Big Fish & Begonia, 2016.
Directed by Xuan Liang and Chun Zhang
Featuring the voice talents of Guanlin Ji, Shangqing Su, Timmy Xu, Shulan Pan, Yuanyuan Zhang, Jiu’er, Lifang Xue, and Jie Zhang.
SYNOPSIS:
Big Fish & Begonia unfolds in a world underneath the sea inhabited by spirits who control the time, tides, and seasons of the human world above them. A young girl from the spirit world name Chun is sent to the human world in the guise of a red dolphin to learn about the people whose lives her kind influence. But Chun is also forbidden to interact directly with humans. She promptly meets a boy from a coastal village. During a storm a fishing net ensnares Chun. The boy saves her but dies in the process. On her return to the spirit world, Chun makes a deal with a cat-loving death spirit to return the boy’s soul to her. The soul reincarnates as a tiny fish named Kun, which Chun must raise and protect against the natural and supernatural forces of her realm until she can return him to the human plane of existence.
Currents of other animation properties run through Big Fish & Begonia. The film begins like Spirited Away in reverse: instead of a human slipping into the spirit world a spirit journeys into the human world. It also features characters able to bend and shape the elements a la Avatar: The Last Airbender. But the film stakes out its own territory by adopting Chinese myth and folklore into a varied adventure that is often magical and always packed with lavish visuals.
The two leads, Chun and Kun, never exchange a word. When he saves her, losing his life in the process, Chun is in her dolphin form. When she returns the favor, sacrificing half of her own lifespan to do so, his soul matures in the form of a fish. Throughout the story one of them is mute, which forces the relationship to hit different beats than a typical romance. In the end, this wordless companionship works because it ties to the idea that Chun and Kun hail from different worlds.
The main characters are serviceable focal points for the adventure, but the side characters stand out as more dynamic and aesthetically compelling. The design of the creatures is often inspired, though there are similarities to several of the denizens from Spirited Away’s bathhouse. There’s a ferryman that looks like a cross between the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and Cthulhu. We also meet a death spirit who wears an animate mask and plucks the legs off twiggy insects and proceeds to smoke them like cigarettes. There’s also a giant, nightmarish stuffed rat that moves because its stuffing is comprised of thousands of living rats. These idiosyncratic touches and streaks bizarre creativity keep the movie engaging.
The landscapes that the characters inhabit, from colossal circular temples to snowy wastes, are beautiful. Broadly, the animation is spectacular. But a couple pitfalls do arise. The opening features a school of poorly-tweened CG whales. Also, the way the characters emote occasionally feels a shade rigid. Otherwise, the film treats its viewers to some seriously poster-worthy images that bear similarities to both classical Chinese paintings and the best of anime.
Despite its rather simple plot and conservative runtime, the film becomes increasingly sprawling as it parades towards its expansive climax. Chun protects Kun from the dangers of the spirit world including dual-headed snakes, a lecherous rat-women, and waterspouts that spiral down from the ocean suspended above them.
The rules of the world are complex yet obscure in terms of pacts made and spells conjured. People merge with trees, die and return as fish, and trade in portions of their lives for favors. It operates in accordance with magical logic as opposed to causal relations. Apart from the effectively creepy rat-woman, the film lacks a central villain. The strife originates from the environment itself as the spirit world begins to unravel due to Kun’s human presence.
Big Fish & Begonia offers an entertaining, lavishly designed and ultimately intriguing introduction to Chinese animation. It certainly echoes existing stories, from the aforementioned Spirited Away to The Legend of Korra and Dragon Ball Z. But it manages to carve out its own niche by offering a gonzo fantasy/adventure story filtered through the lens Chinese mythology.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Sam Kitagawa
Originally published March 16, 2018. Updated April 11, 2018.
