Now that the summer movie season has come to an end, and I've already ticked off watching most of the movies on my most anticipated movies of 2025 list, I figured it was as good a time as any to discuss what I and many others consider to be one of the biggest surprises of the year as a whole. This is not to be confused with my annual end of the year wrap up (which is still coming!), but rather, is my attempt to gather some of my thoughts and feelings well ahead of that post.
Before I get to the heart of the matter, though, I first need to acknowledge the fact that despite my half-hearted attempts, I haven't seen nearly as many movies as I would have liked this year. A few that I can remember missing off the top of my head are the live-action remakes of Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon, and more recently, the hit horror movie, Weapons. The current plan is to find the time to watch all these in the weeks and months ahead, so fingers crossed that it happens sometime before the end of the calendar year.
That said, I have to admit that of all the movies I did happen to see, few of them have really managed to surprise me. This does not mean that it's been a downer year for moviegoing or streaming. Because, like most years, we've gotten various highs and lows, and for the most part, these fell pretty much where I'd expected on my barometer of satisfaction. In other words, there've been none that truly exceeded my expectations, or that fell egregiously short of meeting them. That is, of course, until I finally saw the Netflix animated film, KPop Demon Hunters.
It bears mentioning at this point that this is also not a review of KPop Demon Hunters, but rather, a postmortem of sorts, as I try to make sense of my feelings about the movie. So in lieu of the typical synopsis and plot breakdown, I will simply be jumping straight into what I thought about the film.
There's no use in burying the lede any longer because I thoroughly enjoyed KPop Demon Hunters, more so than I dare to admit or could've possibly anticipated. This was despite all the buzz and hype that preceded me finally giving the film a chance, after being bombarded by news of its every milestone for what felt like years. But strangely enough, it was actually the music that made up the movie's soundtrack that gave me the final nudge that I needed.
I've never really been a fan of K-pop, to be honest, even though I enjoy the occasional dose of Blackpink or Psy. But after hearing the song "Golden," I knew it had the potential to grow on me with its catchy lyrics and earworm melodies. And grow on me it did, so much so that my YouTube recommendations were soon taken over by other songs from the movie. So just like that, I found myself binging song after song, until I could no longer fight the temptation to experience the whole thing as intended.
So heading into the movie, I already knew it had some very catchy, radio-friendly music. I could also see, from the videos I'd already watched, that the animation was top-notch, sporting what has quickly become Sony Pictures Animation's signature style ever since its introduction in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. But I still wasn't prepared for just how well these elements came together to elevate the viewing experience.
There were hidden depths to the movie's deceptively simple premise (think Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets K-pop), and the way it approached its depiction of Korean pop culture was equal parts parody and celebration, ensuring that noobs like me could still laugh at and, at the same time, appreciate the exaggerated excesses of the K-pop fandom. I was likewise won over by its use of anime flourishes, and while I couldn't be caught dead watching K-dramas, I could still recognize how it channels the over-the-top melodrama that makes them so endearing to many fans.
The filmmakers, songwriters, and animators alike definitely deserve all the credit for their attention to detail. It would have been too easy to mess things up in other, less competent hands, but their movie stays true to form from start to finish. As a result, they have successfully blended all the disparate elements of a musical, romance, and urban fantasy action movie to create something far greater than the sum of its parts.
All this high praise from me does not mean I think the movie is perfect, though, not by any stretch of the imagination. Its relatively brisk pacing, while great for kids with shortened attention spans, left this aging millennial wishing there was more depth to its story and worldbuilding. Mind you, I am not asking for Tolkien levels of backstory, just more character development for the other members of Huntr/x for starters.
I would have also liked to learn more about the previous generations of demon hunters, like the Sunlight Sisters, and what happened to their third, unnamed member. But the absence of these little tidbits of information is still not enough to dim what is clearly a diamond in the endless muck that is the Netflix catalog of streaming original movies. And with the movie's continued success, chances are high that at least some of my nitpicks might get addressed in the inevitable sequel.
So, to wrap things up, let me implore you to give KPop Demon Hunters a shot, assuming you haven't already. The last time I was this stoked for something so outside my wheelhouse was when I first saw The Powerpuff Girls on Cartoon Network, all the way back in the late 90s. And in some ways, there are more than a few parallels between that show and KPop Demon Hunters, from its colorful trio of superpowered heroines to the focus on balls-to-the-wall action and catchy tunes.
And that, right there, is the winning formula that might help explain how and why KPop Demon Hunters has grown beyond its primary audience of teenage girls. Because I genuinely believe that it has something for everyone, assuming, of course, that they can look beyond its bright pink, glitter and confetti-covered exterior.
No comments:
Post a Comment