Monster Hunt takes place in a mythical past, where the Human race exists alongside a Monster race. While they once shared the earth in peace, the Humans drove the Monsters out of their lands. It isn’t until a civil war in the Monster world forces the two separated races to interact once-again and a fight to find the newly born Monster King ensues. The infant Monster king ends up in the hands of aspiring Monster hunter, Hua Xiaolan (Bai Baihe), and crippled town mayor, Song Tianyin (Jing Boran). They must stave off attackers from both the Human and Monster worlds to gather the ransom on the Kings head, however along the way, a love, both for the tiny Monster king, and for each other blossoms.

Bai Baihe and Jing Boran deliver endearing, hilarious performances, Bai’s Hua Xioalan is a confident, independent young woman living in the world of Monster Hunters, dominated by evil-looking men. While she is only a level two Monster hunter (dictated by how many Monsters you defeat) her skills seem far beyond that of a novice. Her confidence, and her ability to poke fun at both friend and foe, makes her character incredibly lovable. Jing’s Song Tianyin is sympathetic and youthful. His one crippled leg often forces him to serve the role of “damsel in distress” as Hua Xioalan kicks butt to protect both him and the Monster King. As the story progresses, Hua Xioalan learns to adopt some of Song’s empathy and love, while some of her confidence and grit rubs off on him. Not only do they complement each other, they learn from each other,
making it clear what all the characters crave is having a family.

Monster Hunt is an enjoyable watch, mixing classic kung fu conventions with CGI, and 3D creations. The characters are full of life and despite being quite over the top, the movie is self-aware enough that it lends itself to the comedy. In certain scenes I almost expected one of the characters to turn to the camera and wink.