Road to Somebody
It’s another ‘Journey to the West’… but not.
Nobody
Director: Yu Shui • Writers: Yu Shui, Liu Jia, based on Journey to the West by Wu Cheng’en
Starring [Cantonese]: There are no celebrities so the voice actors who did the work don’t get credits in the press notes. If you go, stay for the credits
China • 1hr 59mins
Opens Hong Kong December 11 • I
Grade: B-
Four low level, super-anonymous yaoguai – animal spirits – disguise themselves as a pig, a monkey, a frog and a weasel and go on a search for immortality in the Journey to the West-adjacent Nobody | 浪浪山小妖怪, a 2D animation about the search for purpose among what is essentially a bunch of losers. I know, I know. How many times can Journey to the West possibly be remade (answer, a lot, as many as Le Morte D’Arthur), but co-writer and director Yu Shui and (possibly) first time writer Liu Jia to their eternal credit, only uses the classic epic as the foundation for an original story. You know what this is? It’s Wicked: Take an existing classic, pluck a side character out and go. The pig, a monkey, a frog and a weasel may not be canon, but you get the idea.
So it’s disappointing that Nobody is burdened with massive averageness. The film based on an online antholgy series episode was a moderate hit in China this past August (we’re not talking Ne Zha 2 money, but that was lightning in a bottle) racking up US$215 million at the box office, though not a lot about the film truly warrants the attention. There are some funny moments, a gentle, wholesome message about living authentically and finding one’s own path, but it’s the genuinely beautiful artwork that has a tactile warmth that only comes from the “imperfection” of 2D and/or hand drawn animation that stands out. Beyond that it’s relatively conventional stuff. At least the “real” Tripitaka and Sun Wukong don’t make appearances.
To be precise, the four travellers are anthropomorphised yao: a Boar Demon from Langlang Mountain, the unofficial leader of the merry band heading west to collect some sacred Buddhist scriptures, though he’s just playing a supporting character. He didn’t have much of a life in Langlang and never could get a coveted job in the King’s Cave so to him anything is an improvement. He ropes in his lifelong buddy the Toad Demon, a constant whiner and worrier, who’s the weak link. He’ll capitulate to almost anything to save his own skin, but he’s the one impersonating the legendary monk Tang Sanzang, so he’s kind of important. Rounding out the party are the petty thief and opportunist Weasel Demon, a chatty Cathy who has to feign silence, and Gorilla Demon, the stealthily smart, anxiety-plagued pacifist playing the Monkey King. Once they get together and get away from the mountain, what follows is a series of picaresque adventures that takes them to see the Boar’s family, coming to the defence of a village that’s constantly being pillaged – word gets around that Tripitaka and his gang are in the ’hood – and puts them in the line of fire of local warlord Captain Leopard, who wants a literal pound of flesh. It seems a taste of Tripitaka grants immortality too. All the while they need to stay one step ahead of the real Tripitaka and his pals.
Nobody leans into patterns familiar to anyone who’s seen an animated family film, ever, in their life: the value in community and mutual support, learning to believe in oneself, heroism is in us all (the film’s called Nobody for a reason), the importance of respect and the meaning of true leadership so on, and etcetera. To point out the quartet finds another kind of immortality in a final sacrifice to save the aforementioned village’s children, partially to atone for their earlier deceit, is not a spoiler; it’s an inevitability. But there is an earnestness to the storytelling that makes it emotionally accessible for younger kids, a rare thing in this age of irony, setting it up as a nice gateway to the full Journey to the West for newbies, or an alternative for anyone who’s had enough of the OG epic. And then there’s the art, Nobody’s single biggest asset. Relative unknown Yu and his 600 animators applied a painterly finish to the old school line drawing that gives the film an almost rustic edge, and feels like a tonic to ultra-polished, ultra-sharp, photorealistic 3D imagery we’ve become inured to, and so somehow more human. And it’s not a sequel. Yet.