Big Fish & Begonia

We really enjoyed this movie for its striking animation, fantastic and beautiful worlds, and likable characters. Although the original language and mythological themes are Chinese, the animation was done by Studio Mir, based in South Korea, which also worked on the Legend of Korra. Almost all of the Chinese animated epics deal with how the characters (often gods, spirits, or demigods) relate to heaven; in Big Fish & Begonia, the alternative universe is under the earth, or, more precisely, under the sea. We also noticed a lot of allusions to Studio Ghibli, above all Spirited Away, especially in some of the characters (for example the steward of souls was like a male version of the witch who runs the bathhouse). Plus the strong female lead character whose story is nevertheless closely tied to a romantic interest.

Visually pleasing and technically well executed enough, this Chinese animation started off with loads of promises but very soon fall into a narrative mess with no meaningful nor discernible plot flow, with characters introduced from nowhere then uncerimoniously dropped for no reason.

Character motivation is at best flimsy and perplexing to the point the viewer no longer has any motivation to stay engaged.

Very unfortunate this animation was decimated by the egoistic desire to show off the visual technicalities with scan attention paid to a meaningful plot with characters who can engage viewers ... instead what we have is a pointless rainbow of visuals and memes which go nowhere.

And to then get the usual bunch of paid 10* hustler-reviewers to put in their cheap adoration ... just salt into wound :(

What a missed opportunity! 😭😭😰😡😠🙁

View this movie on Shout! released Blu-ray disc. I very much would love to like this movie, but creativity is one big problem here. Animations were well done but just too much like Studio Ghibli animations - including movements and features of the characters (just look at Kun sister).

There is also a problem with the story. Even though the producers/director claimed that it was "inspired" by Chinese mythology, there is nothing much recognisable for me here, even though I am Chinese. It doesn't help when help that Chun, the main character said that she don't believe in God, yet they themselves have some kind of magical powers.This magical-powered beings were just being referred as "The Other". What was that? Why with all the power they have, they couldn't stop the flood?

I also viewed the Bonus Features, and understood that it creator had been through a lot just to make the film, but that is no excuse for the convoluted script (could this be the reason why he had problem in finding investor). Is it because China is a communist country where they were warn not to lick the script with any religion? I wonder.

Yes, it got beautiful imagery, animations, and great score from Kiyoshi Yoshida. Yet, this movie is more of a copy of Studio Ghibli (especially Spirited Away! Just look at all the cute creatures). It kind of sad to see China animation ended up like that. They did much better work before. I am not surprise that it received divided reviews in China.

Full Review on my blog max4movies: The art direction and quality of Da Yu Hai Tang (international title: "Big Fish & Begonia") really help to present a fantastic view on some classic Chinese folktales. The overall narrative possibilities are amazing and could provide for so much more plot, however some key moments fall short because of mediocre pacing and/or editing, and sub-par character writing.

The graphics, animations and scores were very stunning- in this aspect 10/10 however the story and character developement were lacking. chun and kun's relation were clearly lacking chemistry no matter how hard the director tried. as a result, they gave us a really annoying & selfish main character. at the end of the show, i felt sad and disappointed at the same time