

Director: Edward Foo

Touted as Singapore's first 3D animation feature, I definitely have to give it some moral support by watching it ... supportive?! hee hee ...


The official website
see
http://www.cubix.ws/zodiac/

My thoughts ...
-- The only thing I like about the film was ... the good/appropriate use of "pop ups" (from the book of Zodiac) to intersperse with real 3D animation ... well done ...

-- There are a few funny scenes (esp., scenes with the tortoise) ... ha ha ha ...
-- Finally, the effort ...
(i) The production house has made a strategic choice 
... to select a theme that will appeal to children (i.e., animals, 12 or more animals), 
... and a theme that Asians can identify with and Westerners may be keen to know more about (i.e., the Zodiac signs) ...
(ii) The film is dubbed in two versions 
... an entirely English version and an entirely Chinese version

What could be better ...

(i) most important, the overall story telling ... it is commendable that the film manages to piece together a lot of different anecdotes from Chinese stories/legends/etc and weave it into a story ... e.g., why the cat and mouse are enemies, why the owl's eyes are surrounded by black circles, why the rabbit has short tail, why the monkey has a red a**, etc 
... however, the essence of Zodiac is in the RACE ... BUT the RACE of the 12 animals is not being felt ... the pacing/the editing/the soundtrack simply do not grip and rivet the audience enough ... 

(ii) Since the film is targetted at children, I feel that the animals could be "cuter" and the facial expressions of the animals could be "more exaggerated" (there were a few good humor/jokes, but they did not take off because of the lack of facial expressions of the animals) ... the dubbers can try their best, but the visuals count ...

(iii) Finally, since it is targeted at children, it should capitalize on themes of family, friendship, loyalty, etc ... to make the story more touching ... to some extent, it does try (e.g., the family of the ox, and the "friendship" between one or two animals), but somehow, the message is not well delivered because these "side stories" are not compelling ...

Conclusion:
Can watch ... esp. for very young children?! ... as for adults, please be more forgiving ... in a way, the film could be much better by addressing those points I mentioned above.