I Am What I Am 雄狮少年

A tried and true formula about underdogs done with gorgeous animation.

Director Sun Haipeng

China, 2021

Mandarin

104 mins

The last few years has been great for the animation industry in China with the likes of Ne Zha, White Snake and The Legend of Hei. The tail end of 2021 saw the release of I Am What I Am, a classic underdog film about a group of lion dancing teens.

I Am What I Am is about a rural village teen named Ah Juan, whose parents are busy earning a living in the main city Guangzhou. Ah Juan loves lion dance and has always aspired to be a lion dancer but his weak body and constant put down by the village bully has prevented him from doing so. During a lion dance competition he witnesses an impressive lion dance show from a female lion dancer she encourages him to follow his dreams. Ah Juan recruits his close friends and they venture forth in search for a master to teach them so they can participate in the greatest lion dance competition. They meet the most unlikely teacher and commence there training but reality hits and Ah Juan circumstances forces him to give up and support his family. His friends continue forth with their training hoping that maybe Ah Juan will re-join them once the competition begins.

I Am What I Am has struck with Chinese audiences and made good money during its theatrical release. The film does a lot of things right with an easy to digest story and familial themes. The formula is tried and true and I am What I am does not stray far from it. It is the journey that is engaging. The rural backdrop and a story of a neglected child because parents have to go to work works well in connecting with the audiences. The main character is likable as is its side cast of characters. Sure some of them can grate occasionally but by and large they are fine except for the stereotypical bully and his buddies who are a cheap story ploy in antagonizing our leads. Theres this female character also feels a cheap plot device she appears and disappears for the majority of the film and then to randomly return again to motivate our protagonist.

The film gained notoriety from the social justice warriors for its use of slanted small eyes, its funny how the west is kicking up a storm about this while the Chinese did criticize this aspect they were more annoyed with the simplistic story. The director stated it was an artistic choice and I personally have no faults with the design. I feel that its fine for a Chinese company to model on what they feel the Chinese should look like and there are actual people that have these small slanted eyes.

For most parts the jokes work sure there are a few that don’t quite hit the mark but the majority genuinely elicited big larges especially during my screening. My biggest problem with the film was during its climatic scene where everyone is participating in the lion dance competition, sure the rules are random but during one moment it completely breaks the rule and it just left me baffled in how they allowed this to happen. Some of the voice acting is a bit miss it does on occasions sound like adult actors putting on a younger voice.

Chinese animation has come leaps and bounds in the past few years. As great as Ne Zha was I Am What I Am improves on things greatly. The art direction is impeccable with locations and vistas mesmerizing. There’s this authenticity to the old rural towns in which there are still present in modern china. The level of detail is astonishing the textures and colour palette for the lion dances are beautiful. When in motion everything flows well together sure when our characters bound around it can feel rather floaty but it plays into that notion of animation. The film strikes a balance of realism and cartoon.

Is this a revolutionary film? No but it plays safe very well and the visuals are gorgeous and the story is easy to get on board. The drama is effective and by and large the comedy works.