Brilliant, but I can understand why some people get "confused"

Rating: Null/10 (24 May 2004)

This is some of the best hand-drawn animation you'll ever see--period. Unfortunately, the plot seems to befuddle a lot of Americans and I don't know why. Why can't American audiences grasp that this entire film is simply a parody of Alice in Wonderland translated for eastern audiences. If you liked Alice in Wonderland, with all of it's bizarre characters and nonsensical plot diversions, then this movie should be somewhat familiar to you. Also, in the east, cartoons are not just for kids. That's slowly becoming true in the USA as well, thanks to Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. The only cultural hint some Americans might need to completely understand the film is this: There is a Chinese legend in which some dragons decided help out human farmers by bringing them rain clouds and for this, the dragons were punished by the Jade Emperor. The dragons escaped, and decided to become rivers so they could help human farmers forever, safe from the Jade Emperor. --there, that hint should make the ending of the film a bazillion times more logical for you Americans who don't know anything about eastern cultures. The rest of the film is straight forward fantasy.