Legend of Deification

This is definitely more interesting than Ne Zha - the movie previously made by this animation studio. It is not exactly progressive for such an animation, it is more like one of the better classic Chinese animations in my opinion (regarding the visuals only, I personally think that White Snake is still unsurpassed in that regard as the best Chinese movie so far). In practice, this means that some scenes are absolutely breathtaking, beautiful and captivating, and then sometimes there are moments when some of the details look a bit weird (there is that moment for example when the main male protagonist carries the main female protagonist to a certain gate and there is an overhead shot where the characters look incredibly static and to make them look like they are moving, the surroundings, or rather the ground beneath them, is strangely projected - rather like rear projection in the old movies when actors were stood in front of a screen with a projector positioned behind the screen and the motion of the background image and foreground actors were often different...). Similarly, the Chinese cannot be let off the hook regarding wheeling out their classic tropes, such as dramatic slow-motion during certain moments when the characters move to avoid something coming at them (Matrix-style!!!). On the other hand, they flex their visual muscles incredibly well with the depiction of the fights and other important moments and add an interesting aesthetic with their use of color and graphic design. However, that is enough about Chinese animation, let us move on to the other aspects of this movie! I think I should say the soundtrack is very good and what I should also mention are the story and the characters, which both had their own charm! The story is mired in Chinese mythology, so for someone who is not very interested in the Far East, it might be more difficult to understand what is going on. In addition, the pace of the narrative is quite brisk and so much is explained in a rather simplistic and rushed manner. Fortunately, this does not have too much of a detrimental impact on the overall impression I got, and the understanding of everything, in my opinion, and one can even start to learn the mythology (who is who, what is what...). The beginning is epic, the middle is very pleasant (almost understated) and the end is again (as I am used to with productions from the Far East) very over the top. In summary, it ramps up and is very intense for the last half hour or so, however, the intensity of the tension and emotional aspect seemed only to have an effect (on me) about half the time... Then there are the characters which I really liked a lot. I thought that the main male protagonist had incredible charisma, and he gave me the impression of a terribly calm albeit wise character like Qui-Gon Jinn from Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. On top of that, the developing relationship between him and the female protagonist (almost to the point of being something in the style of the first The Last of Us video game), was incredibly enjoyable. In general, the entire story of their journey and overcoming certain problems was probably my favorite part of the movie, and I thought that if this was a TV series and this part of the show was given a lot more space, then maybe I would have ended up awarding it five stars because the emotional and dramatic ending would have worked much better. Anyway, that is what I thought was the biggest strength of this movie and definitely what I thought was above average and enjoyed most. Anyway, Chinese mythology is definitely quite interesting, full of all sorts of mysterious creatures and epic stories. Personally, I find that Chinese animation often has a lot to offer as well, and if the most important thing, the story, and the characters, grab me too, then I simply have to award (the movie) at least four stars, translated into the language of numbers, it would be 7.6/10 in this particular case. (14/02/2021) (less) (more)