One Piece the Movie 3
Chopper Island
2002?
Unrated
Japan
Buy this Movie
Probably my favorite One Piece Movie, though I'm not so sure after seeing the 6th movie, but I'll review that one later. This movie is all about Chopper mostly, a character who still has yet to appear in the American release. Let me clue you in for those of you only getting the show on FoxBox. Chopper is the doctor of the strawhat pirates. He's also a reindeer who has eaten a devil's fruit that gives him limited transforming powers. Yes, I know that sounds weird but he's really interesting character if you've seen how his story plays out in the series. This movie seems to happen shortly after he joins the crew. He'll be overheated to exhaustion in the desert in his next story, so it's nice to know that he had his own adventure before then.
Like many other One Piece movies this takes place on another strange island. This one is inhabited by strange animals of every type. It's the ultimate weird animal movie; maybe that's why I like it so much. As it begins we learn that the king of these animals has died and the animals now await a new king. Could little Chopper be the new king they are waiting for? Perhaps not but they end up crowning him anyway. Too bad this makes him the target of a fiendish zoologist searching for the king's antlers, which can bring him the ultimate power he seeks.
Like the other movies there is also the usual child with a troubled past who gets in on the plot, a formula that will be seen again in the 4th movie. I found the villians intersting even if they had nothing to do with the original comic series. One is a snake-like man with a whip sword and the other is a martial artist names General Hotdog. Oddly enough, Zoro ends up fighting General Hotdog with his great kicking abilities while Sanji battles the other with his great swordplay. It's a reverse of what we normally get and it works pretty well.

Would a newcomer to One Piece be able to watch this movie and enjoy it? Sure, but they might be a little confused by the characters and the strangeness of it all. The battle at the end is one of my personal favorite fights in the whole One Piece series.

Give this movie a try if you can find a copy for a decent price. I got mine on ebay.
Straw hat pirates:

Monky D. Ruffy: Captain, rubberman, future king of pirates. He's irresponsible, adventurous and gluttonous and he can stretch like rubber.
Nami: Navigator, Sailor, Thief, Mapmaker. She's known to be tricky and well skilled at what she does.
Zoro: Swordsman, Bounty hunter. He's skilled in the art of fighting with 3 swords.
Usopp: Marksman, Cannoneer, artist, shipright. He's known as a liar and teller of tall tales but he's not as useless as people think. He has many talents but can often turn cowardly.
Sanji: Cook. In this series, chefs fight with thier feet only since they need their hands for cooking. Sanji is a great chef and an equally great kickmaster!
Tony Chopper: The doctor of the ship is a reindeer. He young and still getting used to being a pirate, but as one who has eaten the human fruit he can transform into several other forms.
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Other movies you might like:

The Dragonball Movies
The Digimon movie
The other One Piece Movies
Sinbad: Legend of the 7 Seas
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