DVD Movie Review: Monster Hunt

Monster Hunt (UK Rating: 12)

The movie opens on the queen monster, heavily pregnant, fleeing with her loyal retainers as renegade monsters try to stop them, led by a general that looks like a heavily deformed cross between Goro and Toothless. It takes some getting used to the monster designs; the weird, tubby, blobby creatures looking part jelly baby, part creepy Shrek style Orc. The fleeing monsters come to a human village, which lies on the border between the human lands and the forests of the monsters, a village headed up by the young Song Tianyin, mayor to the village and hero of this story.

The introduction to this village sets the tone for the film; it's a very slapstick style comedy action flick. Song finds himself between the monsters and a pair of monster hunters - the beautiful, but short-tempered, Huo Xiaolan, and the veteran hunter, Luo Gang. The Monster Queen is stuck between a rock and a hard place with the mammoth monster still on their tale and now these monster hunters tracking them down, and with her last breath she passes her baby to Song and begs him to keep the baby safe. Song ends up teaming up with Huo thanks to her beauty and her overpowering temper. She's new to monster hunting and thinks that the huge bounty on this baby monster will set her up for life. That bounty has been placed by a shadowy Chinese lord who kidnaps Song's entire village, who seem to have some secrets of their own.

Few will be familiar with the cast but there are some major stars from China taking part in this. Bia Baihe as Huo is clearly the star here, and her manic and often insane performances break out ahead of Jing Boran's wimpy hero. There's a bigger story there, though. Boran was not originally cast as the star here, with that instead being Taiwanese actor Kai Ko; in fact, the whole film was finished with him starring. Then, while in post-production, Kai was arrested in Beijing for drugs. China takes a hard stance on drugs, so much so that the whole movie was completely re-shot. The backstage drama would make a fascinating film itself! While the new hero is so-so, the supporting cast makes up for it. Jiang Wu is a likeable villain/eventual anti-hero and the Queen's retainers - played by venerable comedy duo, Eric Tsang and Sandra Kwan Yu Ng - are perfect as comedy relief both in combat and in their human forms.

There are two bonus features on the DVD; a trailer and a "Making of" featurette. Considering the mixed media method of producing the special effects of the film, and the mixed production crews from around the world, this is absolutely fascinating. The first minute and a half or so of this looks to be a really enjoyable piece, and then it ends. This is a terrible missed opportunity; it's like a trailer for the making of, giving glimpses of the making of the practical effects, interviews with the actors, and on location filming, only for none of it to be included.

7/10

Very Good - Bronze Award

The plot may be convoluted and the strange wobbly CGI creatures frequently off-putting, but the end result is a wonderful and magical film the whole family can enjoy. It is absolutely perfect for this time of year. It's a shame there's no dub for the younger children in the audience, though, but they will at least enjoy the slapstick battles that are abundant throughout. Those who do enjoy Monster Hunt can look forward to the sequel, which is due for release in China next year.