Shenhai

The film Deep Sea is another original animated feature film directed by Tian Xiaopeng after Monkey King: Hero Is Back and it’s also a 3D animation creation of exploration significance for October Media. Although antique stories are popular among Chinese animation works in recent years, Deep Sea will apply a different way, using unique oriental aesthetics to interpret a fantasy story with a modern background.

The film Deep Sea builds a different brand new underwater world, and tells the story of a girl who encounters a unique life journey, seeking and searching in the mysterious underwater world.

(Source: Official Site)

Nanhe Main

Shenxiu Supporting

Wang, Jing Producer

Tian, Xiaopeng Director, Script

Correa, Alexandra ADR Director

Reviews

Feb 22, 2023

GodTierTaster

Recommended

(Spoiler-free Review)
I just watched this in the theaters as I'm currently located in China. Overall, it was a fantastic experience.

Story (7/10): The story of Shenhai was pretty interesting. It is about a girl Shenxiu （参宿） who ended up in this fantasy world deep under the sea searching for her mother who she has not contacted for a while. She was guided by this mysterious sea creature but ended up in a restaurant run by humanoid fish and seals. The restaurant was run by Nanhe (南河), a greedy owner of the restaurant who cares only about making money. Much of the story was very ... abstract and reflected themes of loneliness, depression, and hope. Overall this story had a very strong "Spirited Away" vibe to it, despite being original in its own way.

Art (10/10): The art was simply fantastic. Especially, in portraying the surreal world. Everything looks so colorful and it had a very strong Chinese vibe. Also, the 3D effect was simply beautiful. I would definitely recommend watching this in the theaters if possible.

Sound (8/10): The sound was beautiful. Although none of its music was particularly memorable, it fits the vibe perfectly. Also, the voice acting was pretty on par.

Characters (9/10): All the main characters are multidimensional and had many sides to them. The background story of the main character Shenxiu was done really well. Her parents divorced when she was young and she ended being neglected as her father remarried and had another child. This led her to obvious signs of depression as she seemed hopeless and apathetic in this movie as she wanders to try to find her mother. No one is perfect in “Shenhai.” At first, you will probably not like Nanhe at first but he does have a benevolent side as well despite being super greedy in the beginning.

Enjoyment (8/10): This donghua was very enjoyable. Although the middle was slow, I was overall mind-blown by the visual effects. The story was also interesting reflecting deeper themes that most animated films fail to reflect.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8 (I’m generally pretty strict when it comes to rating but this film is definitely underrated. Watch it in the theaters in 3D if possible, but even 2D should definitely be a great mind trip.)

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by GodTierTaster (5)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Jun 13, 2024

X_soniia_X

Recommended

If Spirited Away and Disney had a child, it would be this movie. It has similar magical world to spirted away and the 3d element of Disney

i wasn't planning on watching it cuz i've never heard about it, but im glad that i was bored and come across it.
the art style is so unique, colorful, and engaging animations it will definitively make anyone watching it feel relaxed.as for the story i think it was good with likable characters also i found the character design somewhat realistic.
the movie combines wonderful visuals with an emotional story. If you appreciate gorgeous animation, it's well worth a watch.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by X_soniia_X (1)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Nov 2, 2024

Carpal_Tunnel69

Recommended

I'll try to not spoil things on this review as much as i can, I'm writing this review fresh after watching it so i haven't reflected about it too much to give a more deep review, this review is more based on how i felt about this movie.

Deep Sea is the result of a machine that has been getting made and refined after Dreamwork's Kung Fu Panda came out, that movie inspired a needed change of the chinese animation industry that culminated with this movie. Deep sea is probably one if not "THE" best 3d animated movie i've ever seen from the artistic standpoint, it ... somehow manages to offer the most stunning visuals the indusrty has to offer that is on par or even surpasses the greats like Dreamworks or Pixar, is a technical artistic marvel that deserves to be studied on its looks alone.

Its also a very hectic movie, I would say that once the movie gets to the colorful and animated part it has no downtime until 1 hour and 10 minutes in, that is mainly for the very chinese scenarios and animation style that is just in constant movment at all times, its almost a noise tbh, a noise with a mix of closeup shots and detail shots that are stunning in the midst of all the chaos going on in every scene going on, the movie is basically pulling crazy choreograpies like the one of the bridge fight scene in kung fu panda one but every scene is animated like that or even more, but when the movie starts to calm down and you get air to breath and look at the visuals it makes your jaw drop on how good everything is from an artistic standpoint.

On the story department, while hectic like the animation, it gives you little hints on what is going on really if you are paying a bit of attention, its intended that you pick up on those things that happen in the begining.

Overall i don't have enough words to describe the rollercoaster that this movie is, sadly because the movie hasn't been released properly world wide, probably because of how "chinese" everything is in the movie, from the looks, animation style to the names of the characters and fantasy themes, it won't get the recognition it deserves, be it in the international animation lense or the anime community lense, most anime fans would look at the movies category in MAL and ignore it like every other chinese series in the ONA section and miss what is probably the best animated film of 2023.

Score: 10/10
Despite the middle part of the movie that is chaotic and surreal that can put someone off really quick, the reward you get for finishing it is just great enough to get the movie back into a 10 for me

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Carpal_Tunnel69 (14)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Popular Chinese Donghua Movie List

by ahmadmusa343

15 Entries · 33 Restacks

Anime with a Water Theme

by underyourcouch

17 Entries · 60 Restacks

Finished Anime (Original) V7 R-T

by Wusel-chan

46 Entries · 10 Restacks

Recommendations

	Anyone gotten to see this yet? MyCokime - Feb 11, 2023	5 replies	by Koolaidkid15 »» Nov 14, 2023 2:37 PM
	Any Updates? Rugh0 - Apr 26, 2021	3 replies	by Kockorzo »» Jan 15, 2023 10:55 AM