Opinion     

Monkey King rules

Beijing Review, August 26, 2015

• The promotional strategies of the film focused on reviving moviegoers' enthusiasm for animated works.

  Last June, a first music video for the film was uploaded to Bilibili.com, a leading Chinese cartoon video streaming site, and received 4 million hits within a short period of time. The video successfully captured the attention of the post-80s and post-90s generation, who have a strong affinity for homegrown animation. Such age groups later became the main force behind promoting the film on social networking media.

  Meanwhile, film critics, business leaders and pop stars in 19 cities across China were invited to see the film for free before its release, resulting in effective word-of mouth exposure.

  "The responses of the first batch of audiences were varied. Some said that the pictures were gorgeous, while others noted that the music had a nice feel. Such comments have piqued the interest of other moviegoers in seeing the film in person," said Yang Dan, Vice President of Beijing Weiying Technology Co. Ltd., one of the film's distributors.

  A new era?

  However, the film's success doesn't imply that the quality of Chinese animated films has improved in general.

  None of the handful of films of the same genre that hit the screens this summer has been able to recapture the magic of Monkey King: Hero Is Back, among them the much anticipated Mr. Black: Green Star produced by the Shanghai Animation Film Studio, the oldest and largest cartoon film producer in China. Most of these films have been criticized as being too naïve and childish for adult audiences.

  At a seminar on the film in Beijing on August 4, participants agreed that animated works catering for people of all ages should be produced.

  Additionally, experts believe that traditional Chinese culture and values should be further explored.

  "What has made a comeback with the film is the Chinese style and traditional Chinese culture," noted Zhong Chengxiang, President of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles.

  Tian said that he plans to shoot two sequels, with the first expected in two years.

  They will focus on the Monkey King's adventures before and after embarking on a journey to the West to seek the teachings of the Buddha, he revealed.

   

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