I Am What I Am

I think with this China has reached #3 in my unofficial "animated movie country" ranking. Before there was a tossup between France and the UK+Ireland but damn. This was not just absolutely stunning on a technical level but also impressed story-wise and what they had the balls to do in a Chinese movie to begin with. The lighting and environments in this were bordering on Photorealism and this contrasted with the "unique" character design might not be everyone's cup of tea but it was honestly stunning. Not to mention the animation of the lions heads, that was just something else. Impressive work and another Chinese Director and Animation Studio to keep an eye on.

I didn't really inform myself what I was gonna watch so my first thought was "oh. shit.. a Chinese kids movie... that's probably going to suck" but I don't think this has to hide to the big Western players in the field. Most noteable (to me) was certainly the 3d animation. Besides the odd face designs and some scenes involving water this not only looks really good but is damn near photo realistic in the lion dance scenes (I really would love to see a behind the scenes of that). While the movie is certainly goofy at times it surprisingly doesn't shy away from pointing towards the poor working conditions in the country (in whatever form that is allowed anyways). The conclusion offered is certainly a spectacle with the visuals but also makes good use of music so yeah, my bias was very wrong. It always bothered me a bit that the Chinese animation studios are eating away at the Japanese anime market already (which is relying on Korea, etc. too) but if this is the level of 3DCG they can offer then that bundled with good stories certainly makes them a force to be reckoned with even more.