The arid desert wasteland as an end of world scenario in post-apocalyptic fiction leaves little to no new ground to cover. Due to its overuse, the simplicity of its setting and its cautionary significance to our present dismal treatment of the environment, the image of an endless inhospitable terrain stretching into an unforgiving, sun-baked horizon has become fundamentally synonymous with the genre. More often than not, these films in the Mad Max-ian tradition of post-apocalyptic fiction will dutifully follow a slice of humanity’s attempt at survival — both against the dangers of the environment and the dangers of competition with itself — and renewal while life-sustaining resources dwindle into scarcity.
In this regard, legendary Dragon Ball mangaka Akira Toriyama’s oft-overlooked 2000s manga “SAND LAND” couldn’t help but retrace the steps the genre laid out for it. It even goes so far as to boldly wear its many inspirations from the genre on its sleeves — a sprinkle of “Dune” here, a dash of “Tank Girl” there, a heaping helping of Mad Max on top, etc. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a manufactured shortage of water overseen by a fascistic, militaristic warlord spurs a band of drifting loners to search for a mythologized oasis buried in the wasteland, far out past the billowing dunes nestled somewhere in the infinite grains of sand. With all due respect to Toriyama, you can be certain you’ve seen this set-up or a variation of it many times over. Even so, through Toshihisa Yokoshima and Hiroshi Kôjina’s altogether faithful feature film adaptation of his manga, the adventurous spirit and signature fantastical quirkiness of Toriyama’s imaginative prose and illustrations is brought to such vivid life that it’s easy to overlook any gripes over its genre familiarity.
Although that is not being entirely fair as Sand Land nonetheless carries the distinctive stamp of its creator. While the building blocks it uses to construct the story are overly familiar, they are also steeped in Toriyama’s delightfully fantastical sensibilities spread throughout his oeuvre. For example, joined in humanity’s struggle to survive against the unforgiving elements are a band of superhuman demons who live as roaming outlaws across the wastes, stealing water supplies from Sand Land’s greedy despot whose military hoards and sells it back to those in need. This motley crew of colorful fiends — a pink, spiky haired demon prince named Beelzebub (Mutsumi Tamura) and an elderly thief named Thief (Chô) — are coerced by the aged sheriff of an impoverished town into a quest. An untapped oasis of fresh water is believed to be hidden somewhere among the expanse of dust and dirt that has pushed all living beings to the brink. Along the way, the trio secure a tank and bring the ire of The King (Chafûrin), crooked army generals, roving bands of colorful bandits, and the many natural trappings of the unpredictable wasteland itself down on their heads.
In adapting the manga, Yokoshima and the Sunrise studio team offer a lean and to-the-point paring down of Toriyama’s story which wastes no time before getting into the more thrilling aspects of the manga’s adventurous premise. Rendered in sharp yet fluid CGI animation, which manages to maintain the signature look and feel of Toriyama’s character designs and brings surprising textured variety to the repeating backdrops of rocks and sand, the film is paced as such so the next stunning action scene ripped from the manga’s panels follows the previous closely. A dizzying fight scene reminiscent of the rapid-fire fury of Dragon Ball Z between Beelzebub and a band of wasteland marauders could just as quickly lead into the slowed tension of a strategic tank battle. Sand Land is able to sustain a sense of excitement despite the inherent predictability of its apocalyptic story due to the raw craftsmanship of its action set pieces which bring out the enrapturing style of Toriyama’s original illustrations and layouts.
That being said, Sand Land’s tendency to cut to the chase of its source material means some of the broader aspects of the world it attempts to create are only gleamed rather than sufficiently explored. Even with a runtime on the lighter side that wisely highlights the action of Toriyama’s manga, the titular Sand Land is left feeling like a pastiched hodgepodge of post-apocalyptic fiction than its own defined place. What attempts the film makes to fill out the texture of its world, such as when our heroic trio occasionally break into the historic tensions between the demons and humanity, always comes across as perfunctory holdovers from the manga. The characters here are strong and lively enough to support more depth, but Sand Land’s story flow means we barrel forward to what would be the next manga chapter and these threads get left in the dust.
Like most entries in the post-apocalyptic genre it patterns itself after, Sand Land lives by the gritty particulars of the world it presents, and in that regard it is a blast. A quirky adventure and genre pastiche that highlights the strengths of its overlooked source material — the gripping action, the colorful characters, and its author’s signature incomparable design.
