Monster Hunt, Review: Happy hunting

A project that took 10 years to make it to the screen, Monster Hunt rewards you with a good catch of lovable anthromorphic characters and oodles of humour, with numerous subtle messages of inclusion, anti-stereo-typing and tolerance, interwoven into rich tapestry.

In medieval China, monsters ruled the land. Then humans fought an all-out war against them, in an attempt to seize the land. They outwitted the monsters and succeeded in driving them into the dark mountains. Ever since, monsters were forbidden to step into the human-controlled land again. If they were found transgressing, they would be captured and exterminated. Radish, ball and vertical tortoise like baby monster Huba is the child of an on-the-run  monster queen that is thrust into the mouth of a man, Song Tian-Yin, as a fœtus, grows in his stomach and, after gestation, is born the same way—popping out of his mouth, even as preparations are underway to perform a caesarian on him. He is threatened by both monster-hating humans and tyrant monsters attempting to capture him. Hua Xiao-Lan, a monster catcher, feels sympathy for Huba, and with Song Tian-Yin, she decides to save him from human bounty hunters and hostile monsters in human form.

Written by Alan Yuen in 2009, the script draws heavily from Men in Black (aliens with human masks), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (airborne humans battling in forests) and several other sources, including Chinese mountain monster fantasy books. There is little that is new in the story, and the film relies heavily on CGI designed creatures and some quaint humour to keep the narrative interesting. In fact, the script meanders in the second quarter, but manages to claw back afterwards. The second half is much more fun.

Raman Hui is a Hong Kong born director who started his career as a cel(l) animator in an advertising firm. Then, he moved to Canada to do a computer animation course at Sheridan College and later moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he worked as a junior animator at Pacific Data Images, a company that was later acquired by Dreamworks Animation. There, he ultimately became the supervising animator and character designer on Antz. Shrek and Shrek 2 followed, and he got to co-direct his first feature film, Shrek the Third. Monster Hunt is Raman’s first live action movie, though there is a ton of CGI involved. Before shooting Monster Hunt, Dreamworks sent him to India for two years, where, because of his name, Raman (a popular Indian first-name), people thought he was at least half Indian. (His father wanted to call him Raymond, but he didn’t know good English, so the spelling went wrong). At the end of his stint, he didn’t want to leave India.

Hui has had it tough. CGI and live animation were not his scene. To add to his woes, his leading man Kai Ko was arrested in Beijing on drug charges, in 2014, after most of the film had been shot. The producers did not want to associate with an indicted actor, and replaced him with Jing Bo-Ran, which meant 32 days of re-shooting. All things considered, the film offers acceptable over-the-top performances, abundant humour (the male pregnancy bit can get a little uneasy, though), cuddly monster forms, engrossing action, exciting espionage, more than a handful of plot twists and a climax that would have been taxing had it not been peppered with masala, as it luckily is. Base FX in Beijing deserves kudos for the film's visual effects.

The local distributor informed me that the film was dubbed in the US with Indian voices, especially for the Indian market. Asked why was the dubbing not done in India, he said that a lot of permissions and supervision would have been needed. (Incidentally, Raman Hui could barely speak English when he went to Canada, but now speaks it like a native American).

In the cast are:

Bai Bai-He as Hua Xiao-Lan

Jing Bo-Ran as Song Tian-Yin

Jiang Wu as Luo Gang

Elaine Jin as Grandmother

Wallace Chung as Ge Qian-Hu

Eric Tsang as Gao

Sandra Kwan Yue Ng as Ying

Monster Hunt is happy hunting for both children and adults. Sit back and have a good time. While at it, the adult in you can also unpeel the layers of social commentary that is hidden under the riot of colours and stunning, yet soothing, visuals.

Rating: ***1/2

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UegOO1rEbB0