| Minimoni Ja Movie: Okashi na Daibouken! | |
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Cover of the Making of Okashi na Daibōken! DVD |
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| Directed by | Shinji Higuchi |
| Produced by | Toshihiro Nakazawa |
| Written by | Yūko Nagata |
| Starring | Mari Yaguchi Mika Todd Ai Kago Nozomi Tsuji Ai Takahashi 4KIDS Yuko Nakazawa |
| Music by | Tsunku |
| Cinematography | Satoshi Murakawa |
| Editing by | Atsuki Satō |
| Distributed by | Zetima (Japan) |
| Release date(s) | December 14, 2002 |
| Running time | 60 min. |
| Language | Japanese |
Minimoni ja Movie: Okashi na Daibōken! (ミニモニ。じゃ ムービー お菓子な大冒険!) is a 2002 film directed by Shinji Higuchi starring the J-pop group Minimoni. The film was done entirely in computer graphics with live actors inserted at the beginning and end of the film. The film tells the story of the change in Minimoni's lineup from first generation to second generation and features a couple of musical numbers as well as a sound track by the group.
The film also features the Hello! Project group 4KIDS, which was formed exclusively for the movie; the four members later became members of Berryz Kobo and C-ute.
The movie takes place entirely in and around the Minimoni Cafè. The Minimoni Cafè is run by the first generation members of Minimoni, who are led by Mari Yaguchi. Mika Todd is the primary baker for the cafè and Ai Kago and Nozomi Tsuji are bumbling waitresses.
One day Kago and Tsuji serve a particularly enthusiastic customer (played by Ai Takahashi) who says she has never had such a delicious cake before. When the waitress explain they do not know the secret ingredient that makes the cakes so good, Takahashi decides to sneak into the cafè later find out what it is and steal it.
Meanwhile, Mika has prepared a large cake in the shape of a castle for the Minimoni Cafè's second Anniversary party being held at the cafè tomorrow. They store the cake in a refrigerated case unit so that the cake stays fresh until tomorrow. Mika and Yaguchi also set alarms to ensure the safety of the cake and the bakery. Later that night four servant fairies (played by 4KIDS) and their fairy queen (voiced by Yuko Nakazawa) sneak into the bakery and turn the cake castle into stone. The queen remains in the castle while the fairies proceed to change the rest of the pastries in the bakery to stone. In the meantime Takahashi has sneaked into the bakery in a cat burglar disguise. Unfortunately for her, Tsuji and Kago also sneak into the bakery to steal some food and trip the alarm. The alarm brings Yaguchi and Mika to the kitchen and confuses the fairies. In the end all of Minimoni and Takahashi get hit with fairy dust, which turns them into small computer animated people.
The team learns that the queen has taken over the cake castle and Yaguchi decides to go after her. They enlist the help of the fairies to bring them to the castle however upon arriving Minimoni gets captured and locked in the dungeon. Takahashi, who had tagged along, eluded capture however and manages to enlist the help of a talking refrigerator to help her free Minimoni. After Minimoni is freed, they go with Takahashi and the refrigerator to see the fairy queen. Along the way they encounter a large pastry monster and learn why the fairy queen wants to turn cakes to stone, is because if she eats them she will return to her short fairy body and she thinks her tall thin one is more beautiful. Eventually the team reaches the fairy queen and they all work together to make a cake that tastes so good that it would change the queens mind about cakes, which it does but it also reverses all of the magic the queen used up till now. However since the spell is finally broken the castle begins to melt since it is no longer stone and it was not kept cold. With the help of the fairies and the refrigerator, Minimoni and Takahashi successfully escape the castle. When they reach the bakery floor everyone turn back to normal. Except the refrigerator which just becomes normal size and the fairies which turn into little children (played by 4KIDS).
After comforting the children, Yaguchi leaves the bakery and returns with new uniforms to give to her bandmates. Yaguchi however gives the fourth costume to Takahashi instead of wearing it herself explaining that Takahashi must take her place in the cafè because Yaguchi has to take care of the children that used to be fairies and show them how to survive in the world. Takahashi accepts this offer thus beginning the second generation of Minimoni.