Green-Snake-aka-White-Snake-2
White Snake 3: Afloat
First forum review
The first was ann innovative retelling of the tale (tail?)
The second went deep into the post-apocalyptic steampunk yaoguai world that is emerged in Nezha.
This third installment goes back to the original legend - again - with callbacks to the first but no memory of the sequel. In fact, it more closely mirrors the 90s live action retelling of Green Snake (one of my fav guilty pleasures).
The end credit scene in Part 1 is the intro scene of the threequel. And it makes part 2 is more like a tangent, the sequel to Nezha that Light Chaser just inserted in between part 1 & 3 and could be completely ignored except that it’s so good. Now 3 feels like an obligation, something planed that they went back for, but they kinda phoned it in. No wonder it didn’t get picked up by any North American distributor. It’s so weak by comparison. Hopefully Light Chaser hasn’t lost their way because they’ve been on a roll.
It’s a confusing step for Light Chaser. They were building this New Gods universe and this feels like they aborted that. And it’s a slow burn for a story we already know. I wasn’t engaged until the 9-tailed fox demon appeared. Then the LC magical world opened up and it felt on par with the rest.
Nevertheless, there’s some nice twists that emerge beyond the Fox. There’s a magic jade flute which started somewhat over romantic but then evolved into a major tragic plot point. Abbot Fahui has a magic mala that transforms into a sniffing tracking magic bulldog and a monstrous mystic lion with antlers. That’s a Buddhist play on the Lion’s roar, but it did cause an issue with Fahui’s role as a demon catcher, because a demon catcher with a demon mount, well, I guess that’s also par for the course.
I was disappointed at the reversion to ancient China because I like the New Gods world. It’s fresh. The Fox was awesome as always, especially her chamber of giant masks and her incense smoke rake to Kunlun. Fahui’s Buddhist sorcery was awesome. The legend of White Snake raises a lot of issues for Buddhism, which is part of its power as a myth.
In 2025 they plan to release Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, which is based on a classic collection of twilight zonish tales from the 17th century. There are like 500 stories and I’ve read a few translations but less than 100 or so. Not sure if this is part of the New Gods universe either. We shall see.
[QUOTE=GeneChing;1327772]
I was disappointed at the reversion to ancient China because I like the New Gods world. It’s fresh. The Fox was awesome as always, especially her chamber of giant masks and her incense smoke rake to Kunlun. Fahui’s Buddhist sorcery was awesome. The legend of White Snake raises a lot of issues for Buddhism, which is part of its power as a myth.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah the legend of White Snake raises a lot of issues for Buddhism because reincarnation carries a lot of baggage, sort of how time-travel does. Light Chaser has the similar problems that other animation studios have with sequels. Kung Fu Panda comes to mind…