Review: Little Door Gods

A movie poster of Little Door Gods, a Chinese full-length animation

Hello I'm back to Hong Kong! I have finally completed an epic journey, and am ready to tell more stories again.

I'll be going back and rewriting about my Silk Road trip in more detail, though there will be some Hong Kong new stories interspersed in between.

Raindrop learns about tradition and culture in the story

In the meantime on the plane I watched a few movies. From Urumqi, Xinjiang to Beijing, I watched a full length animation feature called Little Door Gods.

The premise is that all Chinese gods have lost their jobs because people nowadays don't believe in them anymore. They range from the God of Earth, Guanyin or Goddess of Mercy, Insect King, Wine God, Dragon Mother, and so on.

They have to take retraining courses otherwise they will lose their job, except for the God of Wealth, who has spun himself into a DJ-like character who sits on a flashing casino-like pedestal and wears modern clothes.

Raindrop befriends Shentu, who is looking for brother Yulei

Other than the God of Wealth, the only other gods that seem to be able to keep their traditional jobs are the door gods, brothers Shentu and Yulei, though their popularity is waning.

That story line is juxtaposed with today, featuring a girl called Raindrop and her mother who take over her grandmother's wonton shop. Raindrop encounters the two door gods in a wild adventure and she learns the importance of having Shentu and Yulei on your door.

It's an amusing but also informative story with lots of action to keep kids interested. The evil monster Nian looks like a precursor to Te Ka in Disney's Moana, both looking like nasty wood-like characters, though both films were released in 2016.

Shentu and Yulei are the door gods posted on people's doors

Perhaps even more intriguing is that Little Door Gods was distributed by Alibaba Pictures, eager to get into the cultural sector.

There wasn't any buzz of this animation feature that I know of in Hong Kong -- it would have had a decent play here, being kid friendly, though humour-wise it's not non-stop like The Lego Movie or hilarious like Moana with the rooster sidekick.

Regardless we enjoyed it and are curious to know what else Alibaba PIctures has up its sleeve. It's already a good step in the right direction.

Little Door Gods (2016)

Written and directed by Gary Wang

Produced by Light Chaser Animation Studios

Distributed by Alibaba Pictures and The Weinstein Company

107 Minutes

Review: Moana

Moana is another fun action adventure about finding your calling

I had extra time off for Lunar New Year and decided to check out another movie, Moana with YTSL at The One in Tsim Sha Tsui. This mall is so narrow that it really shouldn't be a mall, as the space is very awkward, and also manoeuvering to get around is tedious going up and down several escalators, or waiting for lifts.

Anyway Walt Disney seems to have ursuped Pixar completely, as the preceding credits made no mention of the plucky desk light that jumps on the letter "I" in Pixar.

A short film advising to follow your heart for some fun

And now, like Zootopia, there is a short animation completely unrelated to the feature film as a warm-up act. For Zootopia, it was a love story between two Hawaiian volcanoes, which now in retrospect was a hint of Moana, and this time it was Inner Workings.

It's a hand drawn animation that at first looks like a biology lesson in how the human body works (albeit very simplistic), how the brain, heart, lungs and bladder function. The body we see belongs to a young man who rushes to work, but along the way he is distracted by a delicious pancake breakfast, the beautiful beach, and an attractive sunglass stall owner.

However his brain puts his heart, or emotional side in check before arriving just in time to work at Boring, Boring & Glum. It's another reminder to not have a boring job -- how many people in the audience would be nodding? -- and to find your passion in life.

Moana is a strong-willed determined character in the film

Does this mean the next feature length animation will be similar to Inside Out? Stay tuned.

Moana is a great girl power story -- seems like Disney is keen on female heroes these days, as boys don't seem to mind characters like Frozen's Elsa, Merida in Brave, and bunny rabbit Judy Hopps in Zootopia.

Here Moana is the daughter and heir to the chief of the Polynesian island of Motonui, and even as a child she has an adventurous spirit, keen on going into the ocean. However, her father forbids not only her but everyone else from going past the reef, following his own scary experience when he was younger.

But the island's natural environment is deteriorating, so there is not enough coconuts, fruits or fish to feed on. Moana's grandmother tells her she must save the island by taking a green stone that is the heart of goddess Te Fiti and return it to her. It was stolen by a demi-god called Maui, and he must help Moana bring it back to Te Fiti.

Does Maui (left) look like Dwayne Johnson (right)?

It's not clear how old Moana is in the film, but probably a teenager. It's interesting she was not drawn to have the old school Barbie doll shape, but a very sturdy and strong-looking young woman who is also strong-willed and clever.

There's some hilarious scenes involving a really dumb rooster, a very shiny crab with a huge ego, and an army of evil coconut creatures.

When the characters sang, particularly Moana, they felt like they were written and staged to look like a musical. Is this something in the works for Moana, the Musical? Perhaps it has something to do with Lin-Manuel Miranda of Hamilton fame for writing the lyrics.

Heihei the Rooster is Moana's sidekick, but not that helpful

In any event, girls will enjoy watching the film, boys will get a kick out of Maui, played by "The Rock" Dwayne Johnson -- and yes he can sing! His tattoos are fun too.

The animation here is really impressive. As you watch each successive feature, the computer generated images become progressively more sophisticated. This time the focus was on the hair, the sea, the details of feathers and skin. Even compared to Inside Out, Moana has far more detail that is really exciting to see and appreciate.

Moana

Directed by Ron Clements and Jon Musker

Co-directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams

Auli'i' Cravalho as Moana

Dwayne Johnson as Maui

Jemaine Clement as Tamatoa (the treasure-hoarding crab)

Alan Tudyk as Heihei, the rooster