2019 has passed.
The total box office in the mainland once again hit a new high, "Nezha: The Magic Child Descending" and "The Wandering Earth" double stars shine...
But my biggest impression is only two words:
Withdraw.
An endless stream of withdrawals.
The day before the release of "Mr. Wonderful" was withdrawn, which ended this magical year.
Technical reasons, market reasons, production reasons...
Or the old saying:
The garbage is all rated, when will the movie be rated?
Thanks to the "rise of national comics" set off this year, as well as the reputation laid by the previous work "The Great Protector", "Mr. Miao" is highly anticipated.
Although the file was withdrawn, there were still a small number of screenings, and many people also watched "Mr. Wonderful" in the theater.
When it comes to "Mr. Wonderful", we have to mention one person.
Not thoughtful.
Many people go to see "Mr. Wonderful" under this name.
A "Great Protector" has made many people know Bu Sifan.
Douban 7.8, China's first self-graded (pg-13) cartoon, a cartoon that truly belongs to adults, a unique painting style, a strong metaphor and a space for careful interpretation...
Although there are many problems such as narrative and lines, "The Great Protector" has become the most special existence in domestic animation with its own unique style.
In those three years, there have been several "big" animations in a row, including "The Return of the Great Sage" and "Big Fish and Begonias", but my favorite is "The Great Protector".
After watching "The Great Protector", it is difficult for you to forget it.
The poster of The Great Protector has a small line on it: Thank you to the beings who gave me adversity.
This can also be used to describe the extraordinary.
In 2004, the flash animation "Blackbird" was praised by netizens as "a milestone in the history of China's flash", and Douban also scored a high score of 8.4.
At that time, his online name was "Youwu Yipin", his personal profile said "This person is abolished", and the suspension of "Blackbird" was recommended by netizens as "the first of the ten regrettable events in the Era of The Flash".
After a few years of silence, he changed his name to Bu Sifan and created two series of works, "Millet Forest" and "Mr. Miao", and his skills gradually improved, and Bu Sifan's fame also began to ferment.
2014's "Mr. Miao's Fire and Laughter" is the predecessor of the movie "Mr. Miao", and the animation of only 25 minutes in just 5 episodes is very addictive, and the Chinese ink painting style is particularly impressive.
"It's a pity it's too short."
This is the biggest emotion that many people have after watching it.
The subsequent "Mr. Miao's Wild Goose Falling Avenue" is a novel of "Mr. Miao", an independent short story of 8 minutes, but the content is still born from "The Biography of The Fire And the Laughing Man".
Fortunately, we finally waited for the movie version of "Mr. Wonderful".
Extremely disappointed!
As the last movie I watched in 2019, "Mr. Wonderful" is simply a basin of cold water.
Even without high expectations, "Mr. Wonderful" is just a mediocre work.
It's not something I'm expecting.
In fact, the director of "Mr. Miao" is indeed not Sifan, but the newcomer director Li Lingxiao, but the filmmakers bundled "Mr. Miao" and "The Great Protector" during the promotion, which obviously became a double-edged sword.
This time the withdrawal should not be a technical reason.
The story of "Mr. Wonderful" is not obscure.
In order to unlock the secret of the flowers on the other side that makes the living people ruined, the three people led by Ding Guo embark on a dangerous adventure.
The other side of the flower will only reside in the pure person of the heart, the other side of the flower will make the people around the host fall into infinite greed and fall, only the host is willing to die can be saved.
Although the setting of the other side of the flower is very innovative, it is not new in terms of the whole story.
Mr. Wonderful is about one of the most well-known thought experiments in the field of ethics
- The tram dilemma.
The recurring lines in the film, "Kill the good, save the bad," and "Kindness is a sacrifice, are its embodiment."
The discussion of the tram dilemma is never outdated, but in the face of such a clichéd topic, "Mr. Wonderful" does not open up a larger field or depth.
The cycle of "the other side of the flower - fire cicada metamorphosis - ice jade" is nothing more than another evolution of the "tram dilemma".
The problems of "The Great Protector" in the play are also obvious, but compared with "Mr. Wonderful", on the basis of the same dystopian setting to tell social problems, the former is not only darker and more extreme, but also leaves a very broad space for interpretation.
The theme of "Mr. Wonderful" is still dark and cruel, and the film side has once again played the slogan "Recommended for audiences over the age of thirteen to watch", but whether it is the final ending or the way the theme is discussed, "Mr. Wonderful" is too mild and straightforward.
Even the mystery is solved, and there is no sense of shock from "The Great Protector".
When our films can get rid of the "theme expression anxiety", maybe we can usher in a real breakthrough.
"Mr. Wonderful" weakens the shining point of "The Great Protector", but it accepts its shortcomings without falling to the ground.
The line is still the most intuitive hard wound.
Preachy is strong, too written, full of sense of the middle two, in the "Great Protector" there are problems, "Mr. Miao" is only a lot more.
We often say that one of the biggest problems of domestic directors is to rely on lines to promote the plot, and "Mr. Wonderful" almost throws all the expressions to the lines.
The background of the story, the origin of the protagonist, good and evil... The plot and theme of the whole film almost all depend on the few mouths inside.
The disadvantages of this practice of treating the audience as fools are obvious.
Unable to cause the audience to think, the audience is led forward, while looking at the picture, while laboriously pondering the lines, a gradual decryption process is difficult to raise interest, the audience can not really enter the movie.
Xiao Du said in the film: "I hate people like you who go around giving speeches."
In a word.
Blank space is the biggest feature of Chinese ink painting, but the lines of "Mr. Miao" not only do not have the effect of finishing touches, but also expose the director's serious lack of film expression methods and path dependence.
The overly forceful lines, coupled with the inexplicable insertion of the soundtrack from time to time, have already affected the experience.
The total collapse of the fight scene is the most deadly place in "Mr. Wonderful".
It cannot be denied that the Chinese painting style of "Mr. Miao" is still distinctive.
Whether it is the shape of the characters (especially the Yunxiang girl), the fiery red flowers on the other side, the rain and fog town with the hui school architectural style, and the rare and strange beasts that seem to come out of the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", they are still pleasing to the eye.
There is also no shortage of shining points.
A flashback montage of a flashback montage that quickly reviews the past of the male and female green plum bamboo horses with the bullet "Qingmei Passing" can be described as novel in domestic animation, and the foot of Yun Xiang running out of the door is full of flowers, and the strange and enchanting other side of the flower spreads throughout the village.
A strong poignancy and mournfulness overflowed the screen.
This is my favorite and most satisfying part of Mr. Wonderful.
But once the picture moves, it is as if it has traveled back to the VCD era.
Drop frames.
Once upon a time, the most criticized thing about domestic animation movies was the inability to tell a smooth story, until this concern slowly disappeared after "The Origin of the White Snake" and "Nezha".
I never expected that this is 2020, and "Mr. Wonderful" can't even do a smooth picture.
The characters in the film have a prosthetic walking effect when they move, and there is also an unnatural feeling when switching to facial close-ups, which is greatly reduced in fluency compared to "The Great Protector", which makes people suspect that the number of paintings is seriously insufficient.
Especially the final fight, dazzling, but messy, lack of coherence, which directly leads to the lack of orgasm, without a sense of shock, Ding Guo's sacrifice will lose the effect of arousing empathy for the audience.
In the storyboard, there is a difference of 100 "Great Protectors" between "Mr. Miao" and "Nezha: The Demon Child Descending".
Compared with Ding Guo, yin feng, who is cool and straight, has left a deeper impression, and her background is also a mystery of this film, which will make people have a desire to peek, so the intention of "digging a pit" is obviously to create a "Mr. Wonderful" series.
But in the face of scribbled narratives and crappy fight scenes, "Mr. Wonderful" has a bad future.
For national comics, the audience is tolerant, especially the scarce 2D animation today, and we also expect "Mr. Wonderful" to be wonderful.
But if the filmmakers do not remedy it after the withdrawal, the result they wait for is likely to be miserable.
The human world speaks as if the world was created only for man.
One of my favorite lines in Mr. Wonderful is the same with animated movies.
The anime needs Hayao Miyazaki, and it also needs Imatoshi. We have "Nezha" and love "The Great Protector" as well.
Sharpness may not be fully recognized by the market, but mediocrity is doomed to failure.