Flying over the ocean on his aero-bike, young Mangchi spies a school of tuna and excitedly jets back to his island home, zipping through the town announcing his find. Despite the commotion Mangchi causes, the town's men realize what he's found and launch their boats to capture the fish. Mangchi wants to join them to help, but the spastic lad winds in the drink. So it begins, our introduction to the boy who will become a man and save the day; a boy and his favorite tool - HAMMERBOY.

The island town now has plenty of food thanks to Mangchi, and they celebrate with a huge feast. Later, Mangchi asks his Grandfather (with whom he lives) if he can join him when the elder goes to sell the remaining fish. Grandfather feels the boy is too young, but gives him a new hammer, which cheers Mangchi up to no end. That night, while Mangchi is relieving himself, a crashing plane almost hits him! He quickly gets on his bike and takes off after the disabled craft. For his efforts, a second plane appears and shoots at him! Mangchi manages to get the first plane's pilot, a young girl, out before her plane crashes into the sea. He then uses his hammer (which is tethered to his belt) to get aboard the attacking plane, which he smashes to pieces with his mighty tool! Mangchi uses the tether to swing back to his bike as his foe ditches the ruined flier. But wait! There's more planes on the horizon, and their guns clip Mangchi's wings. Before they can attack the town, Grandfather bellows an unnatural howl that destroys some of the aggressors and forces the remaining to flee.

The next day, the rescued girl reveals herself to be Princess Popular of the Jemius Empire. She explains to the astonished people that she and her father, King Waldo, were on their way to sign a peace treaty with their ancient enemies the Agra Empire when their Prime Minister Moonk staged an insurrection! Popular stole a plane and escaped, but the fate of her father is unknown. Popular asks for help to reach the Agra Empire, so they can help her defeat Moonk and take back her kingdom. Grandfather refuses her request, much to the surprise of the island folk....

Mangchi is taught the way of the 'great echo' by his grandfather, but try as he might, the poor boy can't seem to focus his energy to harness the devastating bellow. He tries, though, yelling at the top of his lungs all day long. That night, Popular attempts to steal his aero-bike and fly to the Agra herself, but doesn't know how to fly it! Mangchi wrests control of his bike from her, and she convinces him to take her to the mainland. But when they arrive... yep, shot down again. This time it's by notorious bandit Pultaco, who sees only dollar signs for capturing a princess! He leaves an unconscious Mangchi to whatever fate brings. Will our hero recover and save Popular from the clutches of the thief? Can they find the help they need to stop Moonk and his cronies from taking over the Jemius Empire? And will Mangchi find the inner strength to find his "great echo" when he needs it most?

HAMMERBOY may not break any new ground in the anime world, but this award-winning Korean production does have endearing characters and some wonderful animation. The story may be old hat, with it's winding plots and straight forward 'good vs. bad' conflict, but much like vanilla ice cream, sometimes the familiar ain't too darn bad. The heroes are very engaging, and the relationship between Mangchi and Grandfather has some real emotional impact. The villains - well, they're appropriately evil (and long-winded, natch). The animation work is interesting - the characters are fairly standard (which is not a bad thing), but the background artwork is near Miyazaki level. The picture quality is excellent and the colors very vivid. Audio is fine; the English dub is well matched to the characters. HAMMERBOY would make a nice introduction to anime for any age, although there are some cultural differences (Mangchi relieving himself, for example). The film may follow the 'traditional' path, but since the characters are so well defined, they make the journey very entertaining.

The DVD of HAMMERBOY has several extras, most pretty standard these days for discs. There is a trailer for both English and Korean audiences, as well as Korean TV spots. There is the expected art gallery and obligatory previews, but they included a music video in both languages. It would have been nice to have a feature on the making of HAMMERBOY, especially since the film won major acclaim.

HAMMERBOY is certainly not the most original anime ever produced, but by filling their world with amusing characters and some lovely animation, the producers insure an entertaining time for all ages. I would recommend HAMMERBOY for newbies to the anime scene, and I'm sure hardcore fans will get a kick out of Mangchi's adventures as well.