PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
This Hong Kong-produced animation
borrows elements from the three live-action “Ghost Stories” from
the same producers, coming up with a stand-alone tale that’s more
than a little diverting in its own right.
One new element is that this version of
Ning the tax collector—who has no previous love life known to the
audience in the other films—starts out being rejected by a
potential mortal girlfriend, who marries a man of greater age and
substance. Thus it’s a classic case of compensation when Ning
wanders into a whole city of ghosts and promptly falls in love with a
lady spectre named Shine, who shares some of the characteristics of
Ning’s mortal beloved. Whereas the lady ghost in CHINESE GHOST
STORY is being forced to marry an evil male demon, Shine actively
hopes to be joined with what one review styles “a rock star demon.”
However, because the demon only loves himself, Shine comes to place
greater value upon the young mortal, and the two of them seek to make
it possible for Shine to escape the spirit-world and to be
reincarnated, so that the two of them can share romantic bliss.
Though Ning and Shine are the central
characters here as are their counterparts in the other films, they
aren’t nearly as compelling this time. Possibly this was because
the producers wanted a G-rated romance, and this means that most of
the animators’ energies were devoted to envisioning the city of
ghosts, and a trio of exorcists who try to bring the ghosts under
control. The exorcists—a severe old monk, his warlike student, and
a raffish old loner who competes with the two of them—are borrowed
from characters in all three films, though they’re most comparable
to their analogues in GHOST STORY 3. Had the exorcists been the
stars, ANIMATION would have been a deliriously combative film. But
since they’re all just supporting players, the film registers as
subcombative.
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