Zhuo yao ji

There is one scene that makes the whole movie worthwhile, when they say goodbye. It has such an Asian feel to it: it's all heartbreaking but inevitable.

Other than that, it goes from weird kung-fu action against cuddly 3D animated monsters to fart jokes, birth jokes, marriage jokes and family problems, then back again so fast that you don't really know what you're supposed to be watching. And occasionally they just randomly start singing, fortunately not too often.

The story follows a hapless young man and a young female "monster hunter" in the context of a monster hunt. On orders from a very powerful man, all hunters are on the lookout for the monster queen and then her infant offspring. These are all very powerful kung-fu masters, but somehow they get thwarted by the power of youth and love and after much adventure and a twist, a happy ending.

My conclusion is that this film combines a lot of classic Chinese concepts: the humor, the fighting style, the overlaying culture of it all. My guess is that it was aimed at young Asian children and, while it will probably be enjoyed by children everywhere, Western adults might find it crass and infantile.

Whether you're into monsters or not, this adorable film will appeal to a wide audience. Whether you love it for the action, the stunts, the visual effects, or the cuteness of the baby character, there's something here for everyone to adore. I just loved everything about it. I found it incredibly cute and delightful and a pleasure to watch. Some scenes were jaw dropping incredible!!

Chinese animation has been through a rough time, it missed the mark so many times when used to create epic legend. However, it seems that the eccentric animation just found its niche with the blend of humor, drama and action fantasy that is Monster Hunt. It shockingly deals with a few eerie themes yet presented in family friendly light humorous way, almost like MIB in ancient China.

In a world where monster and human live in inharmonious way, an ordinary man finds himself in a struggle between the monster kingdom and human hunters. It opens up with typical fantasy troupe, then escalates with good comedic tone as well as healthy dose of martial art stunts. The cast works fine, especially with famous names as supporting characters or cameos, some of them are added for comedy relief.

The tone might feel awkward, it's often playful but then it displays incredibly creepy prejudice against the monster, even down to eating and torturing them. Granted, some of them look like radish or salad, although the abrupt change of pace can be startling. There are definitely some odd twists here. Fortunately enough, the core drama is light humor, with endearing family value thrown into the mix. It mostly deals with platonic funny theme, and fans of Chinese cinema should find the humor familiar.

For a movie that uses animation and action choreography at the same time, Monster Hunt looks amazing, especially in the second half with gorgeous setting. It's one of the best animations Chinese has produced, it's much smoother than the rest and these silly designs are well integrated into the world. The feel of uncanny valley actually works in their favor since the monsters only partially resemble human yet they look harmless enough to be friendly.

Monster Hunt has all the elements of Chinese fantasy movie, the visual effect and also the soundtracks enhance the flamboyantly cheesy premise. It's a well-produced action comedy and definitely a crowd pleaser.

This is a Chinese film aka Monster Hunt. In ancient China, mankind had driven the monsters into the remote mountains after once living in harmony. There is a civil war within the monster world. The old king has been killed and the pregnant queen is on the run. Song Tianyin is the young mayor of a small village. His grandmother claims the family to be monster hunters. Huo Xiaolan (Bai Baihe) is a mercenary monster hunter. Song is shocked when Huo reveals two travelers to be monsters in disguise.

The basic premise is good. The story structure is fine. The characters are good. The creature designs are a little creepy. The small eyes and the tentacles make them look like part monkey and part octopus. The baby's radish look is good but again the tentacles bother me. I can't see these creatures being sold as cuddly toys. I would get rid of the tentacles. There are other creepy things that happen. Whether it's the pregnant dude or eating monsters, some of this is off-putting especially in the western sense. Sure, Arnold got pregnant in Junior but it wasn't a monster and Junior wasn't actually liked. The sashimi monster is disturbing. Of course, the reference is clear. It's especially compelling since exotica animal meat trade seems to be the genesis of the recent viral outbreak. Nevertheless, the creep factor is on the high side for a family film. This is generally good but some of the absurdness gets creepy.

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.