On April 29, the first animated film of "Chinese Legends" "Little Monster of Langlang Mountain" was scheduled to be released on August 2, and the "Yao Ni Xi Xing" version of the fixed-release trailer and fixed-release poster were released simultaneously.
The film, originally named "The Summer of Little Monsters: Once Upon a Time There Was a Langlang Mountain", was created by the original creative team of "The Summer of Little Monsters" from "Chinese Tales", with Wang Jun as the chief producer, Li Zao as the chief producer, Chen Liaoyu as the producer and art director, Yu Shui as the director, and Yu Shui and Liu Jia as the co-writers. Within the framework of the same world view, a new story taking place in a "parallel time and space" begins, showing another "demon life" of the pig demon - breaking out of Langlang Mountain, forming a grassroots team with the toad demon, weasel demon and gorilla monster who are also nameless demons, bravely embarking on a bizarre adventure journey to obtain Buddhist scriptures.
The film was jointly produced by Shanghai Animation Film Studio Co., Ltd., Shanghai Film Yuan (Shanghai) Culture and Technology Development Co., Ltd., Shanghai Xiaomubiao Film and Television Culture Media Co., Ltd., and Shanghai Maoyan Pictures Co., Ltd.
Two years ago, the Chinese fantasy animation short film collection "Chinese Tales" became a phenomenal work, sparking heated discussions across the Internet. Among them, the highly anticipated first episode "The Little Monster's Summer" uses the protagonist, the little pig monster, as the epitome of "the hard-working unknown person", dissolving the boundaries between traditional mythology and urban reality, triggering emotional resonance among the audience, and the single episode has been played over 100 million times.
In the "妖你嘻行" themed trailer released for the movie "Little Monster of Langlang Mountain", the little pig monster's words "I want to leave Langlang Mountain and go out to explore the world" foreshadows the beginning of a new life story. Mother Pig bids farewell with tears, but the story remains heartwarming. The pig monster’s new teammates - the toad monster, the weasel monster, and the gorilla monster also made their debut in the trailer. Four little monsters with different shapes and personalities form the "Unreliable Grassroots Team". The highlighted silhouettes of the four masters and apprentices just aroused the audience's expectations and imagination, and the somewhat sloppy and funny images of the four monsters "pulled them back to reality". The dramatic contrast between the before and after brought unexpected laughs and showed the comedic tension and suspense of the story.
"Little Monster of Langlang Mountain" finalized poster
In the film's official poster, the four grassroots demons marching in an orderly line seem to be really going to "do something big", while their shadows under the sunlight hold even deeper meaning: the nameless little demon actually reflects the figures of the master and his disciples who are seeking Buddhist scriptures. Can such a team of pilgrims cope with the uncertain road ahead, and how will they write a new pilgrim story for the little people?
As the first film in the "Qitan Universe", "The Little Monsters of Langlang Mountain" is not an "extended version" of the short film "Summer of the Little Monsters", but has achieved an all-round quality upgrade. The film's art draws on the modeling, brushwork, and rendering methods of traditional Chinese painting, combined with modern color, light, shadow, and perspective techniques, to create a unique picture that is both realistic and has traditional Chinese aesthetic connotations. With its profound artistic accumulation and rich creative experience, Shanghai Animation Film Studio provided overall artistic guidance for the film, enabling the film to innovate a new era temperament while inheriting the classic heritage.
In terms of content creation, "Little Monster of Langlang Mountain" uses innovative methods to deconstruct and recreate the classic story of "Journey to the West". It is not only a dimensional solution to the story power of animated films, but also a new breakthrough in creative imagination. The combination of comedy and animation will enhance the expressiveness of the characters and story settings, and further amplify the vitality of the IP.
