Originally a children’s novel (BOOTLEG) and then a British TV serial, Japanese reboot CHOCOLATE UNDERGROUND (Chokorêto andâguraundo) first aired as a web series of thirteen episodes, each between 3 and 5 minutes. In order to scrape a full-length feature together, the film release has additional footage and (often somewhat unrelated) musical numbers. Teenage troublemaker Smudger and his friend Huntly live in a sweet-free society, where citizens eat only health food by government mandate. The pair discover an illegal chocolate-making group in an old mine outside of town. When the operation is shut down by the vigilant Chocolate Police, the boys escape with a mining car full of sugar and cacao beans. They decide to make and distribute chocolate on an underground network, but soon realize that only a full-scale political revolution will truly bring chocolate back to the people.
The Chocolate Police have chocolate-sensing radar and a taskforce of vigilant giant robots…
Although childhood-centric in its conception, the society in CHOCOLATE UNDERGROUND is a thoroughly executed dystopia. Director Takayiki Hamana and screenwriter Kiyoki Yoshimura play the political oppression for keeps. No one may make, sell, or consume the forbidden sweets: all bakers and confectioners are only allowed to use government approved recipes. The Chocolate Police have chocolate-sensing radar and a taskforce of vigilant giant robots capable of destroying any building harboring chocolate. High-security prison and torturous re-orientation programs await those who flout the laws of the Good For You Party and Leader Healthy. Family members who protest the laws disappear mysteriously. Nanny-state rhetoric taken to satirical extremes, the GFY party is a parody with just a hint of realism for any viewer that may have observed the furor about legislating school diets or imposing smoke-free regulations. A few more serious swipes at censorship and government control occur in a scene where the characters look up chocolate-making techniques on the internet, only to find the government has blocked all access to candy-related information.
Despite an engaging story and appealing animation, the film is a bit thin and patched in places. Many of the scene transitions are abrupt, and story segments retain the feel of shorter, separate installments. As a web series, CHOCOLATE UNDERGROUND may have been more substantial, but padded out to feature-length, it’s not so much a meal as a treat – possibly an Aero bar.