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Yamasong: March of the Hollows
USA 2017
produced by Sultan Saeed Al Darmaki, Adamo P. Cultraro, Mallory O'Meara, Toby Froud (executive), Heather Henson (executive), Ryan Bury (executive), James Andrew Felts (executive) for Dark Dunes Productions
directed by Sam Koji Hale
starring the voices of Abigail Breslin, Nathan Fillion, Freida Pinto, Whoopi Goldberg, Peter Weller, Malcolm McDowell, George Takei, Edward Asner, Bruce Davison
story by Sam Koji Hale, screenplay by Sam Koji Hale, Ekaterina Sedia, music by Shoji Kameda, production and character design by Sam Koji Hale, visual effects by Eric McAvoy
marionation Yamasong
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Back in the day, P'Torr (Bruce Davison) created the Hollows, a blend of
living being and machine, to make the living more resistant against
hostile enviroments on the planet Yamasong. But things turned sour when
one of his creations, Yari (Whoopi Goldberg), took over and saw it her
task to conquer all the tribes on Yamasong and transform them into Hollows
by force, robbing their peronalities and making them her slaves in the
process. As this was never P'Torr's intention, he banished all the Hollows
to the prison moon and went into self-imposed exile on another plane of
existence. Among the Hollows though was one girl, Nani (Abigail Breslin),
who had fallen in love with turtoise-like warrior Shojun (Nathan Fillion)
and has thus grown a heart. This resulted in Shojun being banished from
his tribe, and Nani being left behind when the Hollows escape their lunar
prison to once again try to conquer Yamasong. However, somehow Nani finds
her way to Shojun, and they soon figure it's up to them to end the war
between the Hollows and the creatures of Yamasong, and they are soon
joined by the goatlike outlaw with a heart of gold Geta (Freida Pinto).
Between the three of them they figure the key to making peace might lie
with Lord Geer (Malcolm McDowell), an exiled Hollow who was once P'Torr's
right hand man and who has always opposed Yari's plans of domination.
Problem is though that he shares a special bond with Yari which means Yari
can listen in on everything that's going on in his life, whether he likes
it or not - and soon enough Yari's warriors have caught up with our
heroes, and in a battle, Nani loses her body (her soul's entirely in her
face though). But our heroes at least now know what their mission is, to
find and awaken the rock god, the only being on this planet mightier than
Yari. And after an expedition, that puts all the founding legends of their
planet into question and that also included many a battle, our heroes
arrive at the rock god's lair and do what they've come for. But awakening
a creature more powerful than their mightiest foe might also mean having a
bigger problem to deal with in the process ... Especially if
you've already grown tired of too many CGI-effects spectacles trying to
outdo one another by creating bigger and bigger bangs while telling the
same story over and over, Yamasong: March of the Hollows will seem
like a breath of fresh air. Sure, enough in this movie is still
CGI-enhanced, but in its heart it's a puppet movie relying mostly on
practical effects and expert puppeteering, and the creatures designed for
that one sure look splendid, as does the produciton design that somehow
combines fairy tale and steampunk elements to a perfect whole that doesn't
shy away from surrealist and/grotesque touches. So the film really is a
feast for the eyes, and yet what really makes Yamasong: March of the
Hollows is how good it is at building its very own world with its very
own logic and laws of nature while at the same time telling a compelling
and tense story that's romance, science fiction and fantasy all rolled
into one, making this one above all else just a really impressive movie.
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