Published in "Daily News" 2019.01
No matter from the perspective of screen technology or the integrity of the script, the domestic animated film "White Snake: Origin" has basically reached the qualified standard. Although there are also flaws such as dull expressions, rough sets, slightly rigid picture lines, and insufficient story reasoning, but with the support of the American technical team, this classic love story full of traditional Chinese style has been stable and complete. interpretation.
The emotional power to impress the audience first comes from the popular "Classic IP" of "The Legend of the White Snake". The "Legend of the New White Snake" has been replayed countless times. We spent every idle summer vacation. In the movie version of "Green Snake", Maggie Cheung and Wang Zuxian swayed their waists, enchanting and glamorous, which made the rigid and upright Fa Hai and us in our youth flustered.
Adapted from traditional Chinese texts and operas to popular film and television dramas, this love-hate entanglement between snake demons and humans has long preserved strong emotional memories for Chinese audiences, and it has also become a solid foundation for the animated version of "White Snake", allowing us to enjoy the first few days. In the picture and the introduction plot, quickly find the emotional fulcrum.
And the film has also done a good job of inheritance. In terms of character setting, Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing basically follow the personality and temperament of classical legends. Xu Xian has become a snake catcher, but his cuteness, cuteness and infatuation are still unresolved. Change, the usual villain Fa Hai is transplanted to the dark and vicious national teacher. He crosses the two worlds of human and demon, and sacrifices the emotions and souls of other creatures for one's selfish interests. This is similar to the main contradiction and core conflict that Fahai did not hesitate to break up a pair of lovers for the so-called "justice" and Buddhist cultivation, and created natural and man-made disasters such as "water flooding the golden mountains".
Interestingly, the film also pays homage to the previous white snake classic with some cute easter eggs. Many scenes of the interaction between the blue and white sisters imitate the scenes of the movie version, using umbrellas to show love, hosta to prolong life and other props and the episode "Crossing Love". ", etc., belong to the reference and remodeling of "The Legend of the New White Snake", which can often make those who know it smile quietly.
The color style and picture composition are very close to Hong Kong's new martial arts movies such as "A Chinese Ghost Story" and "The White-Haired Witch". This may be the nostalgic complex hidden in the director's heart, but it can also be compared with the rather modern character image and graphic style. Complement each other. Not only that, the harsh tasks and difficult survival of the people in the snake-catching village are reminiscent of "Snake Catcher's Story", and the West Lake Broken Bridge at the end of the film is naturally connected with the classic narrative. This series of foreshadowing and details effectively carry the audience's initial expectations for the legend of the White Snake.
The technical support of the American team has injected a more obvious Disney style into the picture style and story structure. The style of the characters is very similar to the characters that appeared in "Mulan", and the scenes such as villages, mountain temples, and heavenly courts have amazing mature settings and complete renderings, which can also be seen as a breakthrough attempt at the technical level of domestic animation. In recent years, excellent national comic works such as "Kuiba", "Big Fish and Begonia", and "Big World" have all impressed the audience with their own characteristics, and have also achieved good reputation. But there will always be some flaws in the details of the style of painting, the idea of the script or the setting of the scene. In comparison, "White Snake: The Origin" has a better degree of completion. Whether it is a love across races or a three-way struggle between humans, monsters, and demons, every clue has been fully resolved. At the same time, multiple clues are also continuously advanced through the compact plot, and finally reach the climax and achieve the expectations.
Of course, the film also has obvious flaws, perhaps due to the lack of funds and investment, and the roughness of many details can still be felt. Although it is slightly better than "The Jazz", it is still far from the real Disney level. gap. The character style setting is too simple, and the expression details and action special effects are not enough, so that they receive extreme ridicule at the level of "QQ show".
In addition, viewers can perceive that the director intends to frame the three opposing parties of human beings, demons and the gray area represented by the national teacher, but in the specific narrative, it is still unable to portray the conflict and emotional opposition of the three parties. Sufficient, this not only weakens the appeal of the final battle, but also creates an understanding barrier for young audiences who lack the memory of the legend.
These defects, which have affected the quality of the film, need to be explored and grown by the production team at the technical level, but they also provide some reference for the sustainable development of domestic animation. Compared with animation production companies such as Disney and Pixar, Guoman still has a big gap in terms of imagination, picture drawing and story script, and it is even less comparable to big companies such as Marvel and DC that have established fantasy worlds and hero systems. sex. There is no problem in the direction of in-depth Chinese traditional culture and classic legends, but in terms of technology and depth of exploration, we still have more detailed work to be implemented, and more and greater breakthroughs are waiting to be completed.
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