Bao lian deng

The literal translation of the title of this animation is: Precious Lotus Lamp.

This animation is unique in Chinese film industry in that it is one of the few and one of the first to adopt Chinese ethnic minority legend as its plot. Yi is the ethnic minority resides in southwestern part of China.

A fairly ordinary animated film. Nonetheless when it was released in 1999 it was the most popular film in China for that year. I can only assume that its popularity was due to the local audience having the opportunity to see a familiar story from their own culture rather than another just another Disney/Pixar offering rehashing the same tired old story again. A great example that all marginalised local film industries should take note of.

the story follows a young boy, the son of a Goddess, who embarks on a journey to free his mother from captivity.

Along the way he encounters a veritable cavalcade of characters from Chinese mythology as he searches for the Monkey King.

Might be of fleeting interest to fans of the 80s TV series 'Monkey', but otherwise only for those who are particularly interested in Chinese mythology or are very bored.

It has been nine years since it was first shown in China. Considering that this movie was quite popular in China, I am surprised that there are only TWO comments which is quite rare on here. I didn't plan to, but now I am compelled to write a comment.

I particularly like those three songs which were sang by popular singers from China, the melodies are very good, but the lyrics are more like for lovers, instead of a son towards his mother. I also like Peisi Chen's voice, he made the monkey king's character so much more fun. Since they have used some quite famous Chinese actors to dub the voices, so sometimes, I felt as if I am watching those actors performing, instead of the cartoon characters doing it.

The storyline is OK, it has some scenes which are a little confusing. They seemed to follow the typical Hollywood way, they picked a monkey to be the boy's companion, and the monkey sometimes make some funny, cute moves which are adorable.

China hasn't made any big budget animated films for a very long time, it doesn't have a lot of experienced artists as those in the US or Japan. Overall, it is a good production.

Now nine years have already passed, I don't think that China has made another successful animated film like this one. I wonder what they are doing now.