Light the way home, Chen Xiang.
Lotus Lantern (Chinese: 宝莲灯 Bǎo lián dēng) is a 1999 Chinese animated film produced by Shanghai Animation Film Studio, based on the Chinese folktale The Magic Lotus Lantern.
Sanshengmu is a goddess who marries a mortal man named Liu Yanchang and has a son with him, the demigod child Chen Xiang. Her brother Erlang Shen disapproves of this marriage and kills Liu Yanchang, but Sanshengmu manages to hide herself and Chen Xiang for seven years. When Erlang Shen discovers and kidnaps him, Sanshengmu gives up her magical Lotus Lantern and allows him to imprison her in exchange for her son's safety. Now, Chen Xiang must find a way to get his mother back.
Not to be confused with the 2005 CCTV live action adaptation of Lotus Lantern, through it does incorporate some small elements of the animated film such as Wukong playing a role in Chen Xiang's quest.
(Note: As this film has never been dubbed in English, all characters will be referred to with their transliterated Chinese names.)
This animated film provides examples of:
- Adaptational Villainy: In traditional Chinese folklore, Erlang Shen is usually a noble and just god who vanquishes demons and monsters. In the 2002 and 2005 live TV adaptations of the folktale where he is also a major antagonist, he ends up backing down once the Queen Mother of the West had a change of heart about Sanshengmu's relationship with Liu in the former, and revealed to be well intentioned and on Chen Xiang's side all along in the latter. In this film, he is a cruel god who unjustly punishes his sister Sanshengmu for marrying a mortal, first by killing her mortal husband, and then imprisoning her underneath a mountain in exchange for the safety of her young demigod son.
- Armor-Piercing Response: When Chen Xiang beseeches Sun Wukong to help save his mother and is refused, he at last says, "I get it. You don't have a mother. You don't know the pain of losing a mother. You'll never understand!" and runs off. Sun Wukong gets angry at this accusation, but realizes he understands the pain of not having a mother because he never had one to begin with, as he was born from a rock. So, when Chen Xiang returns shortly after, Sun Wukong helps him this time.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: Dafashi kidnaps Chen Xiang's pet monkey Xiao Hou, makes him do tricks, and uses him in a Knife-Throwing Act.
- Bag of Kidnapping: After Chen Xiang knocks himself out trying to drill through the mountain, Dafashi takes Xiao Hou away in one.
- Beware of Vicious Dog: Erlang Shen has a black-and-white dog sidekick, which is quite vicious. It also has the ability to multiply itself into a massive pack of dogs.
- Bolt of Divine Retribution: In the prologue, Erlang Shen fuses both of his eyes into a single eye which shoots a laser beam at Liu Yanchang's house, destroying it and killing him.
- Bonfire Dance: A variation of this trope — when Ga Mei's tribe celebrates the full moon festival, an archer burns down a giant wooden pole with a flaming arrow, which turns the ground fiery red and serves as the cue for the ritual dance to begin.
- Catchphrase: Sun Wukong's catchphrase, accompanied by a praying hand gesture, is "Ē mí tuó fó" (阿彌陀佛), a Buddhist mantra that means "May Buddha preserve us."
- Deface of the Moon: Erlang Shen's dog bites a giant hole in the moon and creates a lunar eclipse as a warning to Ga Mei's tribe of what will happen if they don't finish the statue of him on time.
- Disappeared Dad: After Chen Xiang was born, his father was struck down by his uncle Erlang Shen as punishment for marrying his mother and Erlang Shen's sister, as he disapproved of such a marriage between a mortal and a goddess.
- Dishing Out Dirt: Erlang Shen has the power to control stone, and uses it to create an enormous mountain which he imprisons his sister Sanshengmu in.
- Distant Prologue: The prologue takes place seven years before the main story, and shows Chen Xiang's father Liu Yanchang being killed by Erlang Shen.
- Divine Date: Liu Yanchang is a mortal man who fell in love with the goddess Sanshengmu.
- Divine Parentage: Chen Xiang's mother is a goddess while his father is a mortal, making him a demigod.
- A Dog Named "Dog": Xiao Hou is Chen Xiang's monkey friend, and his name literally means "little monkey" in Chinese.
- Dramatic Drop: Sanshengmu drops her basket of lotus roots when she realizes her son has been kidnapped.
- Fanservice: When Ga Mei's tribe is performing a ritual dance at night, numerous muscular and shirtless young men are seen dancing, as well as a line of beautiful young women in skimpy outfits.
- Feathered Fiend: Erlang Shen sends a vulture to kidnap Chen Xiang when he is seven years old. Near the end, he sends an entire flock of vultures as a last-ditch effort to stop Chen Xiang from reaching the mountain his mother is imprisoned under, but the archers of Ga Mei’s tribe shoot them down.
- Grandpa God: Tudiyeye, the Land God (whose name means "land grandfather"), appears in the form of a short old man with a long white beard. When Chen Xiang asks if Tudiyeye is his uncle, Tudiyeye answers, "Look at my beard. Am I your uncle? I could be your uncle's grandfather."
- Heaven Above: This is where the gods and immortals of Chinese folklore live. Erlang Shen wants his nephew Chen Xiang to live with him in the Heavenly Palace and forget about his mother, but Chen Xiang has other ideas.
- Heli-Critter: At the very end, after helping Chen Xiang finish his journey and reunite with his mother, Xiao Hou twirls his tail like a helicopter propeller and flies up to the sky to reunite with Sun Wukong.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Erlang Shen forces Ga Mei's tribe to build a giant stone statue of him, apparently as a monument to his own vanity. This statue gets thrown down into a volcano and magically reforged into a great silver axe that Chen Xiang uses to battle, and eventually defeat, him.
- Hold Up Your Score: When Chen Xiang is living in the forest with the wild animals, there is a gag where Xiao Hou judges the pounces of three panther cubs with scores of 9.2, 9.1, and 10. Chen Xiang tries the same and just lands on his face, so Xiao Hou sadly gives him a 0.
- Hypocrite: When Erlang Shen proclaims that his nephew Chen Xiang's birth was a sin because he was born of a forbidden romance between a mortal and a goddess, Sanshengmu asks him to remember how he himself was brought into the world, and claims that their mother was seeking happiness too, implying he is the samenote . He just tells her not to bring up the past.
- Kidnapping Bird of Prey: When Chen Xiang is seven years old, Erlang Shen sends one to snatch him up when his mother's back is turned for just a moment.
- Leitmotif: Sanshengmu and the Lotus Lantern are accompanied by the sound of a ringing bell.
- Light Is Good: The Lotus Lantern is able to glow with a magical light that can scare away evil.
- Magical Floating Shawl: The goddess Sanshengmu's outfit includes a blue stole that floats around her shoulders.
- Me's a Crowd: Erlang Shen's dog has the power to multiply itself until it's a huge pack of dogs.
- Momma's Boy: Chen Xiang loves his mother very much, and says that his happiness is when he is with her. When they are separated, his goal is to find and rescue her from the mountain that she has been imprisoned under.
- Pet Gets the Keys: When Chen Xiang has to get into the temple where his mother's Lotus Lantern is kept, Xiao Hou steals the building's key from a sleeping guardsman.
- Ride the Rainbow: At the very end, Sun Wukong throws down his staff to create a rainbow bridge that Chen Xiang and his mother cross to reunite.
- So Happy Together: In the prologue, Sanshengmu and Liu Yanchang embrace joyously on a mountaintop before the latter is tragically and cruelly killed by Erlang Shen.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Xiao Hou, the little monkey that always follows Chen Xiang around and provides a good chunk of the movie's comic relief.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Tudiyeye gives Sun Wukong a mild one for not helping Chen Xiang enough and letting him go through so much by himself, even though he is just a little boy. As he leaves, he shouts that it would be better not to become a Buddha, so his heart would not turn to stone.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: All the adult men in Ga Mei's tribe, except for the chief priest, who wears a long robe.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Erlang Shen's dog can transform into an old woman. It briefly takes this form to attempt to trick Chen Xiang into handing over the Lotus Lantern.
- You Are in Command Now: Ga Mei becomes leader of her tribe after her father's death.
