Doraemon and the Curse of the Space Case

Doraemon and the Curse of the Space Case (AKA Doraemon and the Rainbow Trail in some international countries) is a Japanese-Canadian animated/live-action comedy sci-fi fantasy slice-of-life adventure film based on the Doraemon anime and manga series by Fujiko F. Fujio. This film is an attempt to market the franchise worldwide, including countries that never heard of Doraemon before. This film is the second international Doraemon film to date, after 1983's Doraemon: Robot War, a film made in Taiwan.

Plot
After Doraemon's limited edition dorayaki floated out of the sky and went into the magical space portal called the Rainbow Trail, Doraemon and Nobita will have to go into the rainbow trail and get the dorayaki back, with the help of some new friends, before Dorapan uses the dorayaki to destroy the rainbow trail itself.

Live Action Cast
Matthew Broderick as the Space Commander, a shy, but courageous and brave space commander that helps Doraemon and Nobita to get the dorayaki back.

Jack Lemmon as Hector, an old space master who gives Doraemon and Nobita some advice on how to get the dorayaki before the rainbow trail gets destroyed.

Jamie Renee Smith as Charolette, Hector's granddaughter who has a crush on Nobita.

Michael E. Rodgers as Space Commander Jr (credited as Junior), an easily tired and sleepy young space commander who is the son of the Space Commander. He helps Doraemon and his friends, but he has a fun-loving attitude that can easily get him into trouble, and he quickly falls to sleep at some points.

Caspar Phillipson as Junior's clone (credited as Junior 2.0), a clone of Junior that is created when Junior accidentally activates one of Doraemon's gadgets. Unlike the real Junior, he is hyperactive and more troublesome.

Voice Cast
Julie Lemieux as Doraemon/Shizuka/Additional Voices

Robert Tinkler as Nobita/Fritz/Additional Voices

Len Carlson as Dorapan/Giant/Francis/Additional Voices

Susan Roman as Suneo/Additional Voices

Release
The film was released in Japan on 28 June 1997, while the film was edited for international countries and released in the UK on 12 August 1997, Australia on 20 August 1997, and Canada on 28 August 1997. Sadly, due to the negative reception of the film, it was never released in the US.

Reception
In the UK and Australia, this film recieved negative reviews from critics and audiences alike. In Canada and Japan, the reception was better, but some reviews were still negative. In Metacritic, the film recieved a 25%, meaning "generally unfavorable reviews".

Box Office
Despite the negative reception, this film had a box office hit, earning $2,000,000 million at the worldwide box office.

Home Media
In Japan, this film was released on VHS and DVD by Shogakukan Video on 12 November 1997. In the UK, it was released on VHS and DVD on 23 November 1997 by Buena Vista Home Video, while the same distributor released the film on VHS and DVD on 15 December 1997 in Canada and Australia.

Sequel
Due to the good box office reception, this film had a sequel, titled Doraemon: The Secret Gadget Museum. Unlike this movie, the sequel was made in the US and included a different director, different voice actors and characters. Also, none of the live action characters and voice actors, except for Len Carlson, returned for the sequel, and Saban and Buena Vista wern't involved in the production, instead being distributed and made by Viz Media, ShoPro, Destination Films, and Miramax. This film was released in the summer of 2001 in Japan, while it was released in the summer of 2002 in international countries.