What would happen if you took the digitally animated creatures from nearly any Disney or Pixar film and inserted them into a martial arts flick with a touch of comedy added in for good measure? You'd get one heck of a fun movie is what. And it's already been made, ready for viewing! Made in China, MONTER HUNT tells the story of an ancient history when monsters and man lived side by side at one time. Fearful of the monsters man drove them out to a land all their own required never to return. But something is happening and the monsters are slowly crossing back into our world.A civil war has broken out among the monsters. The monster queen is with child and the evil monsters are quickly tracking her down. Aided by a several good monsters, she heads to the world of man in the hopes of finding sanctuary there for her and her child. But the odds are against her as humans still fear the monsters and monster hunters track them down for the bounty on them.Enter Song Tianyin, the harmless mayor of a small town on the fringe of the separation between these two worlds. Brow beaten by his aunts he seems less a leader and more a follower. But somehow the queen lands up in his hut and sends her unborn child into him before dying. We now have a pregnant man! At the same time a female monster hunter has shown in the area named Huo Xiaolan. But rather than harm the child she helps Song deal with his "pregnancy" and then protect the child.The two are off on an adventure that will find them followed by both monsters and monster hunters. Along the way they'll get assistance from two fairly comedic monsters who were the protectors of the queen and now this new monster child. Yes the child, Wuba, is born and that leads to problems as well since it is a newborn and curious. Along the way both monster and human villains will unite to try and kill the child. But some things are just not what they seem and heroes will rise in the most unlikely places.There are strengths and weaknesses in the film but that never stopped it from being a huge money maker in China. It was the highest grossing film in history in that country until the release of THE MERMAID in 2016. It's easy to see why as the film offers plenty for everyone, from children to adults alike.Perhaps the weakest part of the film is the monsters themselves. None are particularly frightening, the main character of Wuba looking more like a cross between a plant and the Pillsbury doughboy. Even the dangerous monsters aren't all that scary. But perhaps that's a good thing when you consider that small children are the target audience for films like these. At the same time there is plenty to keep adults interested as well.To begin with the best parts of the film are the interaction between the two lead characters. It's a nice role reversal here with the woman being the stronger fighter of the two and the man more the comedic foil for all that goes on. While at odds with one another when they first meet a mutual attraction develops. Perhaps this isn't a rom com but that element is there in small part.The action and martial arts moments in the film are fun to watch. The wire work on display is fascinating and entertains at all times. The special effects are well done and not overused. But best of all is that all of these elements combine to make an entertaining and fun movie to watch. And for those who hate subtitles don't fear, the film is dubbed. This is one that the whole family can enjoy together and one I highly recommend.

I watch animated films once in a while and I watched this right after another foreign animated film, Hero Quest (on Netflix). In contrast to the muddled, flat, at times horrific Hero Quest (probably a 3.5 rating out of 10, 4.1 on IMDb), Monster Hunt is a thoroughly enjoyable film. It fits more with the animated humor of the Dreamworks genre (more so than Pixar). Not surprisingly, Raman Hui, who worked with Shrek and other Dreamworks productions takes his energy and infuses Monster Quest into a well-done tale.Overall, it's one of the best foreign animated films but does fall a bit short of Pixar's and Dreamworks' top 10 films. So it has a bit of Monsters Inc or Shrek or How to Train Your Dragon but falls a bit short. Nevertheless, it should rank in the middle of the pack of the better CGI animated films of the last two decades. The strength of the film is actually(!) the human characters: the lead Boran Jing who plays the bumbling Tianyin. And Baihe Bai who plays Xiaolan, the Monster Hunter and Elaine Jin, the grandmother were the strengths of the film with comedic acting that's among the best anywhere. For that, the human comedy roles get a 9.5/10. And some of the gags were terrific humor such as when Tianyin plays hide-and-seek with the Wuba, the baby king, to lure him into the cage. The chemistry between Boran Jing and Baihe Bai is terrific, it rarely gets better.However, the storyline gets a bit complicated and it's easy to lose track. Then the couple songs in the film just don't really make the grade. In addition, it's hard to really warm up to the monsters except maybe the Baby King (Radish). The monsters had faceless qualities and never really developed strong characters unlike Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, or Sulley or Mike Wazowski (from Monsters Inc). The CGI was fabulous but it had some blandness. It's like looking at some really beautiful and delicious pizza but when you bite in, it does really have a great flavor. Hence, it never really pulls out the emotional connection. Still, the film is wonderful fun. It just doesn't make the top 15-20 animated film list. Yet, its uniqueness and wuxia antics make it a darling for fans of Chinese films. Hence, it deserves to be #1 in China. It's better than the 6.2 rating, surprisingly low, and should move up with time. I gave a 9 to balance the act but the real rating is 7.2-7.5.

This movie is sometimes serious. Sometimes action. Sometimes outright hilarious. Sometimes even a musical, for absolutely no reason. This movie tries to hit every genre, and fails pretty much at doing so, and instead leaves the critical viewer with a confused and forgettable impression.The story is simple. Man meets woman meets monster. Then there's some in-your-face standard romance, an evil protagonist and a sword. That about seems to be it. Oh, and the man inexplicably becomes pregnant with a monster. But not really in a woman-empowering way, but more like in a he-has-a-fat-tummy way. And this inexplicable event carries most of the narrative.Then there's the animation. There's nothing wrong with it, per se. Thankfully, it doesn't look like sock puppets, but it doesn't fit into the traditional Chinese narrative at all. The monsters don't really add much to the story. They look like green and blue blobs with big eyes, and they don't make much sense. There's not really any explanation of why they're there, why people want to get rid of them, or anything else about them really. They're not shrouded in mystery for the viewer to figure out. They're just there. Let's not forget that "monster" is half of the movie's title. All in all, it mostly felt like a meat-and-potatoes mass-produced Disney production shoehorned into Chinese lore. The kids will surely have a laugh, but more mature audiences (read: 5+ years) should probably look elsewhere.It should be mentioned that this is a milestone in Chinese animation and technical prowess, as lackluster as it may be in other departments. However, since Chinese moviegoers also have access to Transformers, Avengers and other blockbusters, it makes Monster Hunt seem lackluster in the technical department as well, and the only thing that seems to keep this movie afloat is some sort of patriotism for homegrown material. It can't possibly be because of the Chinese people's genuine appreciation of such a terrible flick, can it? For the sake of China's future entertainment industry, I hope not.

unpredictable storyline and jokes, with lots of surprise, fantastic jokes. with beautiful settings design, fun and smart fighting scene. good acting, even thou its a comedy movie, but the mood and sad scene really come thru well. some of the monster design is too simple, but the main monster design is quit cute, and relatable. the story and character is well build in this movie. the scenery is very beautiful. and the the set even feel like an RPG and fantasy land in a very realistic way. the concept of the world is very well build. both female and male main character acting is very good, and the relationship story grows in a natural ways. and the expression of the monster huba is also very cute , and his character is very well build as a baby. the CGI is in very good, and each hunter have different sets of skills, and unique equipment, making the fight much more interesting. with unique gimmick, and features. and how they slowly give teach that love is more important than money, is shown very well.