No, no. Not our magical play that we did in Oxford in 2001, but the animated version of the folk story we both based our stories on. Admittedly, I did buy the DVD simply because of our play; it brought back a lot of memories, although I prefer our grown up version a lot more… But then I am biased.
* THE BUTTERFLY LOVERS *
Mandarin Voices: Elva Hsiao, Jacky Wu, Renee Liu
Dir: Tsai Ming Ching – 2002 – Taiwan
The Butterfly Lovers is a magical traditional folk story set in ancient China. Zhu Yingtai (translated as ‘Jo’) is a young girl who wishes to study, but as education was only for boys, convinces her parents and dresses up as a boy to go to school. There she meets Liang Shangbo (‘Leon’), the boy she would become infatuated with, but couldn’t act on for fear of uncovering her disguise. However, one summer, she is summoned back home. Her marriage has been arranged to the son of a wealthy (and rather obnoxious) family. Shangbo, who hasn’t a background to match her future husband, attempts to win back Yingtai, but sadly this leads to his death. Yingtai goes to his grave and enters it, following which two butterflies are seen to emerge.
This is rather a bold attempt to bring to life a very well known story in China. And for its target young children, this probably does it. The drawings are quite Disney-esque (Yingtai looks very much like Mulan) and in some cases beautifully done. But in even an age where traditional Disney cartoons aren’t doing well, The Butterfly Lovers doesn’t even come close in terms of quality. The characters are very 2D and the story is rather non-sensical or non-realistic in places. Editing is very clunky – some shots drag too long and don’t flow through to the next ones, sometimes even affecting the dialogue. If you have a 5 year old, this probably doesn’t matter so much, but to a parent or adult watching, it feels very unnatural.
All in all, I’m uncertain really if kids would really go for this. Certainly adults might find it quite disappointing. I’m afraid this is one only for keeping the kids quiet.
Links:
Buy this at YesAsia
The Butterfly Lovers (LiangZhu Theatrical Production, Oxford, 2001)