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Monster Hunt review: This is totally off target
Tackily blending live-action and animation, the wholly Chinese Monster Hunt is a story-light, action-heavy romp through an ancient fantasy realm.
Monster Hunt
Director: Raman Hui
Cast: Jing Boran, Bai Baihe
Rating: 0.5/5
In recent years China has emerged as a global production-distribution hub. Indeed, even this week’s sole American release, Point Break, has been co-financed by a mainland Chinese entertainment conglomerate.
Tackily blending live-action and animation, the wholly Chinese Monster Hunt is a story-light, action-heavy romp through an ancient fantasy realm. The tepid yarn centres on an internecine conflict between shape-shifting monsters and a human couple (Boran-Baihe) striving to protect the offspring of the monster queen. The royal baby and his surrogate parents are pursued by rival bounty hunters and a master chef who specializes in serving monster delicacies at his speciality restaurant.
The martial arts combats are surprisingly tame and the performances uniformly robotic. Hong-Kong-born animator Raman Hui had previously co-directed Shrek The Third, but here his talents seem to be in hibernation.
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In an obvious attempt to boost its prospects at the Indian box office, the film has been atrociously dubbed in English by a local voice cast. Incidentally, Monster Hunt is currently China’s highest grossing film of all time. Go figure.
