Fantasia Review: ChaO is a dynamic twist on a familiar tale

Sometimes, if I'm watching a movie at home that I know I'm going to review, I jot down notes as I watch. Thoughts I have, character names, scenes that strike me, whatever. Normal critic stuff. But sometimes, even when I'm watching at home, I get so sucked into a movie that I don't even want to bother. I'm too dialed in, too invested, I don't want to take my eyes off the screen for a second, let my mind switch to note-taking mode, pause. The movie has been too firmly in the palm of its hand (or in this case, its fin). That's what happened with me and ChaO, playing as part of Fantasia's Animation Plus section.

The feature debut of Yasuhiro Aoki, whose previous work includes everything from Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon to last year's The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim, ChaO takes a familiar story, flips it on its head, injects it with so much creativity and emotion, and leaves you feeling well-sated. This movie ticked every box for me, made me laugh and cry (sob, actually) and sigh. The way it tells its story, the way it reveals itself, is so satisfying and exciting and unexpected. I knew I was in good hands pretty much from the get-go, but I didn't realize just how good those hands were until I saw the whole picture.

The year is 20XX. The city, Shanghai. The film opens with a fairy tale storybook snippet which is basically The Little Mermaid. Years ago, a human man and a mermaid fell in love, leading the way to better relations between humankind and merpeople. It feels like a fable, but it's actually history. The city is now dotted with express waterways to help mermen get around. Public transit includes pools in which sea-dwellers can sit. It's an exciting vision of the future, a nifty blend of sci-fi and fantasy elements, worked into a city that feels livable, real, alive.

Juno, a reporter, is chasing a scoop, but misses the literal boat, leaving him scraping for a story that might save his ass. He comes across a promising lead: Stephan, the human man whose romance with the mermaid is now the stuff of legend. Juno asks if the story as he knows it is true, and thus we get to the meat of the story: how Stephan came to marry the mermaid princess known as Chao.

The way this movie moves through its story is appropriately dynamic, fluid, and slippery. This thing is pure momentum, clocking in at under 90 minutes (including credits) and not wasting a single moment. It is, at its core, an odd-couple rom-com, but there are also awesome action set-pieces, stuff that feels like its taken from a sweeping fantasy epic, and moments that are more grounded and dramatic. It moves so well, and the characters are so well-defined, that I barely even registered all the mysterious bread crumbs being dropped before me. It was so satisfying to be thrown into the finale, that fills in Stephan's backstory and thus also solves the mystery of why this romance was meant to be, why he's the one Chao has chosen to be with. There are a few a-ha moments that are super touching. Thus me becoming a weepy mess by the time the credits rolled.

The animation here is, unsurprisingly, gorgeous. This is the work of Studio 4C°, whose previous work includes visual stunners like PHOENIX: Reminiscence of Flower and Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko. There's a really great shaky/sketchy vibe to the linework here. It made me think of Yuasa's work like Mind Game or Lu Over the Wall. The backgrounds are incredible, overflowing with color and impressionistic detail, scribbly lines and painterly blooms. The character designs are great too, none more than Chao, who's a gigantic goldfish who wears comically large sneakers and is quick to cry. She's so adorable, and her mermaid form is so stunning, I just loved her.

The human characters are no slouches, either, with a wild variety of proportions and styles. Stephan's boss at a ship-making company is basically Humpty-Dumpty. Another employee is tiny-tiny-tiny, using a big pane of magnifying glass to make his facial expressions legible to his coworkers. Really fun stuff, and a smart move to make the humans as varied and interesting to look at as the sea-based characters.

Which basically captures my impression of the film as a whole, and moment-to-moment: it's just fun to look at, and a joy to watch. Here is a movie that doesn't waste your time, that has its roots in something classic while telling its own fantastical tale, and that fits all of its pieces together into something surprising and emotional. This is basically everything I want from a movie!