Legend of the White Snake is a big IP of Chinese folk tales, and if the film adaptation is not good, it will be criticized.
The team of "White Snake: Origin" is very smart. They do not correct the biography and change the prequel, which is the story of Xu Xian saving the white snake in the previous life. In the classic TV series "Legend of the New White Snake", the little white snake was caught by the hunter, and Xu Xian bought the white snake from the hunter and released it. "White Snake: Origin" is an adaptation and expansion of this story. Therefore, the main story in the film takes place in the Tang Dynasty and is presented in the form of Xiaobai's memories.
At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the emperor was sluggish, the national teacher was in power, and the national teacher caught snakes and practiced the law. The snake demon Xiaobai was ordered by the teacher to assassinate the national teacher. He failed and lost his memory. He was rescued by the captured snake man A Xuan, and the two gradually developed a good feeling. Axuan leads Xiaobai to look for memories, but is chased by snake demons Tokiwa and Xiaoqing, and enters the lock demon tower by mistake. Xiaobai retrieves his memory and determines that he is the snake demon queen and decides to leave Axuan. However, he unexpectedly obtained the right method and was promoted to a violent python. With the help of Axuan and Xiaoqing, he won a series of hard battles with the national teacher and the master. Finally, he used the pearl hairpin to keep Axuan's soul and make him enter the reincarnation cycle. Time goes back to the Southern Song Dynasty, Hangzhou West Lake Broken Bridge, the pearl hairpin as a matchmaker, Xiaobai Xiaoqing meets the reincarnated A Xuan.
This domestic movie is really strong.
High-precision and distinctive personality. The shape of the protagonist Xiaobai is combined with the snake spirit in the classic animation "Gourd Baby", and the image of Bai Suzhen in the classic TV series "The Legend of the New White Lady", with big slanted eyes, small cherry mouth, small triangular face, long hair fluttering White yarn, long legs are exposed, beautiful, dignified, sexy and cute; Xiaoqing's image is also in line with the appearance of Xiaoqing when he first appeared in "The Legend of the New White Lady", with a slanted head and a long ponytail, dressed in a cool green uniform, with a naughty and strong personality; the male protagonist Ah Xuan is more lively and cheerful, but he is a snake catcher, but I don't know why he keeps throwing a few torn tarpaulins on his head (it must be that women in the modeling group see more women than men); Lovely, the national teacher's yin and ugly, the national teacher's apprentice and the little Taoist priest are neither yin nor yang, as well as the frightened little lantern, etc. These characters are very unique and attractive. Especially Xiaoqing's feelings for Xiaobai, the trance-like relationship between the female and female Lala is really "advancing with the times", which is also a tribute to Tsui Hark's film "Green Snake".
The expressions of the characters are delicate and subtle. After Xiaobai fell into the water and got up from the bed, the attitude of suspicion and precaution was expressed quite accurately through the changes in the expressions of his eyebrows and eyes; Xiaoqing's complex expression of teasing and loving towards Xiaobai was fully expressed.
The narrative is smooth and fast-paced. The editing skills are proficient and there are no redundant shots. For example, in the previous shot, Xiaobai was defeated and submerged in the water. .
The action is quick and agile. The fighting scene is the highlight of this movie. The spell battle is quite exciting. It not only inherits the cheerfulness and neatness of "The Return of the Great Sage", but also shows the spell skills with effects such as light and shadow destruction. The action is fast and smooth without any sloppiness. It is close to the real shooting and more handsome and unrestrained than the real fighting.
The scene is carefully constructed, and the picture is fresh and beautiful. Several scenes such as Baoqingfang, Snake Catching Village, Locking Demon Pagoda, Buddhist pagoda, caves, and river flows are constructed intricately and beautifully, and the modeling design is very careful. Almost every frame of every big scene shot can be taken as the desktop. As an animation, the composition and color are used to the extreme. The large saturation and large scenes are pleasing to the eye. wind.
The voice acting is good. The protagonist voice actors have dubbed several popular TV dramas, and this time the dubbing is also natural and impeccable.
Many creative points are impressive. The boulders in the pool in Baoqingfang turn the world upside down, the characters on the walls are forged projections, the crane-shaped golden needles transformed from the magic robes of the pagodas and the little Taoist priests, the origami formations of the national masters and the final decisive battle are all amazing. .
These advantages are concentrated in "White Snake: Origin", which in my heart has surpassed "The Return of the Great Sage" three years ago (I have almost forgotten the plot of "The Return of the Great Sage", and now it feels like I watched a picture back then Animation films with good action and incomplete plots), the distance between "White Snake: Origin" and Hollywood animation films is getting closer and closer.
But there are several areas that are clearly set apart by Hollywood animated films.
Dialogue mouth. In the characters of Hollywood animation movies, the mouth shapes of the dialogues are consistent with or close to the actual English speech shapes, and the mouth shapes in "White Snake: Origin" are partially close to the Mandarin ones.
Actions of supporting characters. The action level of the characters in "White Snake: Origin" is already very high, but the actions of the supporting characters have not been taken care of. The actions of the villagers, horses, soldiers and other groups are still unnatural like puppets, and there are several dresses that the main characters fall to the ground. Swing amplitude speed does not look very natural.
The models of the supporting characters are rough. This problem may be caused by funding and production cycle.
There is basically no expression of the theme, and the character growth is too smooth. " White Snake : Origin" tells a comfortable and idealized love story. There is no deep theme behind this story. As a snake catcher, Ah Xuan basically has no psychological turning point, and he smoothly stands with the snake demon Xiaobai. Together. If you are moved by Xiaobai's kindness, but there is no show of Xiaobai's kindness in the movie, even if you like Xiaobai's beauty, you don't show Xiaobai's beauty from the perspective of Axuan, what is the reason for Axuan's determination? Di and Xiaobai were together, and the film did not give a motive. Maybe the producers also thought that the audience had already decided that Axuan and Xiaobai were a couple at the beginning of the story, and that they didn't need a reason or a process to fall in love, so they simplified the process. .
Deliberately turning a cartoon that could have been family-friendly into an adult animated film. I don't know whether the labels of adult animations in recent years represent a sense of quality, such as "Big Fish and Begonia", or represent the depth of the theme, such as "The Great Protector". "White Snake: Origin" deliberately sticks itself in the category of adult movies. For this positioning, Xiaobai took the initiative to hold hands, take the initiative to hug, take the initiative to kiss, take the initiative to undress and fit, and the last three actions were done in one go. When I saw the undressing in the cinema, the atmosphere in the movie hall was very awkward. These scenes also represent that the movie automatically gave up the market group of children and teenagers. I don't know what the parents who brought their children to the theater think. I spent a few minutes searching through all the animated movies I've seen in my mind, but I couldn't come up with another animated movie scene that combines male and female. If the scenes of kissing and fitting are deleted, I don't think it will affect the whole movie plot, so that it can be accepted by more and younger audiences and parents.
There is no popular theme song. A good theme song is actually quite effective in promoting a movie. A good theme song has been widely sung before the movie is released, and fans' dissemination of the theme song after the movie is released is a catalyst for movie promotion. Animated films such as "Kung Fu Panda" and "Frozen" all have loud theme songs, the style is cheerful and pleasant, and the melody is easy to remember. The theme song of "White Snake: Origin" was also sung by Zhou Shen, which is far from the height of the Hollywood animation theme song.
A smooth narrative does not mean that the narrative is flawless. This movie makes the audience's emotions not much ups and downs during the viewing process. Apart from liking and moving, the audience does not receive too much emotional stimulation in terms of panic, worry, dislike, suspicion, hatred, etc., and the brain basically does not think. It is a very relaxed Movie viewing experience (myself is like this, everyone's movie viewing experience is different). But with a little thought, many of the details don't seem reasonable. For example, the gradual change of Axuan's feelings towards Xiaobai mentioned above is not convincing enough, and Xiaobai's emotional change towards Axuan is even more incredible. Although the screenwriter deliberately created several coincidences and accidents for Axuan and Xiaobai to have physical contact, as well as flying together, crossing a water hole, rafting on the river, and singing together for a few short periods of time, but these two are opposite to Xiaobai. Ah Xuan's emotional development is not very convincing. It may be appropriate to deliberately think that Xiaobai is a snake demon, and it is appropriate to crave for human feelings to "decipher in depth";
Similarly, after the lock demon tower came out, Xiaobai suddenly asked Axuan to leave and returned to the master camp by himself. This change was so sudden, and the film did not show Xiaobai's inner struggle at this time, and the two were still on a skin-to-skin blind date in the first few shots. It was only in the back that he briefly explained that Xiaobai was entangled in the different paths of human beings and demons; after driving away Axuan, Xiaobai and Xiaoqing did not immediately return to the master camp, but waited quietly in the tower, as if returning to the snake demon camp. This matter is not so urgent and important, which contradicts the act of driving A Xuan just now. It might be better if you hurried back to the camp to meet the national master and apprentice. Of course, the dazzling battle at the top of the tower will be redesigned; and why does the fox demon help Xiaobai improve the pearl hairpin for free? What price was paid to the fox demon film did not explain; why did it take a few minutes at the beginning to talk about Xiaobai's amnesia in the Song Dynasty, and then enter the Tang Dynasty to tell stories (did you learn from "Titanic"?), why not directly from the Tang Dynasty It doesn't seem to have any impact on the big story. At the end, isn't the picture more touching when Xiaobai looks back and smiles? Why add a chat-style line to weaken the sense of ceremony of this scene? The pearl hairpin is such an important weapon that can absorb mana, affect the victory or defeat of the battle, and cause memory loss from time to time. In the martial arts, the dragon-slaying sword Yitianjian is a must-have for everyone. In the movie, it is often discarded at will; at the end of the war, Xiaobai has been drained of his mana, but in the end, he used his pearl hairpin to use his mana to save Ah Xuan's soul...
Other gaps in publicity...just tearful.
If this movie shows Xiaobai's desire to cultivate a human form and the inner struggle of becoming a humanoid himself as a demon; A Xuan was initially blinded by the national teacher, and after seeing Xiaobai's true temperament and true quality, he accepted her identity as a demon, and thus Falling in love with Xiaobai... If the inner growth of these characters is displayed, the dramatic conflict and expressive tension will be more abundant, and the film will be more three-dimensional and more endearing. Of course, it will also require more production cycle and cost.
"White Snake: Origin" is not only the best domestic animated film, but also the conscience of the film industry - a rare film that does not do 3D but only 2D.
Since "Avatar", almost all theaters around the world have been updated with 3D projection equipment. It has been ten years since then. The screen brightness effect of the new equipment was naturally good ten years ago. However, within ten years, few theaters have voluntarily replaced the hernia that has already expired. In many theaters, the brightness of 3D movies is low, the picture is blurred, and the night scene is even darker. Even if it is reported on the Internet that the viewing effect of Huaxing UME, which has the best IMAX effect in Beijing, is not satisfactory. In fact, after the movie enters the plot for ten minutes, 2D and 3D don't matter to the audience. 3D wearing glasses for a long time makes my eyes tired, so 2D viewing is really enjoyable. Compared with the 130 yuan IMAX 3D version of "Predator City", the 38 yuan 2D version of "White Snake: Origin" is less than one-third of the former (very disappointed with "Predator City", and also disappointed with Peter the Great). Although many movies also have 2D versions, the number of 2D versions in theaters will be pitiful. In today's world, there are very few consciences who do not make 3D movies except for literary and artistic movies.
For animated films, the cost of making 3D and IMAX 3D versions is much less than the cost of live-action films. For the cinema chain, it is natural to arrange more films for 3D and IMAX movies with high ticket prices, and the arrangement of 2D films is at the end of the consideration.
The filmmaker of "White Snake: Origin" seems to be big enough and doesn't seem to care about the box office of this movie. This can also be "verified" from the promotion of this movie.
The movie is about to be released, and the online promotion of this movie has just started. There are very few promotional materials. So far, I have not seen any posters or other forms of publicity on the roadside or other locations in Beijing. The Return of the Holy Ghost is still the reason for insufficient funds. The promotion of Light Chasing Animation is so fresh and refined, it is simply a clear stream in the animation industry and the film and television industry. How can Warner, which is jointly produced, deserve it.
It is said that the production cost of "White Snake: Origin" is about 80 million (compared to Hollywood, the cost of "Crazy Primitives" is about 140 million US dollars, which is about 950 million yuan", including 3D version and IMAX3D version). By around 18:00 on January 27, the box office on the 17th day of the release was about 291 million yuan, and the chasing animation will not be disbanded.
I am just a drop of running water, and I have pulled my colleagues to brush twice. I hope more people will support this conscientious boutique domestic animation, look forward to the sequel, and look forward to better domestic animation.
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