---
title: "Monster Hunt"
year: 2015
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/monster-hunt"
fi1m_id: "monster-hunt"
imdb_id: "tt3781476"
tmdb_id: 334298
wikidata_id: "Q18391038"
fi1m_score: 58
critics_score: 53
critics_reviews: 6
published: "2026-10-05T13:45:32.577190+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-05T13:45:33.029597+00:00"
region: "HR"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Monster Hunt (2015)

Directed by Raman Hui · 1h 58m · Comedy, Fantasy, Adventure

## Identity

Monster Hunt

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/monster-hunt
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** monster-hunt
- **IMDb ID:** tt3781476
- **TMDB ID:** 334298
- **Wikidata ID:** Q18391038
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3781476/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/334298, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18391038

**Fi1m score: 58** · Critics 53 from 6 reviews

*In a sentence:* A nervous village mayor gives birth to a singing radish, and that turns out to be the sensible part

> Raman Hui’s human-and-creature comedy has a radish-shaped baby monster worth an evening on his own and a plot that cannot keep its own rules straight. Children will be delighted; adults will be charmed for an hour and lost for the next.

## Synopsis

In a long-ago China where humans and monsters once shared the land, a war in the monster realm sends its pregnant queen fleeing into the human world. She hides in the mountain village of Yongning, whose timid young mayor, Song Tianyin (Jing Boran), lives with his Grandma (Elaine Jin Yan-Ling) and would rather mend clothes than fight anything. Huo Xiaolan (Bai Baihe), a low-ranked monster hunter with a bounty in mind, and the senior hunter Luo Gang (Jiang Wu) both arrive on the queen’s trail, as do Zhu Gao (Eric Tsang) and Pang Ying (Sandra Ng), a married couple who are not what they appear. With her strength failing, the queen passes her unborn egg into Tianyin’s belly, and the mayor finds himself expecting a baby monster, with the hunters already arguing over who gets to sell it.

## Review

Raman Hui, who co-directed [*Shrek the Third*](https://film.one/film/shrek-the-third) before coming home to make this, has built a live-action fantasy comedy around a man who gives birth to a monster, and that sentence tells you most of what the film is. Alan Yuen’s script sets up a world in which monsters were driven off the land by humans long ago and now live in hiding, hunted for a bounty, eaten by the rich, and then mostly uses that world as somewhere to put a baby. The baby is the reason to watch. The world is the reason you will lose track.

Wuba, the creature in question, is a pale, round, radish-shaped thing with four stubby limbs, a tuft of hair and a face that is nearly all cheeks, and he is a lovely piece of design. He eats constantly, sings when he is pleased and bites when he is not. We laughed, properly and without irony, at the birth, which Hui plays as pure farce: Jing Boran’s Tianyin wailing on his back, Bai Baihe’s Xiaolan treating the whole business as a job with a deadline, and the thing itself arriving like a vegetable pulled from wet soil. Cheung Ka-Fai cuts the scene so the gags land on the actors’ faces rather than on the effect, which is the right instinct and one the film forgets later.

The two leads are good together. Bai plays Xiaolan as a bossy, mercenary professional who would sell the child for a fair price and is annoyed with herself when she finds she cannot, and she gives the film what pace it has. Jing’s Tianyin is a sweet, flapping coward who learns to hold a sword about as well as you would expect. They bicker in an old-fashioned screwball rhythm, and the middle stretch, in which the two of them travel with Wuba strapped to a chest like an infant, is the warmest thing here. Eric Tsang and Sandra Ng play Zhu Gao and Pang Ying as broad Hong Kong comedy, all leers and sudden violence, and Tang Wei turns up for a few minutes as a pawn shop owner who can tell at a glance what Xiaolan is carrying. Wallace Chung’s Ge Qianhu is handsome, well dressed and given almost nothing to do.

Anthony Pun Yiu-Ming shoots the village and the forest in bright, slightly over-lit colour that flatters the animation and leaves the human actors looking a little flat beside it. Yee Chung-Man’s costumes, layered robes and padded hats and a good deal of embroidery, are more fun than most of the sets. Leon Ko supplies a score that is happy to become a song and dance at a moment’s notice, and the film breaks into musical numbers two or three times with no warning at all. The first, in Tianyin’s kitchen, is charming. By the last we were checking our watches.

The plot is the problem, and it is a problem of accumulation rather than of any single bad idea. Monsters disguised as humans, humans hunting monsters, a chef who cooks them, a conspiracy at the top of the hunters’ order, a long-lost father: Yuen keeps adding, and the rules about who can see what and who is after whom shift from scene to scene. The second half moves to a city and a restaurant and becomes a chain of chases. The animated monsters other than Wuba are rubbery and weightless, and when they knock actors across a room there is no sense of anything having touched anything. We were charmed for an hour and then we were tired, and then we were mildly cross, because the film plainly had something and would not stop piling furniture on it. At 118 minutes it is long for a film pitched this squarely at children.

The [*Shrek*](https://film.one/film/shrek) years show in the best of it: the taste for the grotesque made cuddly, the bodily humour, the idea that a monster might be the most decent creature on screen. Against the Hong Kong fantasy comedies it descends from, it is softer and far less sure of its tone, swinging from slapstick to tears to a dance number inside ten minutes. Most critics have split on it, and the split is honest; the same scene can read as delightful or shambolic depending on how tired you are.

Watch it with a child, who will forgive the plot for the radish. On your own, you may find yourself waiting for Wuba to come back on, which is a compliment to him and not quite to the film.

*Fi1m score 58, published 5 October 2026.*

## What the critics say

The reviews lean mixed, and most critics agree on where the film works: the creature designs and the visual effects, which several describe as close to seamless, and the action, which keeps an untidy story moving. Variety is the warmest, finding it a brisk, technically accomplished piece of family entertainment and singling out Bai Baihe for bringing spark to an otherwise sluggish human cast.

The reservations cluster on the story, which nearly everyone calls tangled or elementary, and on characters that are thinly drawn. The spread is wide, from a firm recommendation to outright dismissal. The Hollywood Reporter finds the adventure muddled despite its sentimental appeal, and the Los Angeles Times goes further, calling the monster animation awkward and the ideas borrowed, while allowing that individual sequences entertain. Vulture sits in between, enjoying the surreal roughness even where the animation is poorly integrated. Two of the six reviews could not be read in full.

## Straight answers

**Is Monster Hunt worth watching?**

*Monster Hunt* is worth watching with a child, who will forgive its tangled plot for the sake of Wuba, the singing radish-shaped baby monster, and we scored it 58. Adults watching alone will be charmed by the birth farce and the bickering leads for an hour, then lose track as Alan Yuen's script keeps piling on hunters, disguises and chases. At 118 minutes it is long for a children's film.

**How long is Monster Hunt, and what is it rated?**

*Monster Hunt* runs 1h 58m. It is a comedy and fantasy film.

**Where can I watch Monster Hunt in Croatia?**

*Monster Hunt* is not on any streaming or rental service in Croatia at the moment. It is available in 9 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How does Monster Hunt compare to A Chinese Ghost Story?**

*Monster Hunt* is the softer and far less sure-footed of the two; [*A Chinese Ghost Story*](https://film.one/film/a-chinese-ghost-story) is the better film. Tony Ching Siu-Tung's fantasy romance throws swordplay, slapstick, horror and love into one fog-filled temple and keeps nearly all of it in the air, where Raman Hui's comedy swings from slapstick to tears to a dance number without settling. Choose *Monster Hunt* for small children and the radish; choose the earlier film for sword fights and a story that holds.

**What should I watch after Monster Hunt?**

After *Monster Hunt*, try [*A Chinese Ghost Story*](https://film.one/film/a-chinese-ghost-story) (1987, Fi1m 82): The Hong Kong fantasy romance this film is half remembering, with better sword fights. Then [*Spirited Away*](https://film.one/film/spirited-away) (2001, Fi1m 92): Monsters, appetite and a child in a strange world, handled with real control; and [*Gremlins*](https://film.one/film/gremlins) (1984, Fi1m 80): A cute creature with teeth, and a film that knows exactly how dark to go.

### Reviews we read (6)

- **Variety**, Maggie Lee (75/100, inferred): Lee finds the film a zippy, technically accomplished and unusually engaging family entertainment, despite a gooey, elementary story and some sluggish performances. She particularly praises the creature designs and seamless visual effects, while noting that Bai Baihe brings much-needed spark to the human cast. [Read](https://variety.com/2015/film/reviews/film-review-monster-hunt-1201549203/)
- **Screen Daily**, James Marsh (64/100, inferred): The page identifies this as a review, but the review text is unavailable. Its verdict and any specific praise or complaint cannot be determined. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/monster-hunt-review/5090933.article)
- **The New York Times** (64/100, inferred): The page could not be accessed, so the critic’s verdict and specific praise or complaint cannot be verified. The URL identifies it as a review of the matching film. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/22/movies/monster-hunt-review.html)
- **Vulture**, Bilge Ebiri (60/100, inferred): Ebiri finds the film strange and messy but occasionally enjoyable. He praises its brisk, go-for-broke action and surreal roughness, while criticizing its tangled plot and poorly integrated animation. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2016/01/review-monster-hunt-chinas-box-office-giant.html)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Elizabeth Kerr (30/100, inferred): Kerr finds the fantasy adventure muddled and its characters underdeveloped, despite its sentimental appeal. She praises the mostly seamless animation, visual effects, and action choreography for keeping the story moving. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/monster-hunt-film-review-807058/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Charles Solomon (25/100, inferred): Solomon finds the film confusing and erratic, ultimately less than the sum of its parts. He criticizes the awkward monster animation and borrowed ideas, while noting that individual sequences can be entertaining. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-mini-monster-review-20160122-story.html)

## Details

- **Director:** Raman Hui
- **Director:** Raman Hui
- **Screenplay:** Alan Yuen
- **Writer:** Alan Yuen
- **Story:** Alan Yuen
- **Cinematography:** Anthony Pun Yiu-Ming
- **Editor:** Cheung Ka-Fai
- **Music:** Leon Ko
- **Costume design:** Yee Chung-Man
- **Producer:** Alan Yuen, William Kong, Yee Chung-Man
- **Cast:** Bai Baihe as Huo Xiaolan; Jing Boran as Song Tianyin; Jiang Wu as Luo Gang; Elaine Jin Yan-Ling as Grandma; Wallace Chung as Ge Qianhu; Eric Tsang as Zhu Gao; Sandra Ng as Pang Ying; Tang Wei as Pawn Shop Owner
- **Runtime:** 1h 58m
- **First release (CN):** 16 July 2015
- **Genres:** Comedy, Fantasy, Adventure
- **Budget:** $56 million
- **Box office:** $387 million

## Where to watch in Croatia

Not streaming, renting or buying in Croatia at the last check.

Also available in: BE, CH, DE, FR, HK, IN, IT, MY, SG. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons* (2013): Stephen Chow’s demon-hunting comedy, cruder, funnier and more sure of itself
- *A Chinese Ghost Story* (1987), Fi1m 82: The Hong Kong fantasy romance this film is half remembering, with better sword fights — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/a-chinese-ghost-story.md)
- *Spirited Away* (2001), Fi1m 92: Monsters, appetite and a child in a strange world, handled with real control — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/spirited-away.md)
- *Gremlins* (1984), Fi1m 80: A cute creature with teeth, and a film that knows exactly how dark to go — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/gremlins.md)
- *Paddington* (2014), Fi1m 84: An animated foundling in a live-action household, done with more discipline — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/paddington.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/monster-hunt