'The Wind Guardians' flag bearer for Chinese animations
- By Zhang Rui
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E-mail China.org.cn, August 2, 2018
The new animation feature "The Wind Guardians" could be a dark horse of the packed summer film season and may hold the flag for rising Chinese animations.
The animation, directed by Liu Kuo and entirely domestic-made, is a production which blends Chinese fantasy, wuxia (kung fu heroes) and romance, mixed with humor to tell the story of a mother-and-son relationship. The director said this film is "a love letter to parents" at the premiere held in Beijing on Wednesday.
As the movie ends, a line in the credits reads: This film presents a tribute to our parents, because their care and protection for us is like the brilliant sunshine for our lives. It palpably touched the audience.
"This is the Chinese-style mother-and-son relationship," Liu elaborated, "Chinese people don't always say 'I love you' every day. But whenever you have needs, I will sacrifice for you, even my life.”
After three rounds of advanced screenings around China before it opens to the general public on Friday it has, so far, received positive feedback with a score of 9.2/10 from cinema exit polls.
Director-and-actor Xu Zheng is also a fan of the film and his support is not only verbal. His Beijing Joy Leader Culture Communication Co. is one of the investors of the animated feature. Joy Leader has also invested in three major blockbusters this year, including "A or B," "How Long Will I Love U" and phenomenal "Dying to Survive." What's more, his wife, actress Tao Hong, is the producer and the biggest investor of "The Wind Guardians" through her Hua Qing Chuan Qi Technology Co.
"I will take my kids to see all the animation films in the Chinese market," Tao said, "so I saw the gap between Chinese animations and American and Japanese ones. The biggest gap is that stories of Chinese animations are aimed at a group of very low age... Actually, a good animation is made for and enjoyed by both children and adults."
Director Liu added that he was determined to use an all Chinese team to make Chinese animations. "In many people's childhood, they may grow up with American and Japanese animations, but now, we Chinese animators are catching up. I hope more and more people can join us in the future."
Before Liu, several Chinese animation films have shown their power and potential in the market, including "Monkey King: Hero is Back" (2015) and "Bigfish & Begonia" (2016). "The Wind Guardians" is actually adapted from an animation series made by Beijing Rocen Digital Technology Corp., which has made many award-winning Chinese martial arts hero animation series for TV networks and internet video platforms.
"The Wind Guardians" will compete against as many as 10 other animations in the Chinese film market in August, including Wang Yunfei's "Yugo & Lala 4" (Aug. 3), Sino-Japanese coproduction "Flavors of Youth"(Aug. 4) and Sony's "Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation" (Aug. 17).
Two other big animation productions are "Crystal Sky of Yesterday" and "Next Gen" helmed respectively by Enlight Media and Alibaba Pictures, which announced they are avoiding the animation-packed summer and will find another release date.
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