Cheonnyeon-yeowoo Yeowoobi

This Korean film focuses on our titular heroine, Yobi, trying to retrieve one of the aliens she came to befriend from a group of humans and she takes on the form of a human child to try tracking down the alien. Through this task, Yobi comes to bond with the humans she encounters at the school she attends, particularly a boy named Hwang Geum-ee, and becomes conflicted over whether or not she should stay with them as the film progresses.

To say that the quality of Yobi, the Five-Tailed Fox is mixed would be a bit of an understatement. On the one hand, Yobi is fleshed ... out enough as such where she is rather likeable as a character when she comes to learn more of the humans she stays with, understand them and bond with Geum-ee. Her bonding with him and the other humans is genuine and the movie devotes enough focus on this development to make it engaging and relatable to audiences.

On the other hand though, the movie gets into the bad habit of trying to cram in too many plot threads and attempts at symbolism into its 85-minute run. The introductions of the mysterious shadow and the fox hunter created unnecessary attempts at conflict within the movie with villainous characters that could have just as easily not been implemented into the film. Also, the movie's attempts at implanting symbolism involving American Indian and Eastern mythical and religious influences comes across as rather heavy-handed, usually don't lead anywhere and often get lost in the convoluted story developments that take place with Yobi's development and the mentioned villainous conflicts she gets into. Also, I have to feel a bit befuddled over why this movie has aliens in it when a good chunk of its storytelling and symbolism is influenced through Eastern folklore.

Overall, I would say my reception to this is a bit mixed. While I did enjoy the focus on Yobi's bonding with the humans at the school she sneaks into, the movie seemed to lose track of what type of story it wanted to tell with its addition of aliens, villainous characters and folklore symbolism that could have just as easily been left out of this film to focus on Yobi coming to understand humans. It's still worth a look if you want to see more Korean animated films, but it would be hard to get into multiple watches of it.

Story:

So, the premise of Cheonnyeon-yeowoo Yeowoobi (Yobi, The Five Tailed Fox) is Yobi, a shape-shifting ninetail, lives with her alien friends near a school of kids, whom do not fit into society or adjust well in school because of difficulties (ex:some of the children are autistic, violent, obese, etc). Wacky hijinks ensue when the naughtiest alien gets taken by a little girl from the school. Although Yobi is supposed to rescue him, she finds herself getting distracted with the kids and enjoying her life as a human.

The story drags often and I skipped ahead in the beginning, but toward the middle, it recaptured my interest ... (well, actually I still kept skipping). I think the film tried to juggle way too many plot points instead of just focusing on one. The ending is also bittersweet.

Also, if the film would have cut those two annoying dance scenes to that corny song it would have made the film 25% better. This is just a personal peeve, but that song irked me.

Characters:

The magical aliens friends or whatever were annoying. The whole mismatched crew of them reminded me of Despicable Me's “minions” because they both are only tolerable in small doses.

Yobi was fine. She acted like a regular energetic kid, but she fell for Geum-ee, the wannabe comedian, out of nowhere. Well, I will give some her slack, after all, kid crushes don't have to have a reason.

I particularly liked the teacher the most. I have a soft spot for the “tough teachers that love their kids trope.”

I would have liked to know more about the bossy girl beyond her being a crybaby.

Animation:

The character designs are generic-looking and bland, but it fits the setting. I don't like the random CGI because it looks out of place in a flat, 2D world.

Sound:

I liked some of the background music. It was mostly upbeat and somewhat pop or slow and emotional. Nothing, in particular, stands out, though.

From what I heard, the voice-acting was good.

Conclusion:

I did not enjoy this film, whether because I'm beyond the age of the focus audience or it simply was boring. You can watch and make your own verdict.

I really wanted to like this movie. I really really did. It has all the ingredients I like. Fantasy/magic, an isolated character interacting with the 'Real World' for the first time, a mix of comedy (slapstick and cerebral), drama, aliens, and a ghost sink.

I don't know if it was the subtle differences between Korean and Japanese animation that threw me, or the fact that they tried to stuff a full, 12 episode TV series (~288 minutes) into an 80 minute movie. All I know is that this movie didn't click for me.

Taken separately, each of the plot devices are great. ... The problem I had was they tried to stuff too many into the movie. Had they just kept it simple and let the movie be a simple adventure (ala Spirited Away) with subtle messages, I would have really enjoyed this flick.

For me at least, there's something off about this film. If I wasn't watching it for the 2017 MAL Anime Watching Challenge, I would have probably dropped it. I'll probably revisit later down the road now that I know to lower my expectations. For the time being, this is a "meh" flick for me.