Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Woochi Blu-ray Movie Review

The Magic Flute.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 21, 2013

Did Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart somehow make a previously unknown journey to the Korean peninsula during his childhood touring days? For years pundits have sought hidden meanings and barely concealed subtexts in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, with Mozart’s apparent interest in Freemasonry regularly being mentioned as the overriding idea behind the opera. But some might wonder if somewhere, somehow Mozart might have heard about the Korean folktale that is twisted, turned and reshaped into a special effects laden martial arts comedy in Woochi: The Demon Slayer, an epic South Korean fantasy that was an incredible success in its native country during its theatrical exhibition. Folktales and fairy tales may be a sort of universal language, but some of the finer points of these oft told stories can sometimes get lost in translation, and some may feel that has happened here, especially since Woochi: The Demon Slayer deals with two different timeframes which include various characters appearing in different guises, as well as a perhaps overall too convoluted conceit that occasionally hobbles the narrative flow and forward momentum. But for those who are willing to be at least occasionally confused, Woochi: The Demon Slayer can be quite a bit of fun. It’s unabashedly silly quite a bit of the time, combining a cartoonish ambience with a pretty sumptuous physical production and some very appealing special effects to create a wondrous sensibility that is kind of akin to (perhaps appropriately, given his rendering of The Brothers Grimm) a Korean accented Terry Gilliam film. That’s also true in a somewhat more negative way, for the film, like some of Gilliam’s work, is at times undisciplined and more than a bit haphazard, positing some hoops for any potential viewer to jump through.

The flute in this case is a magically endowed instrument that has been able to keep a coterie of goblins and ghouls (if not outright demons) ensconced in a hellish lair for untold centuries. Unfortunately, the keepers of these creatures miscalculate their prison sentence by a mere one day, releasing them early to wreak havoc once again in the Earthly realm. In the ensuing mayhem, the magical flute itself falls into the hands of one of the evil ones, and suddenly the stakes have become considerably higher.

Woochi: The Demon Slayer is an incredibly manic entertainment and it frankly is not always the easiest thing to follow. Our hero is of course Woochi (Kang Dong-won), a kind of trickster Taoist monk who has been tasked by his Master (Baek Yoon-sik) with reclaiming the magic flute and restoring order to the universe. Woochi of course has other things on his mind, not the least of which are women. Woochi pals around with his polymorphous sidekick Chorangyi (Yoo Hae-Jin), whose original form is a dog, but who Woochi also utilizes as his horse when Chorangyi is not in his human state. The villain of the piece is evil mastermind Hwadam (Kim Yun-seok), who wants the flute for his own nefarious purposes.

Part of what makes Woochi: The Demon Slayer a bit impenetrable is that it takes place in two timeframes and also part of the film takes place within a painting where Woochi and Chorangyi have been imprisoned (although an early scene shows Woochi entering and leaving another illustration without too much trouble). But this is a film that may in fact make little sense but where that incoherence oddly only adds to its kind of goofy allure. The film is obviously intentionally cartoonish, over the top and filled with crazy performances and some impressive stunt work. The action is fairly nonstop and is often very well choreographed with some impressive hyperkinetic camera work wheeling in and out of the battles.

Woochi: The Demon Slayer also benefits from some showy but highly effective CGI, especially with regard to a couple of mutant beasts that Woochi battles at various times. One, a giant rat, has a spectacular fight sequence where Woochi and the rodent are often sideways on parallel walls, with director Choi Dong-hun’s camera cartwheeling in and around the often vertical combatants. Another impressive giant comes in rabbit form, which is kind of interesting from a psychoanalytical or even Jungian perspective, since the rabbit is often cast as the same sort of trickster that Woochi himself seems to be.

This is bright, breezy and unabashedly frenetic entertainment that simply needs to be surrendered to in order to fully enjoy. It is in places rather like a trip through a carnival fun house, where things are reflected in bizarrely distorted ways and nothing is very rational. But like the best carnival attractions, this is one boisterous ride that’s completely unique and highly enjoyable.

Woochi Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Woochi: The Demon Slayer is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. This relatively recent vintage film's elements are in top notch condition, and the high definition presentation is a largely very commendable affair. The film has been rather aggressively color graded throughout, but even the sequences with the ever popular blue hues lack little if any fine object detail. More "normal" looking scenes really pop with excellent vigor, and the film is very colorful, with a panoply of bright primaries especially evident in some of the costumes. Contrast and black levels are solid throughout. CGI is very artfully blended into the live action elements and looks excellent. There were some very minor stability issues with regard to some close cropped parallel lines in some of the sets and costumes, but otherwise this is a sparkling and clear presentation that's a lot of fun to watch.

Woochi Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Woochi: The Demon Slayer features lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 mixes in both Korean and English. Both sets of mixes are virtually identical save for the voice work, so choice basically comes down to whether or not you're an original language purist or alternatively if you prefer not to read subtitles. The 5.1 mixes are very robust, with a really aggressive low end that offers some spectacular LFE in some of the special effects sequences. Even the Korean language version appears to have been post looped (at least in part), so there are occasional mismatches between lip movement and what's being spoken, but that said, dialogue is always crisp and clear and well prioritized, which is especially important since the sound design of the film tends to be on the busy side at times. Fidelity remains excellent throughout and dynamic range is extremely wide.

Woochi Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Newest Korean Style Hero Movie (480i; 5:51) is a brief EPK with interviews and behind the scenes footage.


• Deleted Scenes (480i; 13:43) are windowboxed with timecode captions running above and below the image.


• Original Trailer (480i; 1:57)


• Making Of (480i; 25:09) has some good behind the scenes footage, including a lot of footage of wire work being filmed.


• Interview Gallery includes:

  Interview with Director and Cast (480i; 5:18)

  Interview with Director, Key Staff and Cast on Pre-Production (480i; 10:55)

• Production Featurettes include:

  The Training Process (480i; 3:48)

  The World Outside the Frame (480i; 8:48)

  Production Design (480i; 14:34)

  Action and Special Effects (480i; 16:08)

  Shooting and Lighting (480i; 6:22)

  Post-Production: Sound and Editing (480i; 6:00)

• The Magic of Computer Graphics includes:

  Visual Art (480i; 15:17)

  CG Scenes in the Pre-Production Stage (480i; 26:04)

  CG Mixed in with the Final Stages (480i; 10:43)

  The CG Process – The Before and After (480i; 2:41)

Note: Shout! Factory might want to talk to their authoring house about making navigating around the supplements easier. There are no chapter skip options available and the Top Menu is also inaccessible, meaning you have to fast forward through any supplement you may not want to watch to get to the end. This is especially cumbersome since there are so many supplements to contend with.

Woochi Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Woochi: The Demon Slayer is a lot of fun and if it is sometimes hard to discern exactly what's going on, in the long run that may matter less than might be expected. The film is just a riot of goofy (even goony) performances and outlandish action sequences. There's a breathless quality about all of this, helped along by some manic editing and bizarre shifts of timeframe and location, but through it all there's such an affable character and uncommon grace that any potential stumbling blocks are pretty easily overlooked. This Blu-ray looks and sounds fantastic and it comes jam packed with some excellent supplements. Recommended.