Big Fish & Begonia

Original title: Da yu hai tang

2016
13
1h 40m

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

7.3K

YOUR RATING

Play trailer2:12

1 Video

91 Photos

Anime Hand-Drawn Animation Adventure Animation Drama Family Fantasy Romance

A 16-year-old girl travels to the human world in the form of a dolphin and forms a connection with a human boy.A 16-year-old girl travels to the human world in the form of a dolphin and forms a connection with a human boy.A 16-year-old girl travels to the human world in the form of a dolphin and forms a connection with a human boy.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

7.3K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 3 wins & 10 nominations total

Chun
(voice)

Shangqing Su

Qiu
(voice)

Timmy Xu

Kun
(voice)

Shulan Pan

Chun, old age
(voice)

Yuanyuan Zhang

Feng
(voice)
(as Yuanyuan Xang)

Jiu'er

Kun's Sister
(voice)

Lifang Xue

Chun's Father (Shu)
(voice)

Jie Zhang

Chisong Zi
(voice)

Xiaoyu Liu

Leizu
(voice)

Zhongyang Baomu

Goumang
(voice)

Yu Cheng

Tingmu
(voice)

JB Blanc

Lingpo
(English version)
(voice)
(as John White)

Johnny Yong Bosch

Qiu
(English version)
(voice)

Shoya Chiba

Tiu
(voice)

Greg Chun

Houtu
(English version)
(voice)
…

Cam Clarke

Zhurong
(English version)
(voice)

Todd Haberkorn

Kun
(English version)
(voice)
…

Kyle Hebert

Neighbour
(English version)
(voice)

User reviews42

7.07.2K

Featured reviews

6max4movie

Great technical achievement with some uneasy narrative problems

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.

6gollerandreas

Less Miyazaki, more Chinese please

I had the chance to see "Big Fish and Begonia" in the cinema yesterday. I was a little bit disappointed. Liang created a beautiful fantasy world and quite an original story background. Also the animations look fantastic. There are indeed many things to like about this movie. So it's all the more of a shame that the story is not very well told. Cuts between scenes always seems to come at the wrong moment and a lot of the characters and dialogues are redundant in regard to the main story. A lot of the movie is just a chain of depictions of cute little details in Liang's fantasy world. It feels a little bit like he tries so hard to be Miyazaki that he forgets all about the plot. Because of this, it's hard to get a feel for the movie. Which is a shame because it had a lot of potential. I hope that Liang's future works will try less to be Miyazaki and dare to be more Chinese. Although this movie may not be great, it might well be the start of a new age in Chinese animation cinema. I recommend this movie to people who are hugely into Chinese cinema and/or animation films. Otherwise, wait for something more worthwhile.

6LeoDeLeo

Unfortunately a Narrative Mess 😞

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! 😭😭😰😡😠🙁

4mig-csh

missed the mark where it matters.

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

8akimboteen

fantastic fusion of arts

I am truly impressed. I cried a lot while watched this piece of art. I can't write it detailed how beautiful was the story, music and the picture as well (because of my bad English), and the music followed those. I feel like i've become more just because i watched this animation movie. I would hardly recommend to everyone.

Storyline

Edit

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
Upon its 2016 release, it became China's second-highest-grossing locally produced animated feature of all time.

Quotes
Lingpo: What brings you to the Island of Souls?
Chun: There's a soul I'm looking for: the soul of a human boy
Lingpo: What time was it he died?
Chun: It was two days before the wheat harvest.
Lingpo: You need to be sure of the date. Otherwise you're searching for a needle in a haystack. So many die every day.
Chun: I'm sure. It was my birthday.
Lingpo: I know what you're trying to do, girl, and it goes against the laws of nature!
Chun: I don't care. I've got to save him!
Lingpo: The punishment is harsh for those who defy nature, no matter who you are, so you *should* care.
Chun: But I owe him, for saving my life.
Lingpo: How very touching. I've been stuck here for 800 years, and I'm still not done paying penance for my sin!
Chun: But you didn't...!
Lingpo: Don't interrupt! Let me tell you what real tragedy is. Meeting someone you care about so much you forget yourself and make a mistake. So then you go back and try to fix it and make things right again, and then you learn that fixing it's impossible.
[chuckles]
Lingpo: We can never undo the wrongs we've done. This I know.
Chun: You're saying you won't help me?
Lingpo: I'm saying I pity you. Besides, resurrecting someone from the dead doesn't come cheap.
Chun: What would it cost?
Lingpo: No less than a lovely girl's loveliest features: your eyes.
Chun: [winces]
Lingpo: [laughing] Now she's scared.
[chuckles]
Lingpo: Don't want to give up your pretty eyes, eh? All right, I'll take half your life instead.
Chun: If that'll save him, take it.