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In Dragonkeeper, Why Is There Only One Protector?

Part of the charm in Dragonkeeper is because of Ping. She’s a character whom some may associate with Ray from Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Dragonkeeper DVD Case — Available to purchase on Amazon USA

Shout! Studios

Ping (Lucía Pérez) is the Dragonkeeper, and if she’s to help Danzi (Mario Gas), an elder oriental dragon, she better learn how to train the next generation too! That’s because someone asked her to deliver an egg to a magical pool so it can hatch. As for whether this baby will bond to the human, that’d be saying too much.

Although the choice to have mostly European voices instead of Chinese for this production is very unusual, all I had to do was imagine Michelle Yeoh and James Hong’s voice over what’s heard. Technically, the British/Australian casting isn’t out of place when considering who wrote the book. Carole Wilkinson is an Australian whose series did quite well when it was released down under. I suspect the producers wanted to keep this flavour.

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White Snake 3: Afloat Needs To Surface in North America! Every Explosive Trailer Released.

The movie, White Snake 3, has made its debut in China, and hopefully the plan to bring this latest Light Chaser Animation to North America will be soon!

Release Date in China:
August 10th, 2024

Light Chaser Animation Studios continues to delight fans of the White Snake series with their latest entry, White Snake 3: Afloat (白蛇：浮生). While the literal translation of the title is “Floating Life,” “Afloat” or even “Rebirth” better captures the intended themes of renewal and emotional drift.

Whatever name you prefer, I can’t wait to see this next chapter! For those unfamiliar with the series, the first film is available online and on Amazon USA, while the second is streaming on Netflix. You can also check out my reviews of Part One and Part Two.

As for why these films feel disconnected, I suspect the North American distributor wasn’t aware this story was always intended as a trilogy.

This fantasy romance raises two big questions: Will the sisters reunite? And will Bianca (Xiao Bai, voiced by Zhe Zhang) see Xian (Tianxiang Yang) again? There’s a third thread too—according to the source material, the couple has a child! The ending of the first film teases this possibility, but in the sequel, Xian is sidelined when time travel complicates everything. During a climactic battle, Verta (Xiao Qing, played by Xiaoxi Tang) is hurled into a future that’s anything but welcoming.

In that timeline, the Baoqing Fox takes on a larger role in the chaos. While the trailers don’t reveal much about her involvement, what little we see is intriguing—and I’m eager to learn more.

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[Fantasia 2024] With The Umbrella Fairy, Can Anyone Truly Keep The Faith?

There’s lots to take in with the international release of The Umbrella Fairy. One view is not enough to take in everything that happens here. From kawaii to romance to sisterhood, everything has weight.

The Umbrella Fairy Movie Poster — **International Premiere at Fantasia Film Festival 2024**

The belief that every object has a spirit is quite common in many Indigenous and Asiatic cultures, and to see them parley in The Umbrella Fairy (伞少女), this English transliteration of the literal Umbrella Girl is much more poetic and attention grabbing. Even though I think of them as pixies more so than as children of Xiwangmu, that’s because I have a love for all things faerie in the Celtic sense of the word.

It’s possible that this idea is alluded to, though I would want to read the original source material to find out. Although this film begins with a humorous set piece about how cute these entities are, there’s also a more heartfelt existential piece to explain why some of them are what they are, especially if they’re attached to an instrument of war.

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Chang’An, A City in Turmoil. It Was The Best of Times and Worst of Times.

For now, the movie Chang’an is available to purchase online via eBay or YesAsia as a Region 3 release until North American distributor Niu Vision Media figures out what to do.

Chang'An Movie Bluray R3 “The Times They Are A-Changin’” is a song that should be used if a dub of Chang’an ever gets released to North American Market. Its lyrics are perfect, but if that does not work, I’d suggest David Bowie’s song,“Changes,” to the distributor involved in editing. While it’s doubtful the Chinese producers would approve of it, I’d get the reference since this movie concerns how the capital of Shaanxi Province would undergo shifts in political power. This city is also known as Xi’an, and it’s historically significant because it was the original beating heart of a unified China.

All of it is the backdrop for the rather ambitious animated film by Lightchaser Studios. This work not only recounts the historical events that transpired but also tries to figure out the relationship two famous poets had as rebellions took place around them. They were sometimes involved in it and other times not.

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Going Behind the Scenes with The Creation of the Gods in Chinese Lore

The look behind how The Creation of the Gods 1: Kingdom of Storms is made defines why this home video release is vital.

Now available on home video
For the movie review, please click here.

The Creation of the Gods is going to be an epic trilogy when it all comes out, and in the meantime, fans of Chinese mythology can marvel at part one, titled Kingdom of Storms at home. The video is beautifully crisp and colour saturation in par with the film version I saw many moons ago, and to be able to pause and take breathers between chapters was heartily welcomed. Had there been a 4K release, I’m sure the flaws can be seen a mile away. Not all of the effects are immaculate and require a bit of suspension of belief (like setting the characters riding on a horse on fire during an early scene).

Also, to learn about the behind the scenes, there’s four featurettes made to reveal how this film was put together. From makeup to set designs to special effects and onset lighting, the gambit is well covered.

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The Top Three Animated Films Playing During Chinese New Year, and White Snake Rebirth for this Summer!

What fans of Donghua animation can expect for this year are a bunch of great animated films, but our interest is with White Snake 3 than the others being offered.

White Snake Rebirth Teaser Poster Whether Light Chaser Animation Studios intentionally did not want to debut White Snake Rebirth during Chinese New Year or needed no more time, the good news is that it’s expected to be released Summer 2024! Not everyone will be aware of this film, and this release isn’t being all that well advertised right now.

That’s because not every city got to screen this studio’s last work, Chang’an: A Journey of Thirty Thousand Miles, to reveal this fact. This film had a very limited theatrical run, what’s presented is very much a blink, and you’ll miss it moment. Those people fortunate to see this movie will have seen the teaser. Even afterwards, there isn’t much talk about it on the forums and few animation news websites that I track.

For now, the films that are seeing love in China’s box office includes Boonie Bears: Time Twist, Ba Jie (a film I hope will get some America-side attention due to its theme of how to enter Buddhist heaven), and Huang Pi: God of Wealth Cat. The latter sounds interesting since it concerns a cat who gives out money! As for which new movie is making waves, Variety announced news that Sony Pictures has acquired the rights to distribute the sports live action comedy Yolo for international release.

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