Tampopo is an excellent film showcasing Japan's love for food. This movie is a complete masterpiece and truly is a one-of-a kind movie that shows the art and the amount of hard work that goes into ramen. When two truck drivers stop by a little ramen shop, one of the truck drivers gets into a fight with a group of people. Because of this, he stays over at the shop and meets the owner, Tampopo, and her son. Tampopo feeds the beat up truck driver, and she asks him how the ramen was. Speaking truthfully, he tells her that it wasn't that great and that it needs a lot of work. The two truck drivers then take the time out of their lives and help Tampopo master the craft of ramen. One of the truck drivers, Goro, makes Tampopo run outside to boost her stamina, make a bowl of ramen in less than three minutes, and gets other people to share recipes with her to help make her ramen shop the best in Japan. Tampopo soon learns the challenges that come with creating the greatest ramen shop: practicing everyday, failing many times, and needing help from many people. In fact, Goro gets three other people to help Tampopo: an interior designer, a soup master, and a noodle master. Together, as a team, they decide to name the shop "Tampopo", and they turn Tampopo into an excellent noodle shop.
 

The plot of the movie is amazing, and the visual effects are nothing special, but they aren't needed to complete this movie. The purpose of the movie is to elucidate how much the Japanese love their food, and this movie accomplishes just that. From eating ramen to eating plain noodles to having a dying man talk about food for his last words, and to having a homeless man break into someone's house to make a rice omelet, Tampopo clearly showcases an entire nation's love for food. Tampopo is an absolute must see and cannot be recommended enough. The movie received the rare 100% rating from Rotten Tomatoes and is more than deserving of that high mark.