Zebraman

It's goofy as hell but devilishly smart about it, which is why it's such great fun.

A family-friendly fantasy that finds the director working in an uncharacteristically gentle mood.

Utterly delightful.

The special effects are quality fun, the humor only a little Japanese, and the story boasts the offbeat genre twists Miike lovers clamber for.

Driven less by civic duty than by the need to escape his dreary life, Zebraman is a tragic, touching figure too often obscured by Kankurou Kudo’s hyperactive screenplay and a special-effects team drunk on alien slime.

It pains me to report that his Zebraman is a disappointment.

Goofy, raunchy and very Japanese, Miike's film will probably play best to fanboys who love "Power Rangers" and "Ultraman" -- and there are plenty of them to go around.