Leafie, a Hen Into the Wild (2012)

This adorable but very singular Leafie broke my heart many times, and I absolutely adored Greenie. All the characters are so well presented, I watched this movie in the original language, of course, and also in Spanish and in english. Korean was my favorite. I loved this movie!

(Note: I watched the English dub first, so I will refer to the characters by their English names)Daisy, A Hen Into The Wild, is by far one of the best animated movies I've ever seen. It is both heart wrenching and heart warming all at the same time. The story follows Daisy, a battery cage hen who longs to be free. By playing dead, the farmer throws her out to freedom. A weasel named One-Eye almost eats Daisy, but she is saved by a wild duck named Wilson. Daisy moves to where Wilson lives, where One-Eye kills Wilson's wife, leaving Daisy to sit on the egg of Wilson's son. However, Wilson is killed by One-Eye on the night his son hatches, so it's up to Daisy to raise the duckling, who she names Willie. By the instructions of Wilson, Daisy moves to the everglades with Willie, where they meet an Otter who is the "mayor" of the area. He is also a Realtor, so he gives them a nice spot in the bushes, safe from One-Eye. As Willie grows, he realizes that Daisy, being a chicken, can't teach him how to fly, a skill he yearns to have. As a teenager, he runs away to be with his own kind, and ends up at the farm with some Beavis-and-Butthead-look- alike white ducks. The farmer apparently loves wild duck, so he ties Willie down to clip his wings. Daisy, who knows how much Willie longs to fly, rushes to his rescue with the Mayor by releasing the other caged hens. After that, Willie gets into a fight with One-Eye and falls off a cliff, but luckily learns how to fly to save himself. As an adult, he meets up with his original flock, and he has to participate in some kind of Duck Olympics in order to become the "Guard Duck" like his father. Willie wins the position, and says one last goodbye to the Mayor and Daisy, promising her he will come back. As Daisy watches her son's flock fly away, she sacrifices herself to the weasel so she could feed her children, knowing that she didn't fatten up and would probably starve to death anyway. Now for the main characters. Daisy: Daisy is a free-spirited hen who longs to have children. It is in her best interest to be the best parent she could for Willie. She talks loudly, a trait that Willie inherits. If you are a mother, I can almost guarantee that you will relate to her, because she goes through every struggle that a typical mother goes through.Willie: Willie is my favorite character in this film, because he is the most relatable to me. Being that my dad is always on business trips and my younger sister is always at her friend's house, it is often just me and my mom at home, and we go through the same struggles that Daisy and Willie go through. Willie is just as free-spirited as his mother, and longs to fly. He gets angry and sad from time to time like we all do, but is mostly a kindhearted, strong, and free-spirited mallard duck.The Mayor: The Mayor is an otter and Realtor of the everglades area. He is gruff and short-tempered, but kindhearted and compassionate nonetheless. One-Eye: The evil weasel who strikes fear into all of the residents of the everglades area. She feels no empathy for those she kills, but Daisy finds her soft spot near the end when One-Eye has Willie pinned down. Daisy threatens to crush one of One-Eye's babies in her talons if One-Eye kills Willie. (Daisy would never actually do it of course)The reason I give in a 9 and not a 10 is because of the ending. Like I said, Daisy sacrifices herself to the Weasel so her children could eat, but come on. Daisy went through a lot in this movie and she deserved better than to be eaten. The worst part is when Willie says he'll be sure to come back, but imagine when he actually does, he'll be heartbroken! Daisy is the only character, unless you count the Mayor, who truly loved poor Willie. This movie is a beautiful masterpiece and it deserves a happy ending, not a depressing one that will leave you reaching for your cup of bleach. (sorry, I had to).Overall, it's an amazing movie. Whether intentional or not, it's beauty, originality, and sincerity reminded me of the tales of Hans Christian Anderson, most notably "The Story Of A Mother" and "The Ugly Duckling", with maybe a little bit of "The Little Match Girl" at the end. It's a much better alternative to that minion crap, and it definitely deserves more recognition here in the US. It's a shame that instead of being shown in theaters where it belongs, it was just tossed onto Netflix and K-mart DVD shelves along with crappy Direct-To-DVD kids cartoons. Anyway, I almost guarantee that it will make you appreciate your mother more. Even if you aren't into anime (like me), this is definitely more than worth a watch. I saw both the English dub and the original Korean version. Which version do I recommend? I say take your pick, you can't go wrong. Overall, 9/10, go see it.

Spoilers Are Likely (Not Like You Frankly Give A Damn)Here I Am Again (Mother Of God) For My Next Venture Into The Animation Underworld. This Time, I'm Diving Into The Colorful World Of South Korea To Review Leafie, A Hen Into The Wild.The Film Follows Leafie, A Farm Hen Who Strives To Live In The Wild. One Day, She Finally Escapes Her Chicken Coop And Meets This Crippled Duck Named Wanderer. Wanderer And His Mate Are Then Killed By A Weasel, With Leafie Adopting Their Son (Who She Names Willie) And Raising Him As Her Own Child. When They Move Into The Everglades, Both Leafie And Willie Are Shunned By The Other Birds Because Willie Was Adopted. As A Result, They Spend The Entire Year Trying To Fit In While Avoiding The Weasel.Look, This Film Is Relatively Easy To Sit Through In Contrast To Some Of The Other Films I've Reviewed (I'm Looking At You, Jungle Shuffle), And It Does Have Redeeming Factors: The Animation Is Very Anime-Esque, The Acting Is Acceptable, The Soundtrack Is Up To Par And This Time, The Massages Are Able To Shine Through. However, Once You Dig Further Down, The Film Is Clichéd In That It's Story And Messages Follow An Incoherent "Raising A Child" Plot And Several Tropes I Think Were Pulled From Other Animal Films, Because I Felt Like I Was Watching Bambi In A Couple Of Scenes.You Got Lucky With All Those Redeeming Factors, Leafie. 5/10.

Leafie looks nothing like any American animated film. It carries out its story in a way unlike American animation as well. American animated movies are almost always kids' movies, and there's an implication that the story and characters should be similarly childish.Leafie, hailing from South Korea and based on a South Korean novel called "The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly", doesn't seem interested in stooping to the six-year-old demographic. There's a lot in the movie for kids to love, but it's also a bit scary, and the story isn't as neat and orderly as one expects from a kids' movie. Leafie is bittersweet, like real life, which makes it both interesting and hard to watch. Tears were in my eyes at one point, although I never started sobbing.Leafie the hen was born on a farm but wants to escape. Over time she has a child of her own who has different abilities than her. It's frustrating for mother and son that they are different enough for the other animals to make fun of them. Parenthood and belonging are major themes; "Leafie" is a blend of Animal Farm, Finding Nemo, and a little bit of The Lion King.It's all a bit predictable. Some parts throw you for a loop but it's usually not that hard to guess correctly about what's going to happen next.There are some brief jokes involving toilet humor, which weren't done in a clever enough way to make me appreciate them. They're more explicit than the toned-down toilet jokes you find in Finding Nemo or The Lion King, which is probably why I found them so distasteful.I appreciate seeing an animated movie that doesn't look like the homogenized "Pixar / Dreamworks / Disney / Sony" style. Vibrant colors abound, and it seems like the movie was animated mostly using two- dimensional techniques. It never made me as happy as "Ernest & Celestine" did, and I liked the way that movie looked even more than this one, but "Ernest" was never as sad as "Leafie" either.Although the movie always looks *different*, it doesn't always make the best use of its style. Very few scenes blew me away with their visual style: Frozen, The Lion King, Ernest & Celestine, and Wall-E have "Leafie" beat when it comes to beautiful artwork.I'm glad I watched this; there are too many sequels and too little heart in American animated movies. Characters don't have the nuance they do in Finding Nemo, and there's not enough humor to hold together the passable, but touching plot.I suggest watching it in HD - it was released on Blu-Ray in South Korea (Region A) and Germany (B). But once you're done, look up the original ending. It's a mandatory part of the experience, and it's a shame that they cut it from the film. You'll understand why it was cut once you watch it, but it contains major spoilers, so wait until you watch the movie first.