the legend of the sea
benjamin toh
i went in with low expectations, which the film pretty much lived down to. and then some. the opening shot of dead fish was already all wrong, as they looked more like stone fish.
forget the idea of a rich and teeming underwater ocean, the animation wasn't even sophisticated enough to convey texture and interaction between surfaces.
DT quipped it was more like legend of the swimming pool.
and if the animation's not up to scratch, a good story would still hold my attention. nothing to be found here but lazy exposition and blunt plot devices to propel the story, such as it is, forward. something tedious about the dragon prince and his pals having to save the underwater kingdom from the evil octopus ocho.
the bottom of my expectations, and my jaw, fell out though when the ocho started singing. what the hell is this tuneless caterwauling? was this a cinema hall? or some hitherto unknown circle of hell for movie-goers?
then draco starts belting out the pop song unchanging freedom, singer jj lin's tie-in single, and i couldn't decide which was worse.