Big Fish & Begonia

The most successful animated feature made in China to date is a gentle, dreamy fantasy that mixes Chinese fables and folklore with magical imagery reminiscent of Japan's Studio Ghibli. The story follows a young woman named Chun from a race of beings who live beneath the ocean and are the guardians of human souls and the laws of nature. While experiencing the world above (in the form of a red dolphin), she is saved by a human boy who dies in the process, and she bargains away her own life to a greedy god to bring the boy back to life, defying the rules of her world. Made over the course of a decade-plus, Big Fish & Begonia mixes hand-drawn, anime-style animation with CGI elements and effects (notably for magic). The plot and backstory can be a bit confusing but the beauty and poetry of the imagery as the dolphins swim across the ocean and float through the sky, coupled with the emotional journey of Chun and of Qui (another boy, who sacrifices himself for Chun), as well as the magnificent scope of the supernatural scenes as Chun channels her power to save her own world, ultimately triumph over the opaque narrative. A coming-of-age tale painted on an epic animated canvas that approaches the visual creativity and emotional storytelling of Japan's animation master Hayao Miyazaki and raises the bar for Chinese animated cinema, this is recommended. (S. Axmaker)