If I’m sick of every.single.Chinese.film being about the lives and loves of minor demons, I can only imagine what actual Chinese film fans are thinking. Hold up … is this how normal folks see superhero films? “*sigh* Not another dude with great powers, great responsibilities, and a great set of PJs” I mean, I could totally see that, but superhero films are better than Chinese demon films. And it’s not close; even the DC films are better than these things. And after what must be my seventeenth of the latter this year, I’m thinkin’: would it kill you to have a film where a protagonist doesn’t actually turn into an animal of some kind?
If I’m being fair, White Snake is better than most. The animation only sucks in the dubbing portion and the love story almost works. At the end of the day, however, the formula is still the same – somebody discovers great powers. This is followed by a confused challenge, and more confusing and endless fight in which eighteen other guys with powers show up and then the picture ends as if all problems have been resolved adequately. Sometimes these films have a comic edge, but it’s harder over time to discern the comic version of a demon punching a hole in a tree trunk and the dramatic version of a demon punching a hole in a tree trunk.
This demon-of-the-week film takes the following form: there is a village in which every.single.resident (I kid you not) has the profession of “snake hunter.” The snakes are brought to the local oppressor, who derives power from consuming them or absorbing them or discussing philosophy with them; I wasn’t too clear on that part. See, it was interrupted by an assassination attempt. Blanca (voice of Stephanie Sheh) is a human-snake-demon-assassinatrix-thingy. Anyway, her ploy is foiled, and she only just escapes capture but loses her memory in the process.
Hod up a sec, demon snake woman, are you mad or just jealous that somebody else is getting some o’ that good snake stuff? And what’s with a town full of snake hunters, anyway? Why don’t you just capture a few and breed them? If everybody is a snake hunter, eventually you’re gonna run out of snakes. That’s simple economics. Anyhoo, Ah Xuan (Paul Yen) is the local snake hunter who finds Blanca, helps her out and falls in love with her … so much so that he gives up his humanity for some minor demonin’ of his own. All of this eventually leads to a showdown where eighteen other demons are introduced, the fight lasts forever, and I’m not exactly sure how anyone can claim resolution.
I want to focus on the positives here, for as much as I cannot recommend White Snake, it reminded me of a picture I might recommend. First off, I like that the snake woman is good. We are so used to demonizing snakes and spiders, that finding –ironically- that a demon snake is actually a good thing is quite refreshing.
For fun. here’s a brief list of positive representations of snakes in modern culture:
- Snake Plissken
- Ken Stabler
- Dave Parker
- Severus Snape
- The programming language Python
- The 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks
- Linus’ Queen Snake
- Rocky BalBOA
- Sir Mix-A-Lot’s Anaconda
Also, I did like the romance between snake hunter and snake woman. Yes, it was a little simple, but so is everything Disney. I felt like there was give and take to the relationship, one that might prove successful in the long run. It was very distracting that the dubbing was so poor; one would think that animated lips could sync where human ones cannot. One would be wrong. I don’t know a word of Mandarin, but I’m thinking the dubbing is so poor that it wouldn’t sync with any Chinese language, either.
So while I found some positives to White Snake, here I go again down the only road I’ve known: the film was likable, then dragged, and will ultimately be forgotten. I’m still waiting for that moment in a Chinese demon that’s going to capture my attention forever-and-a-day. As it has yet to happen, I’m truly hoping Chinese animated film will start looking at the fantastic within the mundane rather than achieving the mundane within the fantastic.
♪And here I go again to my thrown
Goin’ down another aisle to my zone
My obsession forces me to watch alone
Here I am in my clime
Where I waste the most time
Here I go again♫
Not Rated, 99 Minutes
Director: Amp Wong, Zhao Ji
Writer: Damao
Genre: Don’t be magic. Don’t be magic. Don’t be magic. D’oh!
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Chinese children who have not yet found Disney
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: “I’m done with demons”
♪ Parody Inspired by “Here I Go Again”
