White Snake

Having failed in her daring assassination attempt on the malevolent General, a shape-shifting snake spirit with dreams of immortality escapes with her life — but alas, not her memory. Found in human form by the handsome if hapless Xu Xuan, an apothecary and ophidiophobe (look ’em up!), she awakes to find herself in a humble village of snake-catchers. The two have soon captured each other’s affections, as well as the attentions of several supernatural figures with a variety of intentions for the pair, none of them good. Among those on their trail is the snake-spirit’s own sister, sworn to bring her back to the enchanted realm, or die trying. Setting out to unravel the mystery of the ethereal young woman’s past, the couple and their trusty canine confederate Dodou must confront what lies ahead, tangling with a beguiling fox goblin, the General’s minions, warriors of the snake-spirit clan and more!

The thousand-year-old Legend of the White Snake is among China’s most treasured folktales. Unsurprisingly, it has been adapted countless times — to storybooks and xiqu (traditional Chinese opera) in days of old, and to film and TV today. The alluring serpentine sisters are no strangers to the Fantasia screen (Tsui Hark’s GREEN SNAKE is a hallmark of the fest’s early days), and grace it again in gorgeous CG animation this summer. The domestic box-office triumph WHITE SNAKE is Warner’s first made-in-China animated feature, a team-up with Beijing studio Light Chaser (GUARDIAN BROTHERS, CATS AND PEACHTOPIA), and the sheer quality of the work takes Chinese popular animation to unprecedented heights. Dazzling, thrilling, funny, romantic, and even a bit spicy, WHITE SNAKE is guaranteed to charm! – Rupert Bottenberg