Daisy, A Hen into the Wild

Mousekateer627 Feb 8, 2021

8

My first impression of this movie was that I thought it would be about cartoon animals on the farm for little kids and even thought it would be an ugly 3D animatated film from just the poster. When I watched the film Oh how wrong I was. The story is about the title characer Daisy (Leafie in the Korean version) a hen who is tired of being cooped up (XP) inside a barn laying eggs day in and day out and dreams of going outside and live as freely as she desires. She achieves that desire early on but soon discovers that living in the wild has its hardships especialy for a hen. The film's primary focus is about Leafie adopting and raising a duckling whose father was a wild duck she had a little crush on. The animation is gorgouesly hand drawn similiar to the styles of the 80s and 90s 2D theatrical films with more enhanced touches. CG animation was used in the film but in the barest minimum such as for background movements but it's not too much and not drawing the viewers's attention to it. The background is painted with water color which again is reminiscent of traditional hand drawn animated theatrical films and the use of colors reminds me of children's story books. The character designs are pretty good not realistic and not too catooney. As for characters, I adore Leafie a lot. She has a very gentle, innocent and childlike demeanor which is given since she is a sheltered animal but she's not a pushover which is nice and her portrayal makes her so likable and endearing you're rooting and you're emtionally on edge if she's in danger or out of her elements. Even when she's awkwardly raising the duckling it is adorable to me and I'm just cheering her on. The other characters to me rate between alright to somewhat annoying but their designs are vary and colorful and I don't have much to say about them.  The movie wasn't perfect for me. It had its small share of gross out humor which I'm not a fan of, most of the cast were a bit underdeveloped since I would get borded if Leafie wasn't on screen and the third act I personally found a bit boring.  Despite the mentioned faults, this film is really underrated and needs more attention. The film is South Korea's most successful animated feature at the box office and it desreves that honor. The story and theme are simple and they were told with a lot of heart. This is a great film for animation fans who adore works like Don Bluth, dark 80s kids cartoon and even Disney's older animations. The dark tone of the film is somewhere between Bambi and Land Before Time but other than that it's a safe watch for kids. Give Leafie the love she deserves.

Halex Sep 30, 2018

9

I was skeptical at first about this movie, thinking that it was just a film for children, but now I'm glad I gave it a try, as it turns out to be a hidden gem! This is a great story of motherly love, freedom and the laws of nature and contains lots of action through the plot that keeps everything moving and entertaining, but the story is deep, depicting very well the cycle of life and the sacrifices a mother makes to help their children succeed in life. "Also known as "Leafie, A Hen into the Wild" is a 2011 South Korean animated drama film which depicts the freedom, will and instinctive motherly love of a hen as she raises an adopted duckling. The film made box office history by drawing over 2.2 million viewers, the largest audience for a home-grown animated film in South Korea. It also received widespread critical acclaim upon release. The film is based on a well-respected and extremely popular children's book authored by Hwang Sun-mi. The novel was first released in South Korea in 2000, and sold more than 1 million copies domestically. Historically South Korean animated features have struggled to draw viewers... Director Oh Sung-yoon struggled for more than twenty years as an animator under adverse economic circumstances before finally debuting with this feature film.... Undaunted by the knowingly discouraging prognoses from industry insiders, Leafie went on to rake in more than 2.2 million tickets, while recouping its production budget in just four weeks. It has become South Korea's most successful animated film since the country's first feature-length cartoon, A Story of Hong Gildong (1967)." -WikiPedia The animation is very different from what you are used to from Japan or USA, creating its own style and it works really well with the characters. "Most of my staff and I majored in painting, and we chose to make the film two-dimensional, so that the entire product looks like a beautiful picture," -Director Oh Sung-yoon The sound effects are good, there is a lack of background music in the story, but it's perhaps a stylistic choice to focus on the plot. This is a character driven plot using animal protagonists to create a very human story that we can all relate to. The story excels at exemplifying its message through the lives of these characters and despite some of them having a clearly defined role in the plot, the story remains unpredictable. I would have liked to see the "bookending" in this movie (you can read about it in the WikiPedia Page). I think is a testament to the main character's personality and her motherly love. Overall, do yourself a favor and give this movie a chance, I don't think you'll regret it. This is recommended for everyone and especially good for a family movie.