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Reviewed by: Dare Devil Kid (DDK) Rating: 3.8/5 stars What makes "Monster Hunt" so appealing is its easily digestible story arc, refreshingly devoid of Confucian morality, educational historical background or nationalistic grandstanding — in short, everything that makes most Chinese children's films such a yawn. Stylistically, the film blends Western demon-slaying elements, Japanese yokai folklore, and even a distant echo of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" into a fanciful Chinese setting, beefing it up with robust martial arts action with an eye toward holding the attention of adult viewers. In "Monster Hunt" the protagonists are greenish ogres with mushy hearts — not surprisingly, since this jolly live-action/animated Chinese period fantasy is helmed by Raman Hui, the Hong Kong-born animation supervisor who was involved with the genesis of the "Shrek" franchise. The toon creatures are the real stars in this zippy, technically accomplished entertainer, which has become the highest-grossing Chinese film of all time. Jing, who has so far been a sturdy foil for showier leads like Eddie Peng in "Rise of the Legend" or Huang Xiaoming in "The Guillotines," trudges along with little charisma in the earlier scenes, but perks up as soon as Bai arrives on the scene. With her pixie-like charm, Bai is the spark that fuels their larky courtship. However, the narrative is at times bogged down by celebrity comedians and A-list stars jostling for attention in what are essentially glorified cameo appearances. The film is supposedly inspired by "Classic of Mountains and Seas" ("Shan Hai Jing"), a 206 B.C. Chinese tome in which the monsters look like blowfish that have swallowed dinosaurs. But Director Hui's artistic input no doubt helped inspire a creature-design aesthetic that's recognizably Asian, yet spunkier and less parochial than most Chinese animation, with their slavish reproductions of classical Chinese templates. Thanks to high-caliber visual effects — supervised by Jason Snell (the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", "Elysium", and "Tomorrowland"), among others — the interaction between the animated and live-action characters is seamless, as are the monsters' dramatic transformations. Yohei Taneda's production design blends ethereal inkbrush landscapes with period sets that range from mundane to spectacular. The tussles between humans are choreographed by Ku Huen-chiu with snappy, cartoonish timing, but remain bound by Hong Kong high-wire stunt conventions. Raman Hui does a perfectly competent job of keeping things together, and his experience in Hollywood working for DreamWorks, including co-directing "Shrek the Third", does give the film somewhat of an east meets west feel that differentiates it from other recent Chinese fantasies. It's certainly easy to see why the film went down so well with local audiences, though thanks to a lack of the usual flag waving patriotism and a focus on universal themes of family and community, there's nothing here to make it inaccessible to those in other countries around the world. The film's status as a genuine home-grown blockbuster is cemented through some excellent production values and heartwarming character designs, with some top notch special effects, sets and costumes making it visually impressive from start to finish. There's really a great deal to like about "Monster Hunt", and it should have a much wider appeal than most other fantasy or family films from Asia. An important benchmark of sorts as a smash hit Chinese blockbuster made primarily for Chinese audiences, it's well-deserving of its success, and hopefully the inevitable sequels will attain the same level of highly enjoyable tomfoolery.Chinese blockbuster

As someone who often enjoys Chinese movies, and lives in China, I thought I would be able to appreciate this film. I was wrong. This movie is somehow boring, sappy and stupid at the same time. The plot is inconsistent, the characters are flat, and the baby monster is simply annoying. While the movie makes an attempt to include a blossoming romance, again everything is inconsistent and often ridiculous. More often than not, I found myself getting upset at how terrible the writing was. I would not recommend this movie for anybody older than five. Forget that. I would not recommend this movie to anybody at all.

source: Monster Hunt

Monster Hunt begins telling the history of the war between mankind and monsters, when the humans won, the monsters have separated themselves from them until years later, their queen escaped while bearing a child who will become the prince and being tracked down by other monsters and a human army. The opening doesn't bring anything fresh within its backstory, the actual plot doesn't get any less original either, when we cut to a young hero who doesn't get any luck after this plot came and other colorful set of character join to his journey. Despite of these done to death tropes and premise, the movie however brought something appealing, and that's definitely how seriously weird it is. It's packed with a lot of amusingly strange ideas which becomes its own personality. It's good if it runs less than two hours. The stock plot doesn't get any better and the climax feels a little too long for its own good. But to what it is, there is something delightful to its weirdness. So the hero lives in a small village, he lives with a relative anyone but his parents, he feels like an outcast, an underdog, etc. At this point of this film, it's just totally uninteresting witnessing the same tropes, even without trying to make its own spin out of it. And then he discovered that there is more to this world than what he has always knew. There is a girl who is stronger than him... is this even worth paraphrasing? You get the bottom line, however, the film gets better when it shifts to being downright weird. The pregnant queen can transfer her egg to another womb, which is given to the male hero. And this little antic is actually quite amusing. After the laboring, the movie continues to play off the concept as they raise this little monster. It's a delight, but it still doesn't help the plot that much. Even before the climax comes, it's still felt uncertain where the story is going. It feels a little busy playing around to some of its side villains. Now when it comes to the actual climax, it would have gone better if it was shorter than it was. And then a twist reveals that is kind of generic. There just isn't much to it, the story between the relationship of the monsters and humans remain thin. It's the main characters and the baby prince is the only strong moments in here. And to be fair, before the climax that eventually wears off, the pacing is kind of nice, making every moment reasonably entertaining. The action scenes are watchable. The special effects are alright, though the only likable digital creature is the prince which is admittedly adorable. The performances seem to be having fun on what they're doing, bringing energy into this film's silly nature of being a cartoon. That's pretty much what Monster Hunt mostly feels like, a cartoon. Yeah, the tropes and plot are pretty stock, but it really gets more interesting when it's getting weirder and weirder, from a pregnant male protagonist to some dark sense of humor it keeps things entertaining. I sort of wished they establish more of this mythology and how this monster prince can change their world, but the movie doesn't have much of that opportunity. To what it is, it's fun, though I wish it was a little shorter, or spent those other minutes to develop the fantasy stuff. But the main characters eventually become charming, in spite of how faulty the plot is. Monster Hunt is entertaining for the outrageous stuff alone.