The Guardian Brothers

I started watching this movie on Netflix, but the music and the voice acting was just so extremely bad that out of curiosity I decided to see how the original was in comparison. Man, it was so much better. The english version is not just bad voice acting, they completely changed the dialogue and inserted a lot of out-of-date pop references (to star wars and ubers for example) and horrible pop songs and cringe. The original version had none of these references, and nice and calm melodic music instead of the pop songs, so the literal mood of the movie was lost in translation. The Netflix version also literally cut out some parts of the movie. I'd give the american version a 1, but the chinese version gets 5 stars (that's quite high for me).

I have enjoyed many movies from China, and I've certainly enjoyed a lot of movies from America. Unfortunately, when China and America get together to make a movie, the results are usually a misfire. This particular co-production does not do anything to change the trend. There is nothing wrong with the visual look of the movie; the animation and art design is colorful and pleasing despite not having the polish of Pixar or other top American animation outfits. And the core idea of the movie is pretty original and could have worked if there was one clear direction the story unfolded at instead of being pulled in two directions. Thanks to the American Weinstein brothers, the movie (at least in the English dubbed version that I watched) has pretty awful voice acting for the most part, narration that seems a desperate addition to make the movie make sense, and embarrassing use of American songs like "Kung Fu Fighting" and "(Theme from) Shaft". Also, it appears that the Weinsteins severely cut down the movie for western audiences, because there are a bunch of plot threads and characters that make little sense and/or are not finished by the time the end credits start to roll. But while there are signs that the original Chinese version might have made more sense, much of the movie would probably unfold at an even slower pace than it presently unfolds, and be cluttered with even more plot than it is now. In the end, the movie is a big disappointment. Kids may be more forgiving towards it, but I don't think they will request repeated viewings.

Prior to sitting down to watch "The Guardian Brothers" (aka "Xiao men shen") I had not heard anything about it. Actually, I didn't even know it existed. I read the synopsis and decided to watch it. Plus, it was set in an Asian setting, which also appeals to me.

This animated movie had a very nice story to tell, and it is very enjoyable even if you are not overly familiar with Chinese mythology. You quickly and easily immerse yourself into the storyline and the world in which the story takes place.

The art style used in this animated movie was quite good, as it was definitely unique and lovely at the same time.

It was just a shame that it was an English dubbed version that I saw, although they had some pretty good voice actors on the cast list for the English dub.

"The Guardian Brothers" is definitely worth taking the time to sit down and watch, whether it is by yourself or with your family and kids.

The English voice acting is horrible! I only loved Meryl Streep's narration!

I don't choose to watch dubbed versions but in this case, Netflix didn't exactly give me a choice. Nicole Kidman's awful attempt at voice acting was awful. Literally sounded like she had just received the script and read it during recording.