Mythology ≠ HIstory
Debuting animator Mu Zhengyang dares to mess with sacred cows and totally pulls it off.
All Wishes Come True!
Director: Mu Zhengyang • Writer: Mu Zhengyang, based on The Eight Immortals Cross the Sea
Starring [Putonghua]: Chen Hao, Li Shaozhe, Li Dong, Zhang Yunqi, Huang Guo
China • 2hrs 23mins
Opens Hong Kong August 20 • IIA
Grade: B+
Pick any of your favourite heist movies (I’m personally torn between Heat, Rififi and The Town), mix it up with a little Suicide Squad, throw in a dash of Mission: Impossible and Journey to the West, and send it all back in time to ancient China and you might get something like first-timer Mu Zhengyang’s All Wishes Come True! | 八仙!. A relatively under-the-radar release in China in July (when that hot garbage Kung Fu Soccer was sucking all the air out of the room) it’s nonetheless gained enough traction to rustle up US$200 million and get a release overseas. Aside from the fact Mu and his crew made the main character resemble peak Chang Chen and that makes me extremely uncomfortable, All Wishes is exactly the kind of clever, modern spin on classic Chinese mythology the tradition needs. It’s in line with Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey in that it’s an old story reworked for contemporary audiences and speaks to them in a contemporary voice. It’s unlike The Odyssey in that evidently audiences for this film know the difference between fantasy and reality and no one’s whining about “historical accuracy” – and if they are, I haven’t heard about it. Mu’s combination of Eastern and Western storytelling forms – the legend of the Eight Immortals of Penglai and the classic heist caper – make for an almost ideal marriage that honours both and stays the thematic course for mainstream Chinese filmmaking. Hot take: I like this much more than I liked Ne Zha 2. Come at me, bro.
Not quite suicide squad, but close
Like most epic Chinese animations, All Wishes begins with a rambling, expository voice-over explaining how the Doomsmite that threatens to end the mortal world every so often can only be stopped by the Yu Xu lantern (don’t ask), which it does every time the danger rolls around. However, at present the lantern is missing, which sends the lantern keeper Lü Dongbin (voiced by Li Shaozhe) off to the god-heavy world of Penglai, where it was last seen. Also tooling around Penglai is career thief Zhongli Quan (Ne Zha’s Chen Hao), the dead ringer for Chang Chen, who has designs on breaking into the heavenly treasury and get stonking rich. First, Zhongli and Lü cross paths and strike a deal to help each other get inside the vault, where the lantern may also be hidden. But little by little they collect a disparate group of unsavoury mortals, each who wants in on the treasury heist – each with with a critical skill that might help. The reluctant crew includes cranky kung fu master Li Tienguai (Huang Guo) and his charge, temple kid Han Xiangzi (Dong Tianyi, Yu Pengli), vaguely sleazy bureaucrat Cao Guojiu (Zhang Yunqi), adult baby Lan Caihe (Cao Zhishan) and elder Zhang Guolao (Deng Xiansen). They’re more like the Thunderbolts than the Avengers as far as righteousness goes, but they trust each other just enough to hatch a plan. The last piece of the puzzle is He Xiangu, or Lord Dark Blade (Li Dong), a master swordswoman also looking for the lantern.
Crack team assembled, Mu lets loose with a charmingly loopy romp, carried along by smart manipulation of genre tropes and strong voice performances that establish who these people are efficiently. All Wishes frequently has a major game vibe to go with a bonkers (in a good way) soundtrack of alt-rock, rap-rock and lounge, it confidently drops in the Monkey King as a key player, a heartbroken purple immortal, requisite hero shots, double crosses, misunderstandings and all the expected contrivances.
All Wishes Come True! has its clumsy bits: Why He/Dark Blade is after the lantern is never fully explained, who she is beyond “girl” is never illuminated. What big bad Yang Jian was hoping to gain, truly, remains a mystery. The pacing suffers every time Mu takes a long ass detour into Zhongli’s tragic backstory, and then muddies up the waters with a bait and switch involving Lü’s complicity in his fate. It’s still fuzzy. But those are the kinds of flubs filmmakers expect we’ll just wave off – and we do – in order to just sit back and enjoy the ride. And to its credit All Wishes delivers a great ride, with more than its share of laugh out loud moments (more than in Kung Fu Soccer, but now I’m just harping), all wrapped in rich, painterly 3D animation that draws more than a little inspiration from Ming dynasty art. It’s easy to wave off the so-called flubs too, when Mu took the time to graft well known, often interpreted, adapted-to-death folklore onto a totally alien structure and make it work. Mythical, literary and archetypes are, by design, meant to be re-imagined as time goes by: it’s why Hamlet can be a California biker, King Lear can be a Japanese daimyo, and Othello can be an Indian crime lord in Mumbai. Mu has turned the Eight Immortals into us, but hasn’t strayed too far off the base paths. It’s still about honour, community and choosing the greater good over great wealth. Maybe Mu can get funky in the sequel. Hey, it’s no Niu Lai, but no one’s perfect.