Photo/Text: Da Ren Junjun
To tell the truth, as soon as the picture of the wonton shop of "Little Door God" on the giant screen came out, it immediately grabbed my heart that mixed with the feelings of the post-80s and post-90s. A warm little stove in the middle of the urban Guangsha, a little drizzle in Jiangnan, the portrait of the door god pasted by Grandma's house... The warmth revealed in the soul immediately pulled people back to the old days of living next to each other and the ancient road.
(Please note the following spoiler alert)
The story tells the story of the laid-off reemployment of a pair of door god brothers Shendi and Yu Lei. Recently, human beings have less faith and gradually stopped paying attention to the gods, and the entire god world has entered an economic depression. Low-level civil servants (land lords, door gods and other small immortals) are facing the crisis of layoffs and unemployment. The Ermen God Yulei decided to go to the human world to release the Nian Beast, so that people realized the importance of the gods in danger and proved the value of the door gods.
In the story, we can see the importance that the creators attach to traditional Chinese elements, and they have successfully done it. Sure enough, we still have more empathy for the Chinese aesthetic. Shadow puppetry, the Jiangnan water town of Xiaoqiao Green Willow, China's Tiangong Divine Realm, the Night God, the Giant Spirit God... "Little Door God" completely presents the figure in this memory.
"Little Door God" Chinese elements world level
I have to say that looking at the picture is worth the ticket price. The behind-the-scenes team of "Little Door God" is known as "China Pixar", and many of its pure Chinese teams of more than 160 people have worked for top Hollywood animation companies such as Pixar and DreamWorks. The graphics of "Little Door God" are indeed quite well-made, completely comparable to mature Western animated films. A total of 1940 shots were created by 160 animators, and the total rendering core hours of the final version reached 80 million hours.
If nothing else, the battle between the Ten Mile Plum Blossom and the Nian Beast alone ranked in the top ten of the most beautiful scenes in this year's movie in my heart. This also shows that The technology of Chinese animation can fully support any good story and idea.
"Little Door God" constructs a very rich world where Chinese mythology and reality merge together. There are layoff crises and brotherhood in the Celestial Realm, and there are flower fairies who like the two gods but do not want to marry a small civil servant. It is no longer popular to worship the gods, but there are still small wonton shops that retain the tradition and have New Year paintings. This only New Year painting has become the key to the two sessions of man and god. Some settings are also quite detailed, such as the Ling Xiao Treasure Hall. It turns out that the Banner of the Great King of The Great King of the City on Earth is only a building on the Ninth Heaven.
The more surreal films like "Little Door God" have reliable details and complex systems, the more convincing and immersive they are. From the magical world set by various government departments, entertainment and even a perfect educational knowledge system in Harry Potter, to the university laboratory with various advanced inventions in "The Super Marines"; the creators have painstakingly made the audience feel as if there is such a world, but we Muggles can't find the entrance to Diagon Alley.
This setting of combining illusory myths and legends with the reality of today's society is already in use in the West. When the ancient Chinese legends also began to try this, it really made people feel wonderfully new. Immortals laid off and reemployed to participate in training courses, the leaders of the divine realm invited the "God of Wealth" for training, and the flow of information on the rise and fall did not stop the stock market. Probably the first animated film under Alibaba, we have to admire the courage of the animators, directly holding the gold lord to open the black, the image of the "inspirational master" in the movie is Ma Yun himself.
In terms of human design, "Little Door God" takes the popular double male protagonist configuration, the typical hum ha second general. In traditional Chinese stories and scripts, the core characters are indispensable to four types of characters: fierce generals, wise generals, handsome generals, and mangfu generals. This is also more or less the standard for most current commercial films. Sometimes, two or more images are embodied in a character.
The gods of "Little Door God" return to their places and are extremely cute
The door god brother of "Little Door God" is a cute fat big brother, but what is more novel is the combination of a mangfu general and a wise general, which is quite a bit of a rare and confused Zen. Another door god brother, Yu Leizhong, is a "handsome uncle", first of all, a handsome general. I don't know if it is the hero who sees the same thing, this year seems to be particularly popular "big long face", there is a horse-faced monkey in "The Return of the Great Sage", and the door god Yu Lei of "Little Door God" has a face of three feet long, but it does look very handsome, it is Wang Yangming, Gao Yixiang that one.
Many members of Chasing Light Animation have worked for Hollywood animation film companies such as Pixar and DreamWorks, and the animation personnel are also a bit European and American, and this kind of Chinese and Western "mixed race" appearance is indeed innately high. So this kind of high-value mixed-race child, sparing no effort to seduce Lori's drama is really... It's cute! Although the heroine is a cute primary school student Lori, but the fan sister is not to let go. Some people say that the setting of a little girl who is harmed by lovesickness as soon as she sees Yu Lei is unscientific. Just think about it, seeing a handsome male god (really a god) who fell from the sky, the hero saved the United States and sent the magic weapon, and the dying breath was returned to the family to lay clover, not to mention that the little sister, is a young girl, she has to play with her life.
Now it is not popular to talk about "feelings", as if saying this is synonymous with no technology and no quality. But a story that is really moving is emotion, and the story of "Little Door God" is moving, and the emotion is also moving. It uses a very kind story to discuss many profound issues with us. For example, "homecoming", such as "change". In the animation, Ma Yun's version of the inspirational master said: "This is the best era, it is the era of change, and change is not terrible." ”
The gods and immortals are going to be laid off, Xiaoyu and Mom's wonton shop are going to close, and "change" is a problem of God and a problem of man. In the movie, it is said: "People are like rice cakes, no matter what kind of mold they are steamed, the square rounds are as sticky and sweet as they are." "Xiaoyu's mother and daughter developed a new formula, and the business of the storefront has indeed flourished since then. In the end, Shen Di and Yu Lei opened a snack bar in the Divine Realm, and the landlord became a bookkeeper. It gave the children a happy ending, and also made the adults think of something in laughter and tears.
"Little Door God" tap water sticker door god
In terms of complete blame, the plot has a slight sense of urgency that "the director has played a big game of chess, but the chess road has no time to talk". Many of the side emotions are not completely laid out, and they go straight to the next step. Even the protagonist Yu Lei's enchantment and epiphany are a bit far-fetched, as if they are executed for the sake of execution. But the flaws are not hidden, this is still a good story with smooth emotions and correct logic.
As a New Year file, the little door god is undoubtedly taking the route of family fun, how can not let everyone out of the movie theater with a bitter face for the New Year. However, as far as the two door gods of the traditional Chinese mythological characters "Shendi" and "Yulei" are concerned, there is still considerable room for exploration of these two animation IPs. Shendi and Yulei are two door gods revered by the Han people, and their stories can be traced back to ancient mythology, legend has it that they are the ten demon gods of the ancients, the head of the glamorous rays, attributed to Xuan You, captured in the battle for deer, descended to the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan clan, and Nuwa appointed them as the gods of the underworld and ruled the underworld. What an exciting contrast between the character settings of this kind of wind pulling wind and the two "Hum Ha Second Generals" who are on the verge of layoff crisis in "Little Door God"!
The series of stories under this big IP has always been the only way for foreign animation films. Like Pixar's classic animations Monsters University and Monster Power Company, the subsequent prequel sold a higher box office than the main one. If "Little Door God" is a big hit after the release, the light-chasing animation will certainly not give up the opportunity of the series of movies. If I really were to make a picture of that demonic and somewhat magical ancient world, I would probably be able to contribute ten movie tickets personally.
In the field of animated movies, one eats someone else's meal, and now that his own family's rice is finally cooked, go home and try it. "Little Door God" is undoubtedly a fairly mature commercial film that no longer needs to sell "domestic feelings", but I personally hope that this movie can be a big seller. Domestic all-age animation films have just opened up a small part of the market, and in this current era of marketing, don't let the really good-looking animation be short-lived. Don't say it, go home and go to the door god.