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.

Another animated video game adaptation, it is a lazy film that is barely an hour long and looks Chinese. You know, 3D animated with that fake hair and primary colors and an unnatural movement. I was genuinely surprised to see that the animation studio is American, probably they used some game engine to make it. Worse, the editing is bad. It's feels like someone took the "footage" and cut it haphazardly in a weekend.

I have not played the games, but it was pretty clear what kind of games they would be from the first minutes of the film: there are monsters and you are hunting them. Therefore, naturally, you have to introduce a wannabe young hunter with whom teens can identify with, who starts like a noob and grows into a hero. Only it doesn't happen like that. The main character is annoying, careless and stupid. His poorly animated face makes one think he's a psychopath, as he only seems to feel enjoyment when putting everyone in needless danger and he doesn't seem to care when other people get hurt or even die. And the "battle" at the end is awful. The "elder dragon" is actually quite small and the two methods used to defeat it could have been used directly, without anyone having to fight or get hurt.

Bottom line: a hair short of being one of those comedic films that you can enjoy only completely wasted and laughing at its stupidity, it is a lazy, soulless, mindless corporate enterprise that has no artistic merit whatsoever. At least the Monster Hunter movie starred Milla Jovovich and it started well before turning to crap, but this one feels like one of those "don't let the license expire" films.

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.

Not a great story here. Just a newbie learning the ropes and instantly becoming an uber hunter... which is basically how the games work, so I can't complain.

Overall it's a decent short movie with some great animation for the monsters (who show off attacks from the games) and mostly decent animation for the people, except for the odd plastic looking faces.

If you're a fan of Monster Hunter, you'll enjoy this. If not, you will probably just be confused.

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.