Goodbye Monster review by Bobby Blakey
Well Go USA has cemented itself as the premiere distributor for the Asian film market. While mostly known for their martial arts flicks they have also released a variety of animated films in including Ne Zha, Jiang Ziya and more recently I Am T-Rex. The latest to join them is Goodbye Monster featuring the voices of Liu Cong, Ai Yi'ai, Wang Kai, Zhang Zhe and Zhang Lei from director Huang Jianming. Could this latest animated film offer up something worth watching or will it fail to have the cure?
Goodbye Monster follows a promising young doctor who accidentally destroys his island and is banished from Kunlun Hospital, forbidden from ever practicing medicine again after disobeying orders and using an untested idea to defeat the Dark Spirit. But when a young boy comes to him for healing, he may have one more chance to redeem himself—and restore his home.
While I knew nothing about this film before diving into it, I am always intrigued by the Asian story back drops of their legends and myths. This is one of those films that works way better than the title r cover art might make you think. Sure it has some problems here and there, but as a whole it is an interesting and entertaining flick that brings more to the table than I expected.
The tone of the film balances itself between family flick and something a little darker, but still works for everyone. It might come off a little scary for smaller kids with the dark spirit stuff, but its nothing that is inappropriate or violent. Sure there is fighting and craziness, but it is something that could have easily fit into the world of Kung-Fu Panda in the best way.
The animation is well done and I really enjoyed a lot of the character designs with the main character Bai Ze being visually memorable and fully embraces the culture that you see in a lot of artwork and legends. Despite not being a harden warrior he still has a cool look and holds his own with the other great designs across the film.
Filled with heart, beautiful visuals and some fun action this film ended up delivering more than I expected and is one I hope finds the attention it deserves.
Grab your copy of Goodbye Monster when it hits Blu-ray on September 5th from Well Go USA.