Film Review – THE UMBRELLA FAIRY: Shen Jie’s Animated Feature is Visually Appealing but Sometimes Lacks Focus [Fantasia 2024]

The Umbrella Fairy Review

The Umbrella Fairy (2024) Film Review from the 28th Annual Fantasia International Film Festival, a movie directed by Shen Jie, written by LI Youcong and Shen Jie and starring Nie Xiying, Gu Jiangshan, Nianru Shen, Jie Zhang, Qiao Shiyu and Ji Guanlin.

The Umbrella Fairy, an animated film directed by Shen Jie, has high aspirations to be something meaningful and profound. It has good intentions at its core but they’re undermined by a story that is initially intriguing but lacks compelling development. While the film is nice to look at, it’s ultimately just an interesting feature-length piece of animation that is somewhat enjoyable while watching it but almost instantly forgettable afterwards.

A fairy-ish character called Cici is the most adorable soulful little thing in The Umbrella Fairy but she’s not the main character. That honor goes to Qingdai, the fairy referred to in the film’s title. The movie positions itself around the so-called Hall of Relics and centers the story line on a larger-than-life Black Jade Sword. There are two fairies involved in the central dilemma the picture proposes: Qingdai and the vengeance seeking Wanggui. When Wanggui goes rogue to fulfill a certain plan, things take a drastic turn. Cici flies around to make sure everyone’s OK but is limited by her small size. Cici is oh-so-cute but, also, just a supporting player in a movie centered on a bigger picture that involves a lot of different elements.

Enter Mo Yang, a so-called craftsman who has certain abilities despite his lowly status. He can see fairies and would certainly come in handy when trying to catch up with Wanggui. Qingdai has a big heart but faces a challenge that will not be overcome without the help of her new friends. Mo Yang seems to connect with Qingdai in the most basic ways but the movie is not entirely predictable although most viewers will be able to guess the overall course this picture is following.

Chinese animation is almost always on-point when it comes to feature films and this movie is no exception to that unwritten assumption. The film is at its best when we see shopkeepers selling knock-off Black Jade Swords. The picture is curiously smarter than one may initially give it credit for and has depth in some of the sequences where our main characters are developed. The action sequences lack urgency sometimes, though, especially in the earlier ones. Not until we get towards the conclusion does the premise fully come into focus and the movie, although intriguing, still feels curiously incomplete by the time the end credits roll.

Director Shen Jie has a lot of heart that manifests itself in the creation of the plot showcased in The Umbrella Fairy. Cici is a vulnerable character and feels authentic in a world of rich imagination. On the other hand, Wanggui seems a bit too cliched to be fully effective. There could have been more character development here in regards to this particular character and the way the film traces the elements of the story centering on Wanggui.

Mo Yang and Qingdai, the featured characters, are given unique qualities that are visually appealing but the way their interaction is portrayed, we’re never quite certain what to make of these two as a pair. Individually, they are more appealing but, as close friends, the movie keeps us guessing as to where they’ll end up by the time the movie reaches its ending.

The Black Jade Sword always serves as the MacGuffin here. The fact that an animated movie can even have a MacGuffin comes as news to me because I’ve always taken such weapons and plot devices with a grain of salt in this particular type of movie. But the whole concept of good and evil here rides on this sword. While the film typically does a good job following its characters, the sword ultimately serves more as a metaphor for more character-driven emotions that manifest themselves throughout the picture.

The Umbrella Fairy takes the viewer into a unique vision of a world driven by its inhabitants. A world where money can get things fixed quickly but also a place where the heart grows fond of the things that it desires and yearns to attain a happy medium. While I loved Cici and admired Mo Yang and Qingdai as characters, this film serves more as a calling card for director Shen Jie to do more ambitious projects than as an actual work of genius. Jie is sure to do more interesting work based on the very appealing overall nature of The Umbrella Fairy.

Rating: 6.5/10

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