Goodbye Monster Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Goodbye Monster Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 1, 2023

Goodbye Monster is a Chinese production with a towering animation style and some fun characters but a story that my hunch is will leave many, maybe even most, Westerners scratching their collective heads in befuddlement. There's always a built in "cultural" chasm to span when any kind of film (animated or otherwise) attempts to take on some kind of "national" myth or folklore without offering a bunch of context or explanatory notes for those not conversant with the underlying story or stories, and that's probably the case with Goodbye Monster, which deals with a mythical beast from ancient China called Bai Ze. In this somewhat peculiar adaptation, Bai Ze is part of a coalition of "healers", all of whom seem to be animals or hybrids of some sort, and all who are trying to rein in something known as the Dark Spirit, which is an evil entity of some kind that really could have used more developing information in the story. Suffice it to say that Bai Ze's early attempts to deal with the Dark Spirit lead to calamity (what else is new?), leading to the character's banishment from his home island and ultimately to an effort to clear his name and finally control the Dark Spirit.

There's frequently a "lost in translation" aspect to many of these foreign animated offerings, but in this case both the English language track and the subtitles for the Mandarin language track are almost identical, which may frankly mean someone doing the subtitles simply transcribed the English language track, but it may point to the fact that whoever did the translation from Mandarin to English was unable to overcome the fact that the original screenplay in its native language is indeed as disjointed and uninformative as it seems to be. As such, there are all sorts of questions that arise, not the least of which is, who are these characters? Are they Chinese gods or spirits? Why are two of them quasi-human, and the rest more or less animals or creatures of some sort? And is there supposed to be some kind of "religious" undercurrent to things, or simply a more universal concept of good versus evil?

In that regard, the whole depiction of the Dark Spirit is in and of itself kind of confusing. At several points it's like a horrifying black spectral energy that is excised from characters by physicians, or in other moments "confronted" out in the "real world" by characters like Bai Ze. But at others it's a bizarre set of metallic spheres some minion like characters stash underground to keep evil from overtaking the world (guess how that one works out). Of course Bai Ze is ultimately tasked with helping a youngster discover his own power, which in turn helps bring some hopeful salvation to the supposedly disgraced healer.

Unfortunately, Goodbye Monster gets around to answering precious few of these lingering queries, but the up side is that the animation style is generally captivating, combining a Pixar-esque flair for CGI along with a reliance on what might be termed more "traditional" Chinese imagery at times. Colors are bright and inviting, and the frame is frequently filled with outlandish characters and environments, but all of that visual splendor can't quite distract from the fact that the story doesn't make much sense.

Goodbye Monster Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Goodbye Monster is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. This is an often quite gorgeous looking production, one that offers both some of the near 3D rendering that has become standard issue fare in offerings from, say, Pixar, along with more deliberately 2D imagery that may evoke things like old scrolls or screens. Renderings on the many creatures is often very well done, with fine detail resonating whether or not the creature has fur (like Bai Ze), or is more "slimy" like some of the fishlike creatures. Colors are also beautifully suffused and range from really vibrant primaries to a host of subtly captivating pastel hues. There are some occasional moments of jitter during some fast action.

Goodbye Monster Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As is often the case with Well Go USA releases, this disc comes with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 options for either the original language (in this case, Mandarin) or an English dub. The voicework in the two languages can be quite different, but in toggling between the two tracks as I watched, I otherwise found the two versions to be pretty identical in terms of mix and amplitude. There is some nice engagement of the surround channels throughout, often associated with whirling encroachment by the Dark Spirit, but also courtesy of a rather nice score which has some ethnic touches to it. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English and Mandarin subtitles are available.

Goodbye Monster Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (HD; 2:05)

Note: As tends to be the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, the disc has been authored to automatically move on to trailers for other Well Go USA releases after the trailer for this film plays. Those trailers for other Well Go USA releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

Finally, packaging features a slipcover.

Goodbye Monster Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are a number of elements at play in Goodbye Monster which are both beautiful and at least at times thoughtful, as in an emphasis on how talking smack about yourself in your inner dialogue is not a healthy thing to do (not necessarily only because in this formulation it invites the presence of the Dark Spirit), in an aspect that kind of reminded me at times of certain plot tropes in Inside Out. But there's simply too much left unexplained here, at least for boneheaded Westerners like yours truly, for the story to ever attain the emotional catharsis it seems to be aiming for. Technical merits are solid for those who may be considering making a purchase.