Big Fish & Begonia

Big Fish & Begonia (simplified Chinese: 大鱼海棠; traditional Chinese: 大魚海棠; pinyin: Dàyú Hǎitáng; lit. 'The big fish and the Chinese flowering crabapple') is a 2016 Chinese animated fantasy film made by Beijing Enlight Media in corporation with B&T Studio and Studio Mir. It was released and dubbed in English by Funimation in the United States and Manga Entertainment in the United Kingdom.

Plot
In a world underneath the ocean, a young 16 year old girl named Chun transforms into a dolphin in the human world. When Kun, a boy sacrifices his own life to save her, she uses her magic to bring him back to life as a fish, however, there are a lot of consequences for her actions.

Good Qualities

 * 1) Excellent storytelling, reminiscent of Chinese folklore and similar films like mh:greatestmovies:Spirited Away.
 * 2) Chun is a very caring and likeable character as she spares her life to save a boy.
 * 3) Kun is very adorable as a fish.
 * 4) The animation is very wonderful, and the visuals can sometimes look like paintings, depending on how you see them.
 * 5) The English dub is cleverly dubbed and accurate to what is said in the original Chinese version.
 * 6) A very beautiful soundtrack that uses traditional Chinese instruments.
 * 7) * The song Big Fish by Zhou Shen is very beautiful and deep.
 * 8) Very emotional story, especially the ending scene where Qiu, Chun's childhood friend sacrifices his life for hers by setting himself on fire and becoming the wind and the rain.
 * 9) Qiu plays a good role model as he deeply cares about his friend Chun.
 * 10) The concept of a world underneath the ocean is very interesting.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Some of the villagers are mean-spirited to Chun after she is found with Kun.
 * 2) Chun can be selfish at times.

Reception
This film received very positive reviews by critics for it's animation and storytelling. It currently holds the ratings of 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, 7.1 on IMDB and a 3/5 on IndieWire.

Trivia

 * This was originally a short film called Big Fish & Chinese Flowering Crabapple that was made in 2004.
 * The story was inspired by a myth from Zhuangzi, an ancient Chinese text from the Warring States period.