Monster Hunter: Legends of the Guild

This movie is an adaptation of the Monster Hunter video game series. As a fan of the series I was interested in watching it to see how closely it follows the games.

Overall it is a faithful adaptation, all the iconic monsters are there and it looks and feels like it's part of the Monster Hunter universe. Where the movie falls short however is in it's story and animation.

The movie follows a young aspiring Hunter named Aiden who is trying to prove himself as a monster hunter when a more experienced hunter named Julius arrives at his village to warn them of an elder dragon on it's way to destroy them. The villagers don't believe Julius as he's an outsider so he takes Aiden with him to see the elder dragon for himself. From then on the two share a sort of student and mentor relationship.

Personally I feel this story would work better as a series rather than a standalone movie. We don't really spend enough time with the characters to get to know them very well and having an elder dragon (essentially the most powerful monsters that exist) be Aiden's first big monster is a strange choice. I feel it would have been better to see Aiden grow and improve as a hunter over several episodes, eventually leading up to an elder dragon.

Now for the animation. Though it's impressive to look at and matches the art style of the games, the character's movements feel very stiff and their voices often don't sync up very well with what's on screen. Ironically it feels more like a cutscene from one of the games rather than animated movie quality, perhaps this was the intention but it doesn't work very well.

Overall it's worth checking out if you're a fan of the games, just don't expect it to be anything amazing. At the very least it's a lot more faithful than the 2020 live action movie.

Bad editing, rushed.

The sound mix it's awful.

The animation is mediocre.

The plot is ok.

The monster hunter ingredients are the best of the movie.

I would recommend it if only you are a fan of the VG and you are curious.

I've been a long time Monster Hunter fan and it's clear that some love went into this movie, the script is full of references to the game and in-jokes. The models all look great but the animation is janky and weirdly bouncy at times.

My main complaint is the story, things are just constantly happening and the pacing is way too fast. This leads to what should be emotional moments just falling flat and those moments themselves just being brushed aside because there's no time to linger on them.

If this was a series it might have had the time it needed to develop these characters more and get you to care for them. Not offensively bad, just mediocre.

The animation is not the best, especially for a movie made in 2021. Looks like a cut scene from a game made in 2010 or something.

Nothing has any weight, not the weapons, not the creatures nor the people. Everything moves so fast. Even when they are just talking, they have these crazy arm movements.

Also the pacing is all over the place.

This movie is leaving a lot left to be desired.

Had me laughing the entire time because it's just so extremely awful in every way imaginable.