Xiao Qian (1997)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Andrew Chan

Writer:

Hark Tsui (writer)

Release Date:

26 July 1997 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Fantasy | Animation | Comedy | Romance

Plot:

A young man falls in love with a ghost and must avoid a variety of ghostbusters out to eliminate her and each other.

Plot Keywords:

Ghost | Surrealism | Remake | Chinese | Based On Novel

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

Don Brown	...	Red Beard (voice: English version)
Sylvia Chang	...	Shine (Mandarin version) (voice)
Jordan Chan	...	Mountain Evil (Cantonese version) (voice)
Ronald Cheng	...	Fu (voice)
Kelly Chen	...	Madame Trunk (Cantonese version) (voice)
Michael Donovan	...	Ning (voice: English version)
Erin Fitzgerald	...	Additional Voices (voice: English version)
Tanya Hancheroff	...	Siu Seen's Singing Voice (voice: English version)
Sammo Hung Kam-Bo	...	White Cloud (Mandarin version) (voice)
Janyse Jaud	...	Siu Lan (voice: English version)
Eric Kot	...	Ten Miles (Cantonese version) (voice)
Vivian Lai	...	Lan (Cantonese version) (voice)
Jan Lamb	...	Ning (Cantonese version) (voice)
Lichun Lee	...	Yan Chixia (Mandarin version) (voice)
Rene Liu	...	Xiaodie (voice)
Ta-yu Lo	...	Mountain Evil (Mandarin version) (voice)
Scott McNeil	...	Demon King, Solid Gold (voice: English version)
Shirley Millner	...	Madame Trunk (voice: English version)
Richard Newman	...	White Cloud (voice: English version)
Nicole Oliver	...	Siu Seen (voice: English version)
Matt Smith	...	Ten Miles (voice: English version)
Alec Su	...	Ten Miles (Mandarin version) (voice)
Venus Terzo	...	Siu Deep (voice: English version)
Hark Tsui	...	Solid Gold (voice)
Bak-Ming Wong	...	White Cloud (voice: Cantonese version)
James Wong	...	Red Beard (Cantonese version) (voice)
Linda Wong	...	Lan (Mandarin version) (voice)
Nicky Wu	...	Ning (Mandarin version) (voice)
Charlie Yeung	...	Butterfly (Cantonese version) (voice)
Yonfan	...	Madame Trunk (Mandarin version) (voice)
Anita Yuen	...	Xiaoqian (Cantonese version) (voice)

Also Known As:

A Chinese Ghost Story: The Tsui Hark Animation (Hong Kong: English title)
Siu-sin (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)

Runtime:

84 min | Japan:83 min

Country:

Hong Kong | Japan

Language:

Mandarin | Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

South Korea:12 | Hong Kong:I | France:U

Company:

Film Workshop

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Ghost Busters (1984)

enchanting tale & animation

Reading all the reviews of "Don't expect to understand this one", I went in the theatre expecting another trashy eyecandy-piece...I came out loving it! The fact of the matter is, if you aren't already familiar with the Chinese folklore or myth of the love story between Xiao Qian and the tax collector Ning, you WILL find some ideas like the "ghost-busting" strange to comprehend. Actually the so-called ghostbusters have supernatural powers well-associated to Taoist masters, or elites of the popular rituals and religion in Chinese communities. (The other two "ghostbusters" recall wuxia/martial arts heroes in popular literature.)

This animated version is quite enjoyable as far as visualizing these stories well-known and dear to many Chinese. Having said that, there are also a lot of contemporary touches (e.g. the abusive boyfriend-ghost who seems a parody of the various Cantopop megastars giving another one of his "idolize me" concerts!)and musical numbers that are sometimes "Disney"-ish (having a song for the sake of the Disney-mation convention perhaps?) and at others really really gorgeous pop.

So, eyecandy it is but with very creative camera angles and enchanting colors. Very ambitious and hilarious! Recommended even if you don't want to mess with the subtitling (which reads rather strange anyway due to cultural relativism etc.) The luscious images and love story are "universal" enough to understand by anyone.