【电影简介】

宋天荫（井柏然饰）意外怀孕生下萌妖胡巴后，为保护“儿子”，与天师霍小岚（白百何饰）一起对抗妖界的故事。很久以前，人与万物共存，当中也包括妖。但人想独占天下，于是人向妖宣战，把他们赶进了深山大泽，从此人和妖划界而治。一天，一对装人样的情侣妖竹高（曾志伟饰）和胖莹（吴君如饰），为了保护怀有小妖王的妖后逃避血妖的追杀，来到了永宁村，遇上了善良的天荫（井柏然饰）、降妖少女二钱天师小岚（白百何饰）以及跟小岚对着干的四钱天师罗钢（姜武饰）。

天荫目睹人妖大战，才惊觉有妖的存在。妖后为了保住小妖王，决定将其托付给天荫，二话不说把肚里的蛋塞到天荫的嘴里，男子汉大丈夫的天荫从此就怀着妖胎成为“孕夫”。葛老板（钟汉良饰）重金悬赏小妖王。小岚为了得到赏金，硬拉着从没有离开过永宁村的天荫，躲避罗干的争夺，离开永宁村展开了一段奇幻的旅程，途中遭遇大押店老板娘（汤唯饰）、厨子天师（姚晨饰）、一对萌妖（张悦轩和田雨橙饰）等各路人物。可爱的小妖王胡巴出生，令天荫和小岚的关系起了奇妙的变化，同时也揭穿了一个重大的秘密。

【音频文本】

The box office success of "Monster Hunt" suggests China's young female population have gained the weight to sway public opinion and market decisions. And despite an excess of cuteness-mongering some may find too much for their taste, the effort by Chinese filmmakers to move past the phase of borrowing is encouraging.

In less than five days, the Chinese fantasy adventure film scored a total of 669 million yuan, or 108 million US dollars. It also set new records for opening day and single day earnings for a domestic film, plus new landmarks for IMAX screenings and opening weekend grossing.

Some attribute the windfall to the magical charm of the film's female lead Bai Baihe, who also starred in 2011 box office dark horse "Love is not Blind." That's an allegation without ground. For all her amicable manners and attractive looks, Ms. Bai does not appear to offer the best of her performance. But we should blame the editors rather than the actress. When the screens are constantly switching between the closeups of Bai and the male lead Jing Boran, it is impossible to get a good look on the actress's sexy lips, let alone to interpret the feelings she may or may not be trying to convey.

So now it is safe to say, young male audience members are not responsible for the explosion in the box office figures. The real culprit, as a matter of fact, is what could have driven the male moviegoers even further away. Imagine a big fat moving turnip with a pair of big eyes, a petty nose, a tinier mouth and octopus-like tentacles, I think most guys would find the picture disturbing. But apparently young women between the age of 19 and 33 find the fantastic elf extremely cute.

Before "Monster Hunt" was ever released in Chinese cinemas, the filmmakers had organised several screening events, whose repercussions rippled throughout the social network. I remember reading about quite a few positive comments all coming from female acquaintances, and all pointing to the cuteness of the little oc-turnip-us monster named Huba.

The cuteness campaign yielded positive results. On the first Saturday night after the film's release, I tried to book a ticket for Sunday morning, only to find nearly 90 percent of the seats at a nearby cinema had been sold. The precisely targeted production and promotion gimmicks demonstrated both Chinese women's purchase power and their ability to influence people around them.

Despite my disapproval of the grotesque creatures, "Monster Hunt" has also made commendable achievements. Director Xu Chengyi is a Hollywood veteran, whose works include Dreamworks animation "Shrek 3." His skills shaped the critters that have caused so much commotion in Chinese cinemas. Even more remarkable is how he makes the interaction between human and computer generated characters seem natural, particularly during intensive action scenes. Lastly, traditional Chinese elements are more than just a selling point.

In some shots showing natural scenery in the background, viewers have to actually turn their heads to look for the small human characters. This reminds us of traditional Chinese paintings that highlight the insignificance and humility of humans vis-a-vis nature. Viewers could have felt more strongly about that if only the filmmakers had taken it easy on the cuteness campaign.

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