Based on a comic by Takashi Konomi, Prince of Tennis is a story about Ryoma Echizen who's a child prodigy tennis player returning home to Japan from USA.The story is comic all the way. It's not comical, but it's filled with impossible "shots" fired by the tennis players. The ball moves as if they had a life of their own, supposedly "controlled" by the players. Japanese comic has tradition of super athletes like this beginning with Tetsuya Chiba's base ball saga "Chikai No Makyu" in the '60s. This is yet another version of super athlete that can transform the ball into a magic "bullet".The movie is a good translation from the comic, and each of the players are presented in a believable fashion. It seems that they were expecting to make a sequel from the way the movie ended, but maybe the movie didn't perform well at the box office, and the idea was canned. Sayuri Iwata and Yu Shirota puts in a good performance. Sayuri Iwata's role is one invented for this movie, and does not appear in the original comic.The story is bit weak, but the action between the players are entertaining to watch. It's a good intro movie for the Prince of Tennis saga.

Spoiler Free: I also found it a fun movie and loved the effects capturing the exaggerated things/shots (which is really what make anime/manga so damn cool).Now for the real comparison. It had a tight storyline, and can't expect 68(minus fillers of course) episodes worth of material to be in 1 movie. Still there was some things that could have been better.Spoilers Start: -For one the main character (Echizen Ryoma) in the movie had a facial expression on all the time that looked like he was gonna start crying anytime. I guess it was supposed to be the cool slightly arrogant look from the anime/manga that sums up his personality but they actor just didn't hit it IMO. On the plus side he did do the voice pretty spot on!-Secondly I don't see why they jump right past the matches of Echizen becoming a regular. I mean they even tell him not to get his nose up after a regular spot on the team cause he is a first year and then we see like the shortest montage ever that doesn't even show anything and next you know he is a regular. I could really only get it cause I know the anime. (I know it not vital for the story but some consistency would be nice)-The fact that Echizen drops his racket at full speed so it shatters on the pole has to have at least SOME build up. I mean people watching it considers Echizen this tennis prodigy who can like copy all moves he sees, why the hell would he drop his racket like that for no reason? In the series it happens over like 2 episodes where it is explained his opponent uses shots with a certain spin that after a long time makes Echizen lose all feeling in his arm for a few seconds, which is why he drops it. Could at least have shown Echizen close up going: "awww my arm" or something.-Last big thing that is missing IMO is the chemistry between the team. Some of them are fine like Eiji and Fuji but otherwise there just isn't the team spirit which should push them to their limits and it seems kinda superficial at times.Aside from a few other small things it was a really entertaining and good movie. Really like the Atobe in the movie better than the one in the anime. The dad and bad guy (Higaki Egate) were also really good.Last I want to say that I am not a big fan of the anime I just find it entertaining and worthwhile, like the movie :)

I know this is a popular anime or comic in Japan or maybe other places too but when watching the anime, I felt it was quite slow, with slow moving hits. I never read the comic too. So when watching this live-action movie, I had no idea what I am for. I enjoyed the movie, I like the effects the movie used when hitting the tennis ball. I had fun! I had no idea that this would be interesting, now I know why it is popular in Japan. I heard some people say that the live-action movie did not follow the anime or the comic, hard to say but you try watching some live-action movies adapted from the comic or either the anime, they cannot follow exactly the story or the looks of the characters. I always watch live-action movies adapted, it is great fun. After watching this, I am hoping for a part two, I never read the comic but I know that the director still have a lot of things to film. Maybe they are working on it or the ratings were low so they decided not to make another one.Either you are a fan of prince of tennis or a newcomer, you should watch it and from the effects, it totally blast me off by the way they are playing. Now the Japanese are making almost all their comic into live-action. Some live-action movies are coming and they look great. Should they make a part two? Depending on the appeal of fans. I had great time watching this so it may suit up to your taste. You can catch the DVD in Singapore.

For those of you who don't know, "The Prince of Tennis" (Tennis no Oujisama) is a popular Japanese manga (comic book) and anime (animation) series.This live action movie adaptation attempts to tell the same story in a condensed amount of time and with some slight alterations for convenience sake.With minor changes aside (mostly the addition of the new character Higaki Egate, who seems to be a fusion of several characters in the original story) the essence of The Prince of Tennis is still here.The story comes from the niche "sports " genre which mostly serves to glorify the world of its focused sport as well as the drama involved in aiming for the top. Lastly, being originally an anime/manga the tennis matches are also chock full of impossible and over-exaggerated special effects. This live action movie covers all these grounds and may serve as a fun introduction into the world of POT.As for the existing Prince of Tennis fans, you won't be disappointed, the Tennis and special effects have been done very well, so much so that you might even be left craving for more tennis scenes (maybe we'll get a sequel?). That would probably be my biggest disappointment, since the plot was hastily sped through there were some matches from the original story which weren't covered.Given the time constraint which usually comes with trying to pack a long running story into a movie, there was also a lot less characterisation for each of the main tennis players, which is why the film could be appreciated a lot more by existing fans then new comers, but don't let that deter you, the movie puts in a fair effort to include all fan favourites and a basic rundown of each character for viewers new to POT.Overall for a POT fan like myself, the movie was very enjoyable, a few of the uninitiated may feel like they're being rushed through something which was originally a lot more dense, but as a standalone it is still passable.A fun premise and a fun acronym! POT will prove very entertaining.