The Wrath of the Shogun

The Wrath of the Shogun is an American 3D Hand drawn/Computer animated musical epic action drama film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, and was released on November 20, 2020 in Disney Digital 3D, RealD 3D, IMAX 3D, and traditional 2D formats.The film is inspired by the true story about the beginnings of the Meiji Restoration, and the Empire of Japan. It is the 60th entry in the Walt Disney Animated Classics. It was directed by Jack Zimmerman(in his directorial debut), and it was written and produced by Jack Zimmerman, and Robert Zimmerman (his father), and was executive produced by John Lasseter, and Don Hahn. The film score was composed by Hans Zimmer, and the songs were written by Robert and Kristen-Anderson Lopez, who previously worked with Disney for Winnie the Pooh (2011), and Frozen (2013).

The film tells the story of a young emperor of Japan, named Meiji, who has been ascended to the throne after his parents mysteriously died, wants to reform Japan to a world power after being isolated from foreign powers for about 250 years. But the Shogun of Japan, Tokugawa Yoshinobu (better known as Toku) resists the idea that Japan should turn into a world power, so he sets up a plan to launch a coup d'état against the emperor which leads to a civil war.

Plot
In 1867, Japan was at a period of decline as the Tokugawa Shogunate took power over the country, for more than 250 years after being ruled by the emperor, and cutting off contact with the foreigners. In the Kyoto Imperial Palace, Emperor Komei (Mark Dacascos) receives a letter from one of the servants. Komei realizes that the country needs a change after the Shogun leader, Tokugawa Yoshinobu (Ken Watanabe) has become a corrupt leader to the nation. Crown Prince Meiji (Shin Koyamada) overhears the conversation and asks Komei to make Japan's army use guns to stop the Shogunate government. Later during their dinner, A man in the shadows (Toku) sneaks by the palace to observe the Imperial family to plot an assassination by poisoning the emperor, then to take the throne as the emperor of Japan.

As Meiji gets tucked in by his father, Komei tells him a story about the legend of Miyamoto Musashi, and how he can become like him later on. As Meiji goes to sleep, Komei drinks his tea before he goes to sleep. Unknowingly to him that the tea was poisoned by Toku, who sneaked into the palace and poisons the teapot with poisonous powder. Komei gags, and collapses from the poisoned tea. Komei's wife, Eisho, rushes into the kitchen where Komei dies from the poison. Eisho, feeling heart broken, suddenly suffers a fatal heart attack, which kills her too. The next morning, Meiji is horrified by the deaths of his parents, and he runs out of the palace in sadness.

While Meiji was walking down the streets, he is calmed by a man named Subaru who tells him that even though his parents are dead, the spirits of his family will live in him. Meiji tells Subaru that he is the son of the Imperial family, and then the whole city hails him as the new emperor of Japan. He is then crowned Emperor of Japan, as he follows the Japanese tradition of coronation that has been passed down for generations. At the ceremony, A princess from Yokohama named Masako(Anne Hathaway) sees Meiji, and then they fall in love in first sight.

Meiji knew that the Shoguns have been ruling over for many years, so he decides to set up plans to overthrow the government, with a newly-formed Imperial Japanese Army, and equipping the military with guns, inspired by the western powers. Meanwhile, at Toku's Castle, Toku hears that the loyalists to the emperor have started to rebel against the samurai warriors. In response, Toku orders a servant, named Katashi, to assassinate the emperor by serving him a glass of poisoned tea, like what he did to Komei. Meanwhile at the Imperial Palace, Meiji is celebration the Imperial Army's formation by having a dinner party with his best friend, Ichiro (Chris Pratt). Katashi arrives at the palace disguised as a waiter and then offers Meiji a glass of tea, but Ichiro snatches the drink, and then drinks the whole cup to check if it is not poisoned. Shortly enough, Ichiro transforms into a Tanuki, then he gets freaked out by his change. Meiji then sees the imposter who transformed Ichiro, and then he immediately orders his guards to execute Katashi for his foiled plot.

Meanwhile, Toku is recruiting men for his samurai army to oppose the rebellion, but his messenger informs Toku that Katashi has failed to assassinate Meiji because of the wrong potion, and being executed for the crime. Toku gets furious, and he decides that he would kill Meiji to regain power to the Shogun. The next day, Meiji and his servants have a meeting together to discuss about the assassination attempt, and how they would respond to it. Meiji decides to declare war on the Shoguns, and he decides to move his palace to Edo- which will be renamed to Tokyo. While on their journey, they get ambushed at Toba-Fushimi by the Shogun army. But Meiji uses his army to stop them with their guns, and as a result, they have become victorious in battle.

Meanwhile, at Yokohama, Princess Masako learns that Emperor Meiji is moving his capital to Edo which is very close to Yokohama. Masako wants to marry Meiji, but his father refuses, because he wants her to get married by his chosen men who were lords. Masako gets angry, but his father quickly apologizes to her. Emperor Meiji arrives at Edo, where he sets up his palace at Edo Castle. Toku gets frustrated that his army was defeated by Meiji, so he decides to attack the city of Edo to purge Meiji's Imperial rule. At the new palace, Meiji declares the city of Edo to be renamed to Tokyo.

Meanwhile, Masako's father asks her to go to Tokyo and get some food from the market, where Meiji and Masako meet up together. Toku's army invades the city, but Meiji defeats them once again, with a little help from a warrior named Blade Kawasaki (Jeff Goldblum). Blade gets honored by Meiji as his rightful warrior. Blade tells Meiji that Toku's hideout is located at the city of Osaka. Meiji then orders his men to attack the Osaka Castle, and while they defeated Toku's men, they failed to find him as he already just left to go to Tokyo. The next morning, Meiji and Masako get together at Tokyo where they get engaged. Meanwhile, Toku's army reach the port of Yokohama, where they murder Masako's father by burning the palace to the ground. After a bit of a fallout between Masako, Meiji sees his father's spirit that he is the one who can stop Toku from taking over Japan. Masako returns to Yokohama where she sees that her home has been destroyed along with her father being killed in the process. Masako gets horrified, and then Toku captures her and makes her his hostage. Meiji arrives at the scene where he was about to apologize to Masako, but he was too late to save her. Toku confronts to Meiji that they would have a swordfight at his castle to regain Masako.

In revenge, Meiji informs his army to set up an invasion at Toku's castle to stop him once and for all. On a stormy night, they arrive at the castle where they manage to get the castle under attack. Meiji gets to the castle to swordfight with Toku. The castle gets struck by lighting, and it begins to be consumed by the fire. Toku reveals to Meiji that he is not a Shogun at all, instead he is a rebel who took the throne of the Shoguns to make him powerful, and he wants to take the throne as the emperor. Furthermore, he also reviles that he had killed his parents in order to take the throne.

Meiji wins the duel as Toku falls to his death. Meiji rescues Masako from the crumbling castle, and they get out just in time as the castle collapses to the ground. Ichiro then turns back into human-- but he wants to remain a tanuki which changes him back-- and then Meiji and Masako kiss. They then get married as Meiji becomes the rightful ruler of Imperial Japan with the beginning of the Meiji Restoration.

Characters
Meiji (Shin Koyamada)- He is the main character of the film. He is an adventurous, brave, and kind-hearted young man who looks like he is in his 20’s. He is the emperor of Japan after his father, Komei died. He is so tired of having a powerful Shogun government to rule Japan, so he starts a civil war against them.

Toku (Ken Watanabe)- Or Tokugawa Yoshinobu, He is the main antagonist of the movie. He is a ruthless, corrupt, and a powerful tyrant shogun ruler who wants to reform the aging shogun government. He wants to overthrow the emperor and become the emperor of Japan, but he is ultimately unsuccessful as Meiji becomes emperor instead of him. So he vows to kill Meiji to take the throne of the Emperor, as a hostile takeover.

Masako (Anne Hathaway)- She is the love interest of the movie. She is the daughter of the daimyo of Edo, who she was tired as being just a princess. She wants to be the Empress of Japan after meeting Meiji at the Edo marketplace, so she has a wonderful relationship between herself, and Meiji.

Ichiro (Chris Pratt)- He is the comic relief of the movie. He is the next-door neighbor to the emperor of Japan, and he is always welcome to come in to Meiji’s Palace. But during a dinner with Meiji, he drinks a potion mistaken as a drink that transformed him into a Tanoki or a Japanese Raccoon Dog. In order to reverse this, Meiji must stop Toku from ruling Japan, in order to break the spell.

Blade (Jeff Goldblum)- Or Blade Kawasaki, He is a fast, brave, and fearless warrior with powerful swords and he practices Ninjitsu. He then gets selected by Meiji’s army to Defeat Toku’s Samurai Army.

Komei (Mark Dacascos)- He is the father of Meiji, and the former emperor of Japan, before Meiji takes over. He was killed by Toku by poisoning him, and Meiji doesn’t know about this till the very end. When Toku was responsible for his father’s death.

Eisho (Mizuo Peck)- She is the Mother of Meiji, and the former Empress of Japan, before Princess Masako takes over. After Komei’s death, she died too, as she drops dead after she was Heartbroken by her husband’s death, leading to Meiji being an orphan.

Katashi (Lucas Bradley)- He is a bumbling servant to Toku, who was ordered to poison Meiji so that Toku can have all power. However, his plan backfires because the poison is actually a tanoki potion, and Ichiro drank it turning him into a Tanoki. He then gets sentenced to death by Meiji for treason, and as a result, he was beheaded by Meiji's guards off-screen.