Taro the Dragon Boy

Taro the Dragon Boy

1979 · 75 min · ★ 6.4 · Fantasy, Animation, Family, Adventure

Patterned after Japanese art and silk screens, Taro, The Dragon Boy is an animated feature about Japanese mythology and cultures, focusing on Taro, a young boy who has to make a voyage to a distant lake to save his mother, who has been turned into a dragon.

Directed by Kirio Urayama · Written by Kirio Urayama

Your Rating

Cast

Junya Kato Taro (voice)
Mina Tominaga Aya (voice)
Sayuri Yoshinaga Tatsuya (voice)
Kirin Kiki Yamanba (voice)
Kazuo Kumakura Red Oni (voice)
Kazuo Kitamura (voice)
Toshiko Yabuki (voice)
Junko Kuroda (voice)

Make it a double feature

4h 23m together

Taro the Dragon Boy

The Gate of Youth

Both from Kirio Urayama.

More from Kirio UrayamaSee all →

Harbour Toast: Victory Is in Our Grasp

Harbour Toast: Victory Is in Our Grasp · 1956

Harbour Toast: Victory Is in Our Grasp

MovieMusicDrama

A sailor tries to help his younger brother, a horse-racing jockey, escape from the yakuza after double crossing them in a fixing scam. Seijun Suzuki's directorial debut.

The Girl I Abandoned

The Girl I Abandoned · 1969

The Girl I Abandoned

Tsutomu Yoshioka, a Tokyo office worker, is engaged to Mariko, the niece of his company's president. But Yoshioka has a crisis of consence when he remembers his former love Mitsu, a rural girl whom he met and later left while in college. Shimako, a former friend, persuades Yoshioka to meet with Mitsu while she plots to blackmail Yoshioka by photographing the meeting to break up Mariko and Yoshioka.

The Gate of Youth

The Gate of Youth · 1975

The Gate of Youth

Mainly the story of Shinsuke and his stepmother, ranging from Shinsuke's infanthood to his mid-teens. Coal workers and the mines dominate nearly every aspect of the life of the characters. Shinsuke's father dies while bravely using dynamite to rescue a group of trapped Korean miners. Several older men attempt to help he and his mother cope, including a kind Korean and a Harley-riding yakuza.

Yume-Chiyo

Yume-Chiyo · 1985

MovieDramaRomance

Yumechiyo, a geisha house madam recently diagnosed with a terminal illness, yearns to do something constructive with the little time she has left. Though her responsibility lies in taking care of her girls, she finds purpose in helping a man wrongfully accused of murder and in the process discovers love.

Foundry Town

Foundry Town · 1962

Set in Kawaguchi in the early 60s, this simple story chronicles the lives of foundry families and one girl's dreams of higher education.

Bad Girl

Bad Girl · 1963

MovieDramaRomance

Wakae is a 15 year old girl who lived under the same roof with her alcoholic father and stepmom. Her mother had died years ago. She spends her nights at a rundown bar, sharing drinks and cigarettes with the lowlife drunks. She has nowhere to turn and no one to talk to, until she is reunited with her childhood friend, Saburo, who brings warmth to her heart.

The Gate of Youth Part 2

The Gate of Youth Part 2 · 1977

The Gate of Youth Part 2

Mid 50s: the trials and tribulations of Shinsuke Ibuki, freshly arrived in Tokyo from Kyushu.

Pigs and Battleships

Pigs and Battleships · 1961

Pigs and Battleships

MovieCrimeDrama

In the city of Yokosuka, Kinta and his lover Haruko, both involved with yakuza, brave the post-occupation period with a goal to be together.

Burden of Love

Burden of Love · 1955

MovieComedyDrama

The female members of the family of the Minister of Health and Welfare, who has just proposed a program of birth control, become pregnant one after the other. - Nikkatsu

Endless Desire

Endless Desire · 1958

MovieDramaComedy

Set in post-war Japan, a group of five, four men and one woman, gathers in the basement of a butcher shop to dig up a cache of morphine buried during the war. A grimly humorous tale of twisted relationships as one by one each of the group is eliminated.

Stolen Desire

Stolen Desire · 1958

MovieComedyDrama

A rambunctious and ribald tale of a troupe of travelling actors who alternate highlights of kabuki theatre with strip shows.

My Second Brother

My Second Brother · 1959

My Second Brother

The film tells the story of four orphans living in an impoverished mining town. An adaptation of a best-selling book based on the diary of a ten-year-old zainichi (ethnic Korean Japanese) girl, it was one of the first films to deal with the subject of zainichi identity and struggles in Japan.

Dark Room

Dark Room · 1983

MovieDramaRomance

A writer haunted by the death of his wife and threatened by the imagined infidelities of his lovers uses his affairs for the subjects of his novels.

Nishi Ginza Station

Nishi Ginza Station · 1958

Nishi Ginza Station

MovieComedyDrama

This short comedy concerns the extramarital affair of a drugstore owner. It is based on a popular song by the star of the film, Frank Nagai.

Child of the Sun

Child of the Sun · 1980

Child of the Sun

A couple originally from Okinawa run an inexpensive restaurant in Kobe, with their grade-school daughter, Fuuchan. The movie depicts the warm interaction between her and adults that grew up with the rough history of Okinawa and discrimination from the mainland. Shots partly on location at beach of Itoman, Yogi Park and Hateruma Island. This is the movie version of the well-known novel by Kenjiro Haitani.

Yami wo saku kuchibue

Yami wo saku kuchibue · 1960

Yami wo saku kuchibue

MovieCrimeDrama

A unique action film about a battle between two students and a yakuza over the eviction fee for a family that abandoned their home at the bottom of an artificial lake.

More Like This

The Call of the Wild

The Call of the Wild · 2020

The Call of the Wild

MovieAdventureFamily

Buck is a big-hearted dog whose blissful domestic life is turned upside down when he is suddenly uprooted from his California home and transplanted to the exotic wilds of the Yukon during the Gold Rush of the 1890s. As the newest rookie on a mail delivery dog sled team—and later its leader—Buck experiences the adventure of a lifetime, ultimately finding his true place in the world and becoming his own master.

The Taking of Tiger Mountain

The Taking of Tiger Mountain · 2014

The Taking of Tiger Mountain

MovieThrillerWar

Yang Zirong disguises himself as a bandit to infiltrate and destroy a bandit group. He joins hands with a hostage, and together, they fight against the warlord, Hawk.

The Three Musketeers

The Three Musketeers · 1948

The Three Musketeers

MovieAdventureRomance

In 17th century France, young D'Artagnan wants to join the King's Musketeers, but instead befriends three legendary musketeers—Athos, Porthos, and Aramis—and together, they become embroiled in the political intrigue surrounding King Louis XIII and his adversaries, particularly the powerful Cardinal Richelieu.

Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation

Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation · 1962

Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation

MovieFamilyComedy

Banker Roger Hobbs wants to spend his vacation alone with his wife, Peggy, but she insists on a family vacation at a California beach house that turns out to be ugly and broken down. Daughter Katey, embarrassed by her braces, refuses to go to the beach, as does TV-addicted son Danny. When the family is joined by Hobbs' two unhappily married daughters and their husbands, he must help everyone with their problems to get some peace.

Liz and the Blue Bird

Liz and the Blue Bird · 2018

Liz and the Blue Bird

MovieAnimationDrama

In their last year of high school, two girls in the brass band club perform a song inspired by a fairy tale that parallels their friendship.

Horus: Prince of the Sun

Horus: Prince of the Sun · 1968

Horus: Prince of the Sun

MovieAdventureDrama

Young Horus lives in a mythical Scandinavia of the Iron Age. Recovering the stolen Sword of the Sun from a rock giant, he learns he must travel to the lands of his ancestors, encountering the beautiful but enigmatic Hilda as his journey leads to a series of adventures.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter