Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
Beyond the human realm, there is a magical race of beings who control the tides and the changing of the seasons. One of these beings, a young girl named Chun, seeks something more—she wants to experience the human world! At sixteen, she finally gets her chance and transforms into a dolphin in order to explore the world that has her fascinated. But she soon discovers that it's a dangerous place and nearly gets killed in a vortex. Luckily, her life is spared when a young boy sacrifices himself to save her. Moved by his kindness and courage, she uses magic to bring him back to life only to learn that this power comes at a serious price. On a new adventure, she’ll have to make her own sacrifices in order to protect his soul until it is ready to return to the human world.
Big Fish & Begonia is a visually stunning Chinese animated feature that draws deeply from Taoist mythology and traditional Chinese cosmology, giving it a genuinely distinctive cultural identity rarely seen in animation. The cinematography and art direction are exceptional — fluid, painterly sequences with vibrant color palettes and imaginative world-building that stand alongside the best of Studio Ghibli. Its novelty is high because the film's mythological framework, aesthetic sensibility, and emotional register feel singular and unmistakably rooted in Chinese folklore. The plot, while emotionally resonant, suffers from pacing issues and narrative convolution in the middle act, making the stakes occasionally hard to track. Voice performances are solid but not remarkable. The ending is bittersweet and thematically coherent with its themes of sacrifice and rebirth, though it can feel abrupt and emotionally undercooked relative to the buildup.