Minimoni THE Movie Okashi na Daibouken!

Minimoni the Movie Okashi na Daibouken! (ミニモニ。じゃ ムービー お菓子な大冒険！; Minimoni the Movie: The Great Sweets Adventure!) is a 2002 film directed by Shinji Higuchi and starring Minimoni. The film was done entirely in computer graphics with live actors inserted at the beginning and end of the film. The movie was not only a stand-alone story, but it provided a fun public platform to announce Takahashi Ai joining Minimoni and Yaguchi Mari leaving, along with Mika's promotion to leader at the time. It also features a couple of musical numbers and a soundtrack by the group. The movie also featured songs by Nakazawa Yuko, who joined the vocal cast of the animated sequence.
The film also features the Hello! Project shuffle group 4KIDS, which was formed exclusively for the movie. The four members would later become members of Berryz Koubou and ℃-ute.
The film debuted in theaters December 14, 2002. A "Making of" DVD released January 21, 2003. The movie released on VHS and DVD on June 18, 2003.
==Plot Summary==
The movie takes place entirely in and around the Minimoni Café. The Minimoni Café is run by the first generation members of Minimoni, led by Yaguchi Mari. Mika is the primary baker for the cafè and Kago Ai and Tsuji Nozomi are bumbling waitresses.
One day Kago and Tsuji serve a particularly enthusiastic customer (played by Takahashi Ai) who says she has never had such a delicious cake before. When the waitress explain they do not know the secret ingredient that makes the cakes so good, Takahashi decides to sneak into the café later find out what it is and steal it.
Meanwhile, Mika has prepared a large cake in the shape of a castle for the Minimoni Café's second Anniversary party being held at the café tomorrow. They store the cake in a refrigerated case unit so that the cake stays fresh until tomorrow. Mika and Yaguchi also set alarms to ensure the safety of the cake and the bakery. Later that night four servant fairies (played by 4KIDS) and their fairy queen (voiced by Nakazawa Yuko) sneak into the bakery and turn the cake castle into stone. The queen remains in the castle while the fairies proceed to change the rest of the pastries in the bakery to stone. In the meantime Takahashi has sneaked into the bakery in a cat burglar disguise. Unfortunately for her, Tsuji and Kago also sneak into the bakery to steal some food and trip the alarm. The alarm brings Yaguchi and Mika to the kitchen and confuses the fairies. In the end all of Minimoni and Takahashi get hit with fairy dust, which turns them into small computer animated people.
The team learns that the queen has taken over the cake castle and Yaguchi decides to go after her. They enlist the help of the fairies to bring them to the castle. However, upon arriving, Minimoni gets captured and locked in the dungeon. Takahashi, who had tagged along, eluded capture however and manages to enlist the help of a talking refrigerator to help her free Minimoni. After Minimoni is freed, they go with Takahashi and the refrigerator to see the fairy queen. Along the way they encounter a large pastry monster and learn why the fairy queen wants to turn cakes to stone: because if she eats them she will return to her short fairy body and she thinks her tall thin one is more beautiful. Eventually the team reaches the fairy queen and they all work together to make a cake that tastes so good that it would change the queen's mind about cakes, which it does but it also reverses all of the magic the queen used until then. However since the spell is finally broken the castle begins to melt since it is no longer stone and it was not kept cold. With the help of the fairies and the refrigerator, Minimoni and Takahashi successfully escape the castle. When they reach the bakery floor everyone turn back to normal, except the refrigerator which just becomes normal size and the fairies who turn into little children (played by 4KIDS).
After comforting the children, Yaguchi leaves the bakery and returns with new uniforms to give to her bandmates. Yaguchi however gives the fourth costume to Takahashi instead of wearing it herself explaining that Takahashi must take her place in the café because Yaguchi has to take care of the children that used to be fairies and show them how to survive in the world. Takahashi accepts this offer thus beginning the second generation of Minimoni.
==Cast==
*Minimoni
**Yaguchi Mari
**Mika
**Tsuji Nozomi
**Kago Ai
*Takahashi Ai
*Nakazawa Yuko as Queen Nakajalinu
*4KIDS
**Sudo Maasa as Tenshi Maasa (天使マーサ)
**Sugaya Risako as Tenshi Risarisa (天使リサリサ)
**Suzuki Airi as Tenshi Airiin (天使アイリーン)
**Hagiwara Mai as Tenshi Maimai (天使マイマイ)
==Soundtrack==
See Minimoni THE Movie Okashi na Daibouken! Original Soundtrack.
==Trivia==
*The theatrical release date of December 14, 2002 is the same as the theatrical release date of , in which Minimoni also appears by way of their Minihams alter egos.
==Gallery==
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==External Links==
*Discography
**Movie VHS: UP-FRONT WORKS (VHS)
**Making of DVD: Hello! Project (archived), UP-FRONT WORKS (archived) (Mistakenly shows regular movie cover), Toei
*Wikipedia: English
*IMDb entry
Category:Minimoni
Category:1st Generation Morning Musume
Category:2nd Generation Morning Musume
Category:4th Generation Morning Musume
Category:5th Generation Morning Musume
Category:Nakazawa Yuko
Category:4KIDS
Category:Hello! Project Kids
Category:Coconuts Musume
Category:2003 DVDs
Category:2003 VHSs
Category:Minimoni VHSs
Category:Minimoni DVDs
Category:2002 Films