the five films nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture in 2007 (and a third which should have been and was ignored)-- one of which won-- I would be hard-pressed to call anything other than one of those the best movie I'd seen all month, right? Well, I'm not sure anything I'll see for the rest of this year will measure up to The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, but for sheer pleasure, nothing I've come across so far this month has topped The Calamari Wrestler. I grant you, Minoru Kawasaki (also responsible for Executive Koala, among others) is not making Julian Schnabel-league films, but then he's not trying to, either.

A takeoff on the highly-regarded Karate Bear Fighter, The Calamari Wrestler is about Japanese pro wrestling, which, in this odd alternate universe, is in decline. Until, that is, at the end of a title match, a giant squid mysteriously appears in the ring and hand the winner of the match his head on a plate. Calamari quickly becomes a fan favorite, and much of the rest of the movie deals with the upcoming rematch (but there's more, and I'd have to get into major spoilers to reveal the last third of the movie).

What's so great about it? It's hysterically funny. Cruelly cheap special effects, subplots and shots stolen from just about every boxing movie known to man, dumb plot twists, a silly script, this movie has it all. I can't remember the last time I laughed this hard at a movie. If an American comedy has been a tenth this funny in the past forty years, I haven't run across it. And every time you think it's hit the height of stupidity, don't worry-- it finds another peak to jump to. It's an awful movie, but it's an awful movie in the best of ways. ****