Another World review: a stunning animated movie with an incredibly ugly story
Another World, a Golden Horse-winning animated film from Hong Kong, showcases visually stunning environments that promise to captivate audiences in theatrical release. The narrative is set substantially within an otherworldly afterlife realm of the same name, featuring elaborate fantasy biomes designed for maximum visual spectacle.
The film’s environments are breathtaking in scope and detail. Colossal ice islands embedded with glowing purple crystals are suspended above glacier-covered mountains and interconnected by luminous bands of orange light. Jewel-toned caverns in shades of pink and blue contain towering stone structures reaching from floor to ceiling, with rivers of light flowing through them like natural veins. A time-frozen ocean terminates in an impossibly massive curling wave that loops back on itself to form a perfect circular formation the size of a mountain.
However, the film’s aesthetic achievements appear detached from its narrative substance. The review notes that these elaborate environments exist primarily to provide visual spectacle, with unclear connections to the film’s story or thematic purpose. This disconnect between breathtaking animation and narrative depth forms the central critique—the film presents stunning visuals that lack meaningful integration with its plot, resulting in what the reviewer describes as a juxtaposition of aesthetic beauty with storytelling shortcomings.