Wasabi

I don't know much about Luc Besson, but I know that he makes wonderful films. And if he isn't an avid anime fan, I'd be really, really surprised.

Watching Wasabi was like watching an anime film played by live characters. The plot is simple. Hubert Fiorentini (Jean Reno) is an awkward, often violent, brilliant detective who still hasn't got over the love of his life, a Japanese woman who inexplicably dumped him nineteen years ago.

Hubert receives a call from Tokyo by the lawyer of his former girlfriend. She has died and left her possessions to him. When he arrives in Tokyo he is introduced to his larger-than-life, mad-as-a-box-of-frogs teenage daughter Yumi Yoshimido (Ryoko Hirosue) who is just a day away from inheriting 200 million Euros.

Add to this mix cartoon Japanese gangsters, a stupid but likeable sidekick (Michel Muller) and a fist-full of choreographed fight scenes and (assuming you enjoy anime) you have 90-minutes of light-hearted, affecting entertainment.
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