‘The big fish & the Chinese flowering crabapple’ is a 2016 Chinese animated epic fantasy film . Written , produced & directed by Liang Xuan & Zhang Chun. It was released in China on 8 July 2016.
A 16 year old girl embarks on a fantastical & dangerous adventure after transforming into a dolphin. When a boy sacrifices himself to save her, she uses magic to bring him back to life …. only to learn that this power comes at a high price.
The story was inspired by a myth from the ancient Chinese Taoist classic Zhuanzi. the film also integrates many stories from other Chinese classics such as Classic of Mountains& seas and In Search of the Supernatural.
According to the director , ‘our dream is to make a heart-touching animation film, which will bring teenagers power of love & faith’.
Liang Xuan & Zhang Chun spent many years working on the project. They produced a short Flash animation , titled Big Fish & Chinese Flowering Crabapple , published online in May 2004. It was well received. So Liang decided to develop it into a full length film but until 2007 they had trouble finding funds.
In 2013, Liang posted on Weibo asking for help & spread the word about the film. Many animation fans called it’the dawn of the Chinese animation industry & voted it as ‘the most anticipated animation film’. Quality of the 7 minute clip generated a lot of interest & great success of another top grossing Chinese animated feature , Monkey King : Hero is back were the factors that prompted Enlight Media to invest in the project.
Made on CN 30 million it garnered US $ 79.9 million. Rotten Tomatoes rates it at 91 % with averaging at 7.2 / 10. The critics say, ‘Big Fish & Begonia ‘s richly rendered blend of animation styles perfectly complement it’s big hearted, surprisingly complex cautionary fish tale’
It interests you till the end. Wonderful.
Asian Entertainment 