The Legend of Hei

• Directed by MTJJ (Ping Zhang)
• September 7, 2019

Voice Cast

• I was so very confused when looking it up so I skipped it.

When a forest spirit’s home is destroyed, they encounter other creatures and must decide whether to aid humans or those in the forest. That sounds so very bland.

The first thing that strikes me about The Legend of Hei is that some info seems to be missing. When I was watching this it felt like there was stuff we SHOULD know that was not being discussed. Turns out it is a prequel to an animated series called The Legend of Luo Xiaohei.

The animation style is like cheap Disney. It’s cute and friendly but lacks the detail to the environment. For example a moss covered statue is much less defined than one would expect. You may even be forgiven for thinking it’s a bush or a fat man. I only caught it because I rewound to watch the moment again.

The film itself kind of stumbles along from one set of events to another and doesn’t feel as if it’s part of a narrative. Our main character of Hei is over energetic to the point of being obnoxious child character. Plenty of spazzing and a distinct lack of focus. He has to learn to use his powers and decide which side to take in a conflict between humans and spirits. Not that it feels too important to do so. It is more on his To-Do List for eventually.

Most of the characters that we encounter have some kind of magical ability. That’s fine but the moment they meet they seem to either express tension with the other character or simply get in a fight. It’s just an excuse for an action scene that really doesn’t fit. And their names often sound like superhero codenames rather than character names.

There are themes of environmentalism included in The Legend of Hei. The conflict is essentially caused by the humans moving into the forest where the spirits live as well as because of their pollution and cutting of trees. The spirits get pissed and fight them. No complexity of even the most mediocre kind. It just is.

The narrative begins in a fantasy world before introducing random bits of modern technology before ditching all that for the completely modern. It is like they changed direction as they went along as they realized certain elements were not working.

The human state is definitely shown as the film progresses as the better of the two sides. Considering this is a Chinese film and that the government over there is much more controlling than elsewhere on the planet making the state as represented in this film the better side does not surprise me. We need to concern ourselves with the others but the government is best. They talk about how spirits and humans need to figure out how to coexist. Not sure exactly what that means but the genuine revolutionary gives up. But the state is ultimately victorious and correct.

If a character is in the title, you would think they would come out as great or significant by the end but honestly Hei does not come off as anything special or really all that different from when the story starts. Hei often fades into the background as other characters take center stage. If anything he is there to tell the story of others and not their own story.

The final battle is like some kind of Dragonball Z battle. I admit I don’t have a lot of experience in Dragonball Z but what little I do have was triggered by the finale here. From the character being like SpongeBob on crack to Dragonball Z, this movie borrows liberally from elsewhere but does little to dress it differently or provide an interesting spin on what is appropriated.

The film itself is not bad, but it’s not great. It’s simply shallow and superficial. It touches on ideas but doesn’t delve deeply into them. The characters are rather simplistic and have absolutely little to anything to them. If there is a message to be had is that the state is ultimately in control. The humans who control everything win. And the title character barely matters in the story.

Ultimately The Legend of Hei is not great. The animation is okay. The execution of the story is okay. It’s certainly nothing you will be raving about but you won’t be entirely disappointed. It’s unlikely you will not rewatch it though.