The following content involves minor spoilers, but I personally don't think it affects the viewing. The reason will be mentioned below.
Set a personality first, "Wolf Walker" is very suitable for children to watch, it is a good movie worth watching, but I may not appreciate it again.
The film tells the story of a little girl Robyn and her father who are dependent on each other, follow Lord Protector from England to Ireland to open up the territory of the British Empire, encounter the mysterious creature Mebh, a wolf walker, and go through a series of events. Robyn and her father change camps, from Hunters wolf hunter to WolfWalkers Wolf Walkers.
1. Lens language
The film uses a lot of shots that simulate the wolf's field of vision. The angle is very low, it retreats quickly, jumps frequently, and it is very flexible in starting, stopping and turning. This first perspective brings a strong sense of immersion to the audience, and with the music on the spot, the audience really feels like a beast.
When it comes to expressing spatial distance, the shots of "Wolf Walker" are very interesting.
The equally divided picture without perspective is very novel, a little like children's paintings. I was stunned when I first saw it, but I could immediately read where the characters were going. Such a non-beautiful lens is more childish.
There is also the picture below, at the entrance of the forest, whenever the camera cuts to the direction of the town, the town is erected behind it, like a map painted on the wall, the roof of the city wall and street intersections can be clearly seen. The forest and the town, the two places could not appear in one picture. Does this kind of lens that does not follow the rules of perspective show that the distance between people and nature is actually very close, so close to looking up?
This picture is still relatively new to me. Reminds me of the Chinese ink-and-wash style art films of the last century, which ignore the rules of perspective and are an appropriate and non-transgressive artistic expression.
2. Character design and painting
Mebh and her mother have red hair, green eyes and freckles (only 9% of Irish people are born with red hair), which is a stereotype of what Irish people look like; Robyn and her father have blonde hair and blue eyes. 50% of Irish have blue eyes), I don't know if that counts as a foreshadowing.
There is a "rough and delicate feeling" in the painting of the characters in the film. The close-up looks like a draft that hasn't been wiped clean, but it fits the frizzy characters of the two girls and has a wild feeling.
By the way, the voice of Robyn's father is actor Sean Bean, who has played the eldest son of Gondor and the guardian of the north. The role of the king of bento did not receive a bento this time, which is gratifying!
3. Soundtrack
I listened to the theme song with my friends before, but I didn't watch the MV. I felt that the singer's articulation was very special, a little bohemian, not the rough style I expected at all, but this ethnic tone is quite in line with the natural theme.
When watching a movie, there are pictures and emotions accumulated before, and the music will directly control the look and feel. Running wildly in the night, jumping quickly over bushes and puddles, the fragrance of the forest is deeply inhaled into my heart, looking up is the clean sky and shining stars, hugging and rolling, everything around me and myself are crumpled into a circle. "Running With The Wolves" not only has the strength of running, but also the unrestrainedness of wild animals, as well as the delicate friendship between girls, which makes people want to run with them.
4. Themes
The conflict between industry (domestication) and nature (nature), and children breaking the shackles of patriarchy, the two main ideas are perfectly combined and complement each other; sub-themes such as regional differences, identity discrimination, belief differences, and choice of home and country are closely related to the center. Connected, rich but not cluttered.
The harmonious coexistence between man and nature is the first theme, and the film is presented clearly enough, so I won’t go into details.
Robyn wanted to hunt wolves with her father at first, but her father didn't allow it and said "it's for your own good"; later Robyn and Mebh became friends and became wolf walkers, hoping to resolve the conflict between humans and wolves, but she needed to With the support of her father, her father still does not let her go out of the city "for her good". This set of "for your own good" rhetoric is familiar to you. Parents impose their own ideas on their children out of love, making the children's dilemma and causing parent-child conflicts. If Robyn wants to protect nature, he must first overcome this kind of parental restraint and distinguish between "love" and "misexpression of love". One motivation promotes the development of another branch and resolves the contradiction of the branch. The two themes of harmony between man and earth and self-growth are superimposed. It's a fusion.
The English needed the undeveloped land of Ireland, and some of the aboriginal herders who were favored by the wolf runners consciously maintained the "boundary between town and forest", and the two sides were hostile to each other. The contradiction between man and nature is also manifested as the contradiction between people of different cultural backgrounds, which is the second fusion.
Both Lord Protector and his father believed that Robyn, as a girl, could only do household chores such as cleaning and cooking, just like any other woman. Robyn's insistence on his will to protect the forest and friends is a rebellion against gender inequality, and it's three fusions.
There is also Lord Protector's belief that conquering nature is the will of God, fathers disobeying the orders of their superiors for their daughters, and other sub-themes are linked to the center of man and nature.
"Wolf Walker" has done a very good job in selecting the theme. No matter which perspective the audience interprets, the results obtained are not conflicting, like thin lines twisted into a rope. This superposition and fusion is very ingenious, the amount of information is sufficient, and the transmission Very natural, the audience will feel comfortable.
After talking about the advantages, it is not enough.
After talking with friends after the show, everyone's attitude is surprisingly consistent, which is a subtle feeling between satisfaction and dissatisfaction.
The most fatal point is that the plot is too old-fashioned.
The protagonist encounters a legendary character, the protagonist changes his position and becomes friends with him, the protagonist overcomes difficulties and helps his friends, and the protagonist and everyone together defeat the bad guys. There is nothing new about such a scenario today. When Robyn is bitten, you can think that her body will change after that. When the mysterious man calls Robyn, he can think that the mysterious man is Mebh's mother. When his father is bitten, he can think that he will become a wolf at a critical moment. The villain will lead people to set fire to the mountain. I can think that Robyn will take the lead to fight back, and that Mebh can't heal his mother alone, but I can think that in the end, it will rely on the strength of everyone...
Anyone with some movie viewing experience can give themselves spoilers. It is true that there are no obvious loopholes in the logic of the plot, but the trend is too clear, and the foreshadowing is too obvious, which is equivalent to the creator giving you spoilers. It can be said that there is no development in the whole film that we did not expect. There is no novelty in the reversal, and the audience will not have a feeling of surprise.
It's like assigning a math problem with multiple solutions to students. When you take a look at it, those who solve the problem and those who don't solve the problem use the same solution. Even the smartest child in the class uses the oldest method step by step. The solution of the set, can you criticize him for not being good? But I was always disappointed.
The plot of "Wolf Walker" is not thin, but the effect of attracting the audience is really weak.
There is one more thing to consider about the plot.
The failure of the villain Lord Protector is inevitable, but his way of closing the curtain is to say that God bless them to conquer nature, and then commit suicide, and there is no reflection from beginning to end; in the same way, the film does not explain the whereabouts of other Englishmen. We do not know how towns and forests coexist, quite Yu made a vague treatment on the relationship between man and nature.
Another shortcoming is the theme expression.
Didn't you just boast about the excellent theme of "Wolf Walker"? The deficiencies here refer to the way the subject is presented.
The problem is the same. The way the film expresses the theme is too straightforward and old-fashioned. The audience can think of the theme as soon as they see the character setting and the conflict of the plot. It doesn't need to think about it.
For example, it is like glutinous rice and fillings are spread on the zongzi leaves and steamed, and the things are brought to the front. Can it be called zongzi? Although it is the same to eat, it does not mean to eat zongzi.
To be honest, these two shortcomings cannot be regarded as insufficient, but the audience's requirements are higher. The background of the times and the background of the audience are different, and the creation of film and television works must also keep up with the changes.
Old stories can be told completely new. In recent years, some animated films have really surprised the audience.
For example, "Nezha's Devil Child Comes into the World" sets Nezha as a bad boy.
The slightly less popular "Klaus: The Secret of Christmas" reinterprets the origin of Santa Claus.
"Spiritual Journey" excavates the theme of "life" to the extreme. After reading it, I can only feel the lingering sound, which lasted for three days, and even did not know the taste of meat in March.
The advantage of animation is that it is not limited by the real space, not bound by the rules, as far as you can imagine, you can go as far.
It's a good thing that audiences are demanding.
This is my afterthought as a general audience, please forgive me for different opinions or inappropriate expressions :)
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