A Chinese Ghost Story

Original Title: 小倩 [Chinese]
Romanized: Xiao Qian
Literal:

Plot Synopsis

In China of days past, a young man is traveling the countryside collecting on old debts. But the rustic countryside is a land full of ghosts, along with a few eccentric exorcists bent on getting rid of them and showing each other up. In one corner is a boisterous fellow by the name of Redbeard and his giant ghost-busting mecha, and in the other is White Cloud and his sidekick, two monks with a passion for wiping out wayward spirits. When our intrepid traveler and his mutt happen upon a passel of spirits, he's saved and warned by one of those exorcists, but he's never been very good at following maps, and he finds himself in a ghost town that's quite crowded... with ghosts. In addition to the sights and sounds of the "city", the young fellow meets a rather pretty dead girl who's "dead" set (sorry) on grabbing his soul for her employer. But there's something more than that between them, and their bond will take them on one heck of a ride...

Review

Rating: 2.5 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2005-01-28

A Chinese Ghost Story is something like a children's animated version of the live action Hong Kong films of the same name. It is, not surprisingly, a largely Chinese production, though the visual style is basically anime and the plot enough so that it probably qualifies as such. That said, it seems more like a cross between a Disney feature and the Beetlejuice cartoon, with a semi-anime style and a heap of computer animation.

A Chinese Ghost Story definitely feels like a kids' movie, and not in the grand all-ages sense of Miyazaki productions. (I'm avoiding any Spirited Away comparisons; it may contain some stylistic and thematic nods to this film, but is very different otherwise and much better.) The characters are broad, the villains obvious (with the exception of the exorcists, who are more interesting), and the plot relatively light (this ghost story isn't a scary one) and generally simple. There are also several short musical numbers and a cute dog (at least he doesn't talk).

On the positive side of the production, I really like the two main characters and their relationship--somewhat antagonistic but still cute and sweetly romantic. The exorcists are also good; although their personalities are a bit over the top, their less-obvious-than-they-seem motives are more interesting than I first expected.

Another strength is the consistent sense of excitement and constant motion, without ever getting frantic or tiring. Some of the mechanics of the spirit world--the reincarnation train in particular--are relatively imaginative, too.

On the down side, the story is fittingly simple for a kids' movie; there is never much depth to the action, and much of the stuff in the ghost world that could have been scary or at least wild and whimsical ended up being weird for no good reason. That's where my comparison to Beetlejuice comes from; the wild-looking but basically uninteresting ghosts and normal-yet-bizarre settings (a walking staircase or a restaurant that serves human body parts, for example) remind me of that cartoon. Occasionally effective, but mostly these are pretty pedestrian by weirdness standards.

A bigger flaw is the story's tendency to jump to new scenes without any segue at all. This makes the whole thing feel jumpy, and a lot of the plot movement seems to happen without much rhyme or reason--the characters just end up somewhere because that's where they're supposed to be next. Perhaps this was intended as a nod to the functioning of the spirit world or classical storytelling tradition, but if so it didn't work.

In all, the story should be fine for younger kids, but it's too uneven for my taste.

Speaking of the kids, the brief musical numbers feel like an afterthought, tacked on in an awkward attempt to Disney-ize the production--the action usually keeps moving (sometimes over the singing), and they all get sort of cut off midway. The songs aren't memorable anyway, so it really would have been better without them, but at least they're easy to ignore. I would have expected an orchestral background for the rest of the soundtrack, but the few pieces that are even noticeable are quiet and uninspired.

The visuals are the movie's strongest point, but like the plot are split between good and underwhelming. The weakest parts are the uninteresting ghosts--mutant things that are neither scary nor creative--and the colorful ghost city, which resembles a stylized carnival or neon-encrusted villa. The best of it is, ironically, simple, natural scenes of sunlit woods or water--they have a wonderful sense of almost superrealistic beauty. The human (or human-like) character designs are also good (if a little more Disney than anime in some cases), and a few of the costumes are quite pretty.

The animation is interesting, as this is one of the earlier movies combining cel-based characters with largely computer-generated or -assisted backgrounds. The result is notably better than many other attempts from the same period (helped in part by good character animation), but some of the backgrounds are either too chaotic to look like anything at all (which isn't the fault of the technology) or so busy it's hard to make out the action. There is also some trouble with the cel-based characters lacking a firm "grip" on computer generated surfaces or objects, but most of the time it works.

On the positive side, several chase scenes benefit from the computer animation (in fact, they're some of the best parts of the movie). Those chases, along with a few flight sequences and a couple of exorcist-action scenes, provide more than enough quality action for the film.

The acting in the English dub isn't bad, but some of the characters are more over-the-top than necessary. It also seems like they're working very hard at making the English dialogue fit--there are several times I didn't see any mouths moving, and I wonder if some of the more obvious dialogue was even there to begin with. Even if they added comments to help the kids follow the action, it probably wasn't necessary.

A Chinese Ghost Story is basically a Disney movie with an unusually weird premise and a little bit of that anime spirit bringing it above the level it would have otherwise been stuck at. Younger viewers might enjoy it, but although it has some nice characters, attractive art, and some interesting use of computer animation, the plot is weak and it has enough of the marks of a made-for-the-kids movie that it probably won't appeal to most older viewers, especially those expecting something more along the lines of Miyazaki's "kids" movies.

Related Recommendations

Has a lot in common with Spirited Away, and to a lesser extent My Neighbor Totoro, both of which are much better. Also bears some resemblance to parts of Neo Tokyo, although only in visual style.

US DVD Review

The DVD features the English dub plus original Mandarin and Cantonese soundtracks, and English subtitles.

Content Guide

A few scenes that might scare very young kids, and there's a bit of romance, but pretty much suitable for any age.

Violence: 1 - There is a lot of action and a sense of danger, but other than the fact that everyone's already dead, there is a near zero body count.

Nudity: 0 - Nothing.

Sex/Mature Themes: 1 - A kiss or two.

Language: 0 - Nothing worth mentioning.

Notes and Trivia

This is based on a live-action series of Hong Kong films with the same English title (the Chinese titles are different, the live action versions being "Sinnui Yauman" and this one apparently being some sort of play on that). It is written, produced, and even edited by Tsui Hark (who also has a voice cameo in it), the producer of the original film trilogy. Mostly a Chinese production, though the visual style is largely anime.

Availability

Available from Geneon (though VIZ was also involved with the production) on hybrid English-Mandarin-Cantonese DVD. Was also available on dubbed VHS.

Looking to buy? Try these stores: RightStuf (search) | AnimeNation | Akemi's a(nime)Store