The sequel to this Chinese animated film came out last year and is apparently rather good. As I haven’t seen the first one yet, I thought I should get it done. This is itself spun out of a successful animated series and effectively acts as the origin story of its titular hero. With flatter look and more cutesy art style, this can’t compete with the output of the top studios though I will note that the fight scenes are dynamic and decently animated. It also gets off to a slow start and has pacing issues. When it does finally get going, it’s quite good with a large cast of what are effectively superheroes working well together. I wouldn’t say it’s great but it’s good enough to make me look forward to the second film.

Xiaohei is a cat spirit who is seemingly forced out of his forest home by human development into the streets of a city. One day he is cornered in an alleyway by kids and beaten. He is rescued by Storm End who appears in human form and uses magical powers to drive the children off. He takes Xiaohei through a portal to a forest and introduces him to a group of spirit animal friends. Xiaohei transforms into a human child form with cat ears to demonstrate that he too is a spirit and is invited to live there together. The next day they are attacked by a powerful human named Infinity who can manipulate metal. He is an enforcer from an organization called the Guild and is intent on capturing the spirit animals. Most are able to escape but Xiaohei is caught. They set off on a lengthy journey to the nearest city with a Guild office. Xiaohei takes every opportunity he can to escape but is easily caught by Infinity’s metallic bands. Yet Infinity is far from cruel. Remarking that Xiaohei has similar powers to himself, he starts teaching the cat how to control metal. He further explains that the Guild’s mission is to keep the peace between humans and spirit animals while outlaws like Storm End’s group wishes harm on all humans.

As this was already a successful webtoon in China for years, audiences were expected to already be familiar with the character and the setting. That causes issues for newcomers like me for whom this prequel is our introduction to the series. The setting is clearly the modern era but when Storm End opens the portal to the woods, it’s hard to tell if it is a parallel spirit world or just some distant location. The film refuses to explain exactly what the Guild is for a good long while and Xiaohei’s trip with Infinity is both long and boring. At this point, we’re unfamiliar with both characters so Xiaohei’s pathetic attempts to escape aren’t funny at all. I don’t even understand what the little black blob with eyes that sometimes appears with Xiaohei but neither speaks nor is a character in its own right is meant to represent. I think this bonding scene works for existing fans but does nothing for me at all. Fortunately it gets much better once Infinity makes contact with his fellow Guild members. It’s at that point that we learn more about the wider world and what’s at stake.

The art style has a flat look that is much simpler than what we’d expect from an animated film these days. It lacks the wow factor and leans too far towards the cutesy chibi-style that is not to my taste. Fortunately much is forgiven when the action heats up as the fight choreography is impressive and well animated. Infinity fights in the way you wish Magneto would. He’s merciful so he mostly shapes metal to restrain opponents but he is also able to perform feats like jumping on pieces of metal to propel himself and use metal to carve a path through solid objects. I love that the Guild in this world actually is a large and believably world-spanning organization. Once they realize the scale of the threat, they actually do call in the big guns. They have so many superpowered members in their roster that some are non-combatants whose only job is to find and evacuate civilians from the battlefield. It’s sort of strange that you go in thinking that this is a movie about spirit animals but it’s really about Chinese superheroes and it’s great.

Since the story is about finding a peaceable accommodation between spirits and humans, it’s no surprise as to who actually is the hero and who is the villain. I found the first half or so of the film to be terribly boring but I suppose it does pay off in establishing the relationship between Xiaohei and Infinity. It may not be as flashy as the huge blockbusters like Ne Zha but it punches above its weight class and is quite entertaining.