This is a classic case of how not to drive a plot. I don’t know how many rewrites this script needed ultimately, but it sure needed at least one more. An adorable film in Act I becomes an eye-rolling nightmare by Act II. I suppose I didn’t expect the film to remain cute throughout, but I also didn’t expect the film to have no idea what it wanted to do, either.
It’s like Tang and Me decided, “huh. We ran out of cute, what do you want to do?”
“Ummm … kidnapping?”
“Hey! There’s an idea. Let’s do it.”
This film is about a manchild loser, Ken (Ninomiya Kazunari), and his adorable pet [read: substitute child] robot. Ken is so emotionally immature and supportively vacant that I mistook his wife, Emi (Mitsushima Hikari), for his mother. After yet another failure to do anything but play video games, Ken discovers that Emi has left. Is it permanent? Is this the last straw? Wandering outside because it’s a place, Ken discovers a robot has been left on his lawn. The robot talks and identifies itself as “Tang;” it behaves not unlike a child.
Why do we love childlike curiosity in robots? I honestly do not know, but I don’t think you can go broke exploiting that theme. People love to see curious, innocent robots. I think it’s because the idea is relatable and far-fetched at exactly the same time. Watching Tang investigate a ladybug will bring a smile to your face. It just will.
Being that Ken is mostly manchild, he is forced to become an adult to return Tang to whomever Tang belongs to. And here we discover the robot is both friendly and kind, which I imagine is hard to program. Tang is definitely a member of the Short Circuit family of robotics. This is where the picture works. I could be watching a classic Disney family film at this moment. Not only do Tang and Ken become friends, but Tang’s naïveté requires Ken to play adult, and, consequently, realize where his own childish behavior has gotten him.
At this point, I loved the film I was watching.
*sigh*
Naturally … super secret robotics. Evil. Theft. Kidnap. Betrayal. Stupidity. Oh, it’s all there. And it absolutely stunned me. It’s as if the producers took this exact moment to conclude: “Hmmm
, this film works. How can we make it not work? Wait. I know!”
Paralleling this idiot plot is a similar idiot plot in which Emi takes, quite literally, days and days to pack a suitcase. You will think I’m kidding, but I am not. Ken could travel on foot from one end of Japan to the other and Emi would still be packing that damn suitcase.
Where Tang and Me was strong, it was quite strong, so I’m forgiving it the idiot plot. And yet, I cannot help but reflect upon what a wasted effort this was. Tang and Me could have resonated well beyond Japan. This was a rare tale about the pure joy sci-fi can be where the machines we build teach us to be better versions of ourselves … and instead it morphed into yet another action chase movie, and a weak one at that. So I’m recommending this film, and yet I’m disappointed with it at the same time.
I know a robot named Tang
An adorable boxy li’l thang
It was cute as could be
Then the plot went screwy
And ended in whimper, not bang
Not Rated, 115 Minutes
Director: Takahiro Miki
Writer: Arisa Kaneko
Genre: Me and my robot
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: People that duck out after Act I
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People that stay to the end
