Kenya Boy is a film that left me at a complete loss for words. First of all its a bad film. Theres really no way to polish that turd. It fails on nearly every level. The writing is bad the production is bad it feels like literal propaganda at times...but the thing that makes this so unique even among bad films is just how bizarre and unusual it is in its badness. Lets start with the production. This film came out in spring of 1984 and one might be inclined to give its production a pass because its old. However when we consider that Hayao Miyazakis legendary Nausica of the Valley of the Wind also came out in spring of 1984 we can see that no theres definitely a standard this film shouldve met. Instead what we get is a film that at times appears halffinished. Action scenes will occasionally jump into blackandwhite as if the characters have suddenly found themselves transported into the music video for Take on Me. Anything regarding water is particularly bad as it and everyone in it are often left uncolored even when everything else in the frame is. 500http://u.cubeupload.com/DaLadybugMan/vlcsnap2018070111h16.png Whats more the animation is plagued with all sorts of gaffes and continuity errors. Clothes come on and off underwater. The landscape shakes during a zoom shot as if the cells werent properly pinned down. And in one scene there are characters who are just flatout outlines. 500http://u.cubeupload.com/DaLadybugMan/vlcsnap2018063021h36.png 500http://u.cubeupload.com/DaLadybugMan/unknown.png That particular scene is absolutely filled with issues. At one point the protagonist and his attackers end up switching skin colors. 500http://u.cubeupload.com/DaLadybugMan/186vlcsnap2018070111h33.png 500http://u.cubeupload.com/DaLadybugMan/vlcsnap2018070111h33.png This appears to be purely an animation error until we see a scene of two of these attackers looking shocked then ducking behind their shields reemerging as they once were which means that the filmmakers decided to either cover up an error by drawing attention to it and making it look intentional or just flatout meant to make the mistake in the first place. Either way its the most bizarre choice possible. 500http://u.cubeupload.com/DaLadybugMan/vlcsnap2018070111h36.png 500http://u.cubeupload.com/DaLadybugMan/e25vlcsnap2018070111h36.png 500http://u.cubeupload.com/DaLadybugMan/b7fvlcsnap2018070111h36.png The end effect of all of this is that the animation has this surreal almost SHAFTian look to it and some of it is even clearly intentional However its impossible to tell how much of it was someones artistic vision and how much was just a lack of time resources and talent that kept it from reaching a certain bar of technical competence. The other aspects of the production are less visibly bad but bad nonetheless. The voice acting is flat the music selection is limited and songs will often continue to play once theyre no longer appropriate for the scene and the camera work and framing are often shoddy. With that out of the way lets move on to the story. The only way I can think of describing what the hell Kenya Boy is about is by attempting to recap it. Wataru is a boy visiting Kenya with his father in the 1940s seemingly for business. However a rhino attack ends up separating the two. Wataru ends up meeting a chieftain named Zega who has fallen ill. Zega kills a panther who was ambushing them and then asks Wataru to bring him water to save his life. He also notes that as Wataru is Japanese he must be very brave. Many different characters throughout this movie will end up echoing this sentiment. This is where the movie begins taking its truly strange turns as in the process of retrieving the water Wataru encounters and fights a giant frog. 500http://u.cubeupload.com/DaLadybugMan/vlcsnap2018070112h04.png After the frog is vanquished Wataru returns to Zega who as thanks for saving his life resolves to look out for him and help him find his father. They encounter a giant purple snake which eats a lion but completely leaves them alone. This snake is apparently named Dahna and later becomes something of their giant purple pet. After this Wataru goes through a training montage where he learns to better fend for himself in the wilderness. 500http://u.cubeupload.com/DaLadybugMan/vlcsnap2018063021h10.png We skip to three years later where both Wataru and his father are apparently still independently wandering around the African wilderness looking for each other. Wataru scales a mountain as he believes for some reason his father would be there and instead meets a white girl with blonde hair named Kate. Kate is being worshipped by a goddess as a tribe who provide human sacrifices to her. Wataru interrupts the ceremony and saves the men set to be sacrificed. After this the tribe either starts a wildfire to smoke them out or just take advantage of a wildfire that starts naturally. Its kind of unclear which. In the process Zega is blinded by burns to his eyes and is taken captive. As Wataru launches a rescue mission under the cover of night Kate goes to the hut where Zega is kept captive putting a damp cloth over his burned eyes and thanking him and Wataru for foiling the ceremony because she doesnt actually want people sacrificed to her. Wataru enters the hut but is quickly discovered. He escapes with Kate leaving Zega the man he initially came to save behind for whatever reason. The next day Zega is forced to fight to the death against lions and reveals that he is no longer blind. Wataru comes back to save him again and the two escape on Dahna. Watarus father arrives just in time to see his son ride off on a giant purple snake and also to end up getting chased by the pursuing tribesmen. He is rescued byand I am not making this upa Nazi named Von Goering. After their escape Kate and Wataru go swimming at which point Kate is kidnapped while underwater by a cult that dresses like lizards. 500http://u.cubeupload.com/DaLadybugMan/vlcsnap2018063021h55.png In escaping they are also taken in by the Nazi and his cronies allowing for Wataru to finally reunite with his father. However the Nazi locks them up to use as a bargaining chip to get a scientist to create an atomic bomb for him. The scientist agrees but as our heroes escape he locks himself in a room with the Nazi revealing hes already completed an atom bomb and will use it to blow the two of them up. I am unsure how exactly he built an atomic bomb with such limited range but apparently he has. Wataru his father Zega and Kate all flee. Then the atomic bomb goes off and then there are dinosaurs. This may be a metaphor for...something but then again we also see Dahna fighting a Trex so its incredibly unclear what the hell is happening through this entire extended sequence. 500http://u.cubeupload.com/DaLadybugMan/vlcsnap2018063022h17.png 500http://u.cubeupload.com/DaLadybugMan/vlcsnap2018070113h13.png After this the dinosaurs just kind of turn into skeletons and disintegrate and our heroes find themselves by a train station. Kate Wataru and his father all get on the train and head off to end their trip in Africa. And thats where the movie ends. The story of this film is the most bizarre confusing thing especially when combined with the limited and often surreal animation. Its primarily a straightforward grounded story about a boy and his father getting separated in the wilderness but its peppered with so many odd elements that dont seem to make sense within the world. Whats more the characters will often make bizarre confusing decisions. Why did Wataru and his father wander around the wilderness for 3 years instead of trying to reach the nearest population center to meet up or at least organize some sort of search mission? Why did Wataru leave Zega behind after he went to the village specifically to rescue him? Then theres the fact that none of the plots seem to organically lead into each other or be connected in any way. The tribesmen who worship Kate have nothing to do with the lizard cultists who have nothing to do with the Nazis. Theyre all only barely linked by Watarus search for his father. However I would be remiss if I didnt at least attempt to give credit where credit is due so lets look at the positives of this film. I have to point out that despite all its issues it is surprisingly reserved in terms of how it treats race and apart from everyones constant proclamations that the Japanese are brave and strong feels less and less like a propaganda film as it goes along. I mean its still not actually good at either of those things but the film isnt as offensive as you would assume a 1984 film called Kenya Boy would be. And as I mentioned earlier it does attempt to experiment with its animation even if it ultimately doesnt work and often looks more like an animation mishap. Ultimately this is a film that would be torturous to watch alone. Not only is it as bafflingly bad as it is its also not a particularly short film and feels longer than it is due to slow pacing and segmented storytelling structure. However as a Bad Movie Night film to watch with other people its absolutely fantastic as its not only bad but bizarre. Watching Kenya Boy is definitely an experience but what sort of experience it is depends on whether or not its a shared one. Due to how fun it can be while watched with others and for its attempts to do something somewhat creative Kenya Boy earns at least a few points from me. 3/10.