ANI-MOVIES, *Big Fish And Begonia

One of the few Chinese animated movies to get a English theatrical release, Big Fish And Begonia was made partially through Studio Mir which most Americans would recognize for animating Voltron: Legendary Defender and Legend Of Korra. Zhang Chun and Liang Xuan directed this full-length movie that started out as a short flash animation which took the better part of a decade to finally get its big budget remake. The story takes inspiration from Chinese mythology as its style is similar to Studio Ghibli's Sprited Away.

A race of elementals known as the Others live in a world below the ocean where they govern the changing of the seasons. One of the Others is Chun and she joins more of her kind in her teenage years as they go to spend a small amount of time in the human world in the form of a red dolphin. Chun's visit causes a human boy to be killed in rescuing her, so once back home she makes a deal with the resident soul collector to give half her life away to return the boy to the living. Troublemaking neighbor Qui helps her take care of the boy's soul that they name Kun, and the two teens grow closer as they keep Kun now occupied in the body of a growing dolphin with a unicorn horn coming out his head. The celestial gods realize that Kun is in their world which is supposed to cause the ocean to crash over them. Chun is able to help Kun be resurrected in the human world, along with being reincarnated herself after Qui sacrifices his life to be the new soul collector.

Big Fish And Begonia has amazing 2D and 3D animation formatted in both hand drawn and CGI. The style and movement has their own special brand of excellence which shows how far Chinese animation has gotten in the last generation. The dub voice acting is fine, but the original Chinese language is equally good. The only thing that keeps the movie from achieving higher praise is the plot periodically introduces new elements that don't seem to pay off later on like the introduction of a rat witch who uses Kun as her way back to the human world. The overall story is easy enough to follow and it isn't necessary to have a major in Chinese folklore to appreciate this romantic fantasy.