ashild-blovvig Review of Big Fish & Begonia

Big Fish & Begonia (2016)

Great animation department, not so much in the story department

[6/10 · 17 October 2019]

Slight spoilers, though nothing big. First of all, it's refreshing to see a Chinese language animation for once. There is so little good Chinese media coming out that I'm happy this exists. The good things: the animation is very good, a little bland when it comes to the drawing style, but incredibly creative in what it's telling. I really appreciate the Chinese style of mythology and depictions, and there is so much to look at. I also admire them for trying a less generic story. Now, the story... It's quite messy, unfortunately. There is so Mich happening so quickly, and I can see the animators and storytellers wanting to make an epic story and want to tell so many things, but they try to fit too much into this story. The pacing is incredibly fast, there is at least four or five moments trying to be very emotional and important, but because of the pacing, they lose all their importance. There is no real villain in this story, which is not a problem, but even when the movie tries to tell me things are at great stake, it doesn't feel like it. Drama also sometimes appear out of nowhere, especially in relation to Qiu. The relationship between the two main characters is also really hard to pinpoint. There are some good moments, sometimes also moments that do feel real. But again, everything happens too fast, and they act as if they've known each other for years, when it's gone just a couple of days(?). I just don't believe their relationship. One little note is the score. It's super intense and emotional, and is mostly the typical classical score. But there are a couple of instances where suddenly there's an electric guitar chiming in and it does not fit at all! If it was sci fi or something similar, maybe it would, but not in this overwhelmingly fantasy land. I hope they do continue animating, because there is such potential here, but it's only the animation saving it from me giving it a 4 star. But if they get some proper writing in, this can be China's (or Taiwan's) new great animation department.