3.0/5
Monster Hunt was a monstrous hit in China and garnered good revenue worldwide too. The film was set in a fictional past where monsters and humans lived side by side but in different realms. A man Song Tianyin (Jing Boran) giving birth to a monster baby who encounters a female monster hunter called Huo Xiaolan (Bai Baihe). Sparks fly between them, however and both the man and woman unite to save the monster baby from the evil schemes of both monsters and humans alike. In the end, the couple decide to sent the monster baby to the monster realm in his own interest.
The sequel starts with them having second thoughts about their decision and wanting Wuba back. Wuba runs away from his monster guardians when he learns that some evil monsters are out to get him. He befriends a small time crook Tu Sigu (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), whose monster friend Ben-Ben can become invisible. Basically, the film is about Tu Sigu escaping one bunch of creditors after other in succession, falling into many misadventures in the process including being sawed in the half by a newbie magician. And the other strand includes Tianyin and Xiaolan’s search for their baby. They take the help of Yun Qing (Yo Yang), an officer of the Monster Hunter bureau. The humans and the monsters come together for a glorious showdown in the end, paving the way for another sequel.
The film doesn’t take the story forward at all. We still don’t know why Wuba is of such importance that evil factions of both humans and monsters are after him. But who cares as it’s cuteness quotient is twice as much as the first film. Wuba is part Groot, part your favourite cuddly toy and a carrot rolled into one. You want to get inside the film’s frame and want to hug him. The film also touches upon the universal concepts of ‘family is everything’ and that one shouldn’t judge someone by their appearance, as the monsters in the film are more sorted than humans, who are shown to be either two-faced or are grumpy, uncertain beings afraid of what life throws at them. The CGI is way better than the first one, with the human actors seamlessly interacting with the computerised actors.
Director Raman Hui who began his journey at DreamWorks brings in all the experience gained at the American company and mixes it with lessons learnt from his Chinese ancestry to make a film that offers the best of the both worlds. It’s nice to see a method actor like Tony Leung take a backseat to CGI and yet making most of his comic role. The film opened to a record breaking run at the Chinese box office and in essence is milestone towards the fact that the Chinese industry is fast becoming independent, matching the big Hollywood studios as far as earnings are concerned. Not only that, it’s local content is finding inroads into other markets as well.
The franchise was envisaged as a trilogy but since the second part too is going great guns, don’t be surprised to see an endless parade of sequels coming your way down the years...
Trailer : Monster Hunt 2
Neil Soans, May 10, 2018, 6:45 PM IST
2.5/5
Monster Hunt 2 Story: Wuba’s parents search for him as he sets off on his adventures in this follow-up to 2015’s massive Chinese hit.
Monster Hunt 2 Review: In 2015, ‘Monster Hunt’ became the highest grossing film in China. Good business sense demanded a sequel – so here we are. Once again, Wuba is being chased down by monsters and humans alike. His human parents, played by Baihe Bai & Boran Jing are also in search of him, and they encounter some odd characters along the way, leading to potentially comedic scenarios. In this second outing, director Raman Hui has adopted a breakneck pace of storytelling, constantly putting the protagonists into precarious situations. While this works in theory, it’s a whole different ballgame in execution, as Raman and the rest of the cast keep throwing sequence after sequence in quick succession, with minimal plot and character development.
In fact, besides Wuba and his human parents, a lot of time is spent with Tony Leung Chiu-wai’s character Tu Sigu – an understandable choice going by Tony’s popularity in China. But these scenes are stretched out to a drag, serving little purpose other than cheaps laughs. The movie goes through a whole bunch of shenanigans in the same way. Worsened by choppy editing, it jumps from one set piece to the next with minimal storytelling along the way. This is a pity because ‘Monster Hunt 2’ is visually gorgeous, with scenic natural landscapes, stunning set design and colourful costumes. But as far as the story goes, there’s nothing memorable.
If you’re not familiar with ‘Monster Hunt’ – Wuba – the radish-like monster baby with four hands is undoubtedly the reason for the first film’s success. This sequel constantly hints at a far more significant story about this baby’s heritage. There is recurrent talk about humans and monsters being able to co-exist with each other, and Wuba playing a role in that, but we never get to see any of it. We’re left with a colourful, yet mostly bland kid’s film that might have you chuckling now and then, but is quite underwhelming.
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