The Return of the Great Sage of Journey to the West: A watershed work in contemporary China
After watching this 3D cartoon "Return of the Great Sage of Journey to the West", it is known as the conscience of domestic animation industry. The first feeling is: Indeed, this is a film that can be called the watershed of contemporary China.
196 1 year, the first episode of "make trouble in heaven" was released in China. This animation, which is truly rooted in China's traditional culture and has the characteristics of China's national costume, not only brings both audio-visual enjoyment and shock, but also features its prioritized rhythm and nuanced singing like Beijing Opera, which is a perfect combination of art and entertainment, and also represents China animation at that time.
Unfortunately, this movie "Make a scene in Heaven" also proves that the decline of contemporary China animation is not always so bad. More than half a century ago, we were brilliant. Contemporary China animation, however, gives people an embarrassing and cold feeling, which is not only seriously lacking in artistry, but also young in story plot, and even a lot of speculation will ruin the eyes of three viewers. China's contemporary animated film market really needs a masterpiece of stone to make a blockbuster, and the return of the Great Sage of Journey to the West has indeed been achieved.
On the one hand, The Return of the Great Sage has the intention to pay tribute to and develop the "havoc in Heaven". Many times, we can hear that it uses a lot of classic soundtracks of "Make a scene in Heaven", and at the same time of plot turning, there is often an enhancement of traditional soundtracks. In character modeling and scene design, we inherited many characteristics of China's national arts and crafts, and incorporated a lot of distinctive and bold CGI special effects. On the basis of inheritance, we can also break the routine and keep the national style of this cartoon, making it more acceptable to audiences of all ages. It is not easy to try to move towards international animated blockbusters.
In my opinion, the 3D depth of field effect, picture composition, color matching, scene design and other technical aspects of Return of the Great Sage have reached the level of Hollywood animated films, and it is a new model of contemporary domestic animation. As long as you walk into the cinema, when the feature film begins in the dark, you will find that it is different from other contemporary domestic animation, in other words, it is the most mature and attentive contemporary domestic animation in technology. Its picture is magnificent and its painting style is comparable to that of other countries in the same period. The only technical defect of the Great Sage's return is the confusion and disunity of the characters in the modeling, which has little influence on the whole film.
On the other hand, the story of the Great Sage's return is also of great educational significance to children. The parents sitting next to me kept telling their children to be strong and brave. In fact, there is still much room for improvement in the artistry of their plays. Compared with its technology, there are still many problems in this aspect in the play, which also dwarfs the whole movie. For example, the anticlimactic ending is too hasty, the turning point is not full enough, the behavior of characters sometimes lacks bedding and logic, and jokes occasionally have a stiff and deliberate feeling. There is no shortage of technology. What is lacking is the innovation of stories and the imagination of details, just like Frozen, Mr. and Mrs. Claude and Spirited Away. However, despite its shortcomings, the script of Return of the Great Sage is still considered to be the best in contemporary domestic animation.
The story of the Great Sage's return began in Chang 'an, a city ravaged by mountain demons. Jiang Liuer, who lost his parents in the turmoil, was adopted and raised by an old monk. He has a lasting fascination with the legends of the Monkey King. At the same time, the real the Monkey King didn't wake up at the foot of Wuxing Mountain. The solar eclipse is coming, and the Lich King wants to steal the sacrifices of boys and girls in the city. Jiang Liuer saved a strange little girl, fled into the mountains, and mistakenly liberated the Monkey King, the Great Sage of Monkey. At this time, his spell seal is still there, and the Monkey King is just a monkey who knows martial arts.
Jiang Liuer, seeing the legendary hero, still regarded him as an idol and followed closely, giving the Monkey King courage and confidence. Although he has no super powers, he can still save the children captured by the devil with dignity. In the decisive battle with the Lich King, Jiang Liuer protected others with his own body, and the Monkey King, who was extremely sad, broke the seal and restored the Monkey King's body, and the film came to an abrupt end.
The story of the Great Sage's return is not complicated, but it is very smooth and can be understood by children. It is a variation of traditional The Journey to the West. The story of the Monkey King, which was originally vacant, was enlarged in the process of unsealing, which is similar to The Journey to the West in Stephen Chow to some extent.
I like The Return of the Great Sage, and I repeatedly emphasize the concepts of the Monkey King, Monkey King and the Monkey King Muppet, which symbolizes the simple belief of everyone's childhood and the immortality of China's traditional classics over time. Each of us grew up watching and listening to the story of the Monkey King. Every generation in China has its own the Monkey King. Although they are already familiar with him, they will still be full of emotions.
It is said that the Great Sage will shoot a trilogy when he returns. I hope that the latter two films will keep and develop the first technology, and at the same time, the story will be more rounded and the characters will be fuller. At the end of the film, I also saw that this animation was done for eight years, and the first five years were at my own expense. It was later completed through crowdfunding. I can't help but feel two points: one is the difficulty of conscience animation, and the other is the maturity of animation technology in China in recent years.