Ah, shonen. Your action-packed episodes, your giant casts of characters of all shapes and sizes, your simple-minded storylines targeted at ten-year-olds, your 100+ episode counts. This genre of anime remains a popular gateway for children and young teens, despite any disatisfaction from cynical critics. But it can seem intimidating to get into such a show, in the same way that while many people quote themselves as fans of "Spiderman" or "Batman" in American comics, they wouldn't dare start to collect and read the thousands of comics that exist to convey their entire histories. That's what feature films are for. With varying quality, most popular anime will have feature-film spin-offs featuring their popular characters. "Fairy Tail," a shonen made popular in the early 2010's (seemingly through sheer force of will), is one such franchise, and at the time has two feature length films (as of 2018). Without having seen much of the original series but wanting to give it a chance, I took a look at "Fairy Tail - Dragon Cry," a Japanese-summer release advertised as the season's big blockbuster along whatever "Fast and the Furious" and "Marvel Superhero" film was released around that time. To add to the excitement, the original manga creator, Hiro Mashima, had joined the production as a storyboard artist and producer. Hey, it worked with recent film hits from "DragonBall Z" and "One Piece" to have the original creator involved, why not with "Fairy Tail?"To summarize this review: "Fairy Tail - Dragon Cry" is a stupid, but fun, movie. The story has the usual main cast (Natsu, Happy, Lucy, Erza, etc.) on a job for which the Fairy Tail guild was hired: a madman had stolen an important and powerful staff, the Dragon Cry, from a city and taken it to another city, and although years have passed with no effects, the original ruler of the first city wants it retrieved to prevent mass destruction. So the characters go to the city, fight a handful of new characters, and ultimately fight the final boss at the end in a giant spectacle. That's kind of it.As per tradition, a good chunk of the show's cast get their chance to shine in the film, either through fights, teamups, or playing a part in a elaborate chase scene. Thankfully, the movie does not try to put in every character from the catelog, but at least half of those who do appear could have been cut. Some even appear halfway through the movie without any explainatin of how they got there in the first place. The movie tries to be edgy once or twice, but for the most part the violence is within what most action cartoons aimed at ten-year-olds have seen. The final climax has Natsu exclaiming his reason to fight is to protect his friends, essentially the same theme that defines the genre. I will admit the final 15 minutes of the film have an interest plot twist regarding a character's identity, and with the idea that a dragon could in fact cry, and the use of a dragon in the final fight scene made it a bit more exciting. There's also a great callback to a cheesy line uttered in the first few minutes of the movie. But much of that ending climax has no build up to it, making it seem like a different writer had been brought in to improve the movie's script at the last minute, and this was the best they could do.Overall, most of the plot is mediocre at best, a fine example of the worst of a shonen anime film. And yet, I did have fun. A lot more fun watching than I thought I would. Depending on your attitude going into the movie, you too can find some enjoyment in the mindless action. 
The visuals are largely similar to the television show, which is a little disappointing. If you haven't seen the show, the characters are generally designed attractively, but like most shonen, when the character catelog grows past a couple dozen, in order to make them feel distinct, side characters will look absolutely ridiculous, with strange body types, tattoos and body piercings that look nothing like anyone else in the show. The animation is a bit shoddy, due to the studio needing to animate the same characters for hundreds of episodes and trying to pace themselves. For the movie, the production values are mostly improved only in the occasional use of 3D environments to allow the camera to pan and zoom across a focal point, making it clear to longtime fans that this is indeed a feature film, but anyone not familiar would be surprised this required a theatrical release. The music uses the same Scotish-stylized pipes to juxtapose the Arabian-inspired setting, one of the better points that defined the show. The voice actors are particular good in the English dub, for like other shonen anime, some of the characters are purposely made to sound annoying to stand out, and I suspect the actors are growing a little tired with the roles.I feel I need to mention the character designs in more detail regarding any fanservice used. The show did not star kids either 10 or 14 years of age, but starred characters primarily between 17 and 21, with a few bright-eyed children, wlly seniors, and chirppy blue cats to round out the cast. The show is based around completing odd jobs, making the Fairy Tail guild feel like a frat house of young adults drinking while they occasioanlly pick summer jobs to get rent money. These characters are old enough to know what sex is, so the female characters aren't afraid to flaunt their bodies to entice or tease someone, and the male characters aren't afraid to rip off their shirts to show off or prove their muscles are bigger than the next guy. In "Dragon Cry," fanservice still exists on both sides, but the girls in particular get it bad: their breasts bounce a little more, seem a little bigger, and their thighs seem a little thicker. Both Lucy and Erza get multiple moments where this is exploited. Within the first ten minutes, we are treated to a scene straight out of the cultural classic "Charlie's Angel's - Full Throttle," wherein Lucy bellydances on stage to distract a bad guy while Erza (in an equally revealing and tight bunny-waitress suit) steals a key from his pocket. Erza's main foe looks like a design reject for "Queen's Blade," another over-the-top medival fantasy anime that might as well have been porn. The movie seems especially keen to show off thighs and bare feet, even more so than the show. It comes across as a bit tasteless, and it doesn't help that it isn't particularly animated well. "Fairy Tail - Dragon Cry" is a mostly harmless action film that fans of the show and those simply curious can enjoy, even if it is unnecessary viewing for just about anyone. The fanservice may offend some viewers more than others, but its intentions aren't too far flung from the show it's based on.