Under the influence of American animation in the middle of the 20th century, a special structural unit was created at Toei Studio, releasing in 1958 the first Japanese full-length color animated film. In fact, from this moment began the expansion of this art form in the Land of the Rising Sun, where it very quickly settled, reached heights and turned into something original and independent, now universally called “anime”.
The most adequate translation of the name is “The Legend of the White Snake”, although there was also such a strange rental version as “Panda and the White Snake”. The plot is based on Chinese folklore and tells about the love of a young man and a spirit who turned from a snake into a beautiful girl. Honestly, this legend at first was a “horror story” about an insidious evil spirit and only centuries later turned into a seemingly somewhat pro-Western romantic story, but in this form the legend is quite interesting. This story is filled with some Eastern identity, inexplicable and very attractive magic, which seems to be laid in the foundations of the universe.
And that's how it's been on the screen for a while. The Japanese, of course, lacked much experience. They may even lack a vector. Despite the fact that the main storyline is quite beautiful and lyrical, the cartoon is somehow diluted with inserts with funny animals. Added, apparently, to entertain the viewer, they look like a kind of foreign body, especially since they use a completely different animation and musical design than the film itself. Abrupt and unmotivated transitions from the “traditional” manner of performance to the almost plagiarism of “Disney” by the end of the film begin to irritate even more than the protracted production.
This “elegant solution” in general became the hallmark of Toei Animation, which for decades created films, combining them with plots, styles, traditions and values from all over the world. Reserving the Japanese the right to “their way”, it is worth noting that it would be much better to more or less clearly imagine in advance what, how and for whom the studio wants to shoot. The disorderly approach, the desire to serve several masters at the same time, eat several dishes at once and impersonate several entities are especially noticeable in the first work of the Japanese giant.
Many Toei films, despite the confusion and turmoil in them, still seem unusually fascinating even in our time. This is mainly due to some magic, thanks to which an experienced and talented director fills the characters with life, and events with feelings. If it didn’t work out with the production, the project was drawn by artists who also created such a “magic” thing as a concept. But in this case, none of the thirteen and a half thousand (!) workers engaged in the production of the picture, could not put enough magic into it to be enough until now.
The main problem of "Legends" - it is absolutely not atmospheric. No matter how interesting the original, no matter how beautiful the performance, the film cannot involve the current viewer, and “watch from the sidelines” is seriously hampered by an orchestra that does not stop for a minute, issuing (in the best American traditions) complex parts that are mixed in the head in an hour of viewing into a kind of pathosy cacophony. But... This project was conceived precisely for the realization of ambitions, and he implemented them. And when the “properties” go into circulation, no one thinks about such a metaphysical and elusive thing as the “soul”. Each of the 13,590 people could do their work with the soul, but no one could make the film itself soulful and, most likely, no one specifically worked on it. As a result, it turned out to be noticeable and unusual, original and interesting in its own way, but not so cool, not so unique, not so wonderful as to become a universal favorite.
For all its strangeness, “The Legend of the White Snake” is a symbol of the beginning of Japanese animation (now one of the most productive in the world), the first film of Toei Animation studio (which became the largest, most successful and one of the most famous in the country), as well as a source of inspiration for many Japanese children who later moved mountains in this field, the same Miyazaki became seriously interested in drawing after watching the film. This is a certain historical stage, but formally it has already crossed, so for the modern viewer it is most likely a one-time tape, and it is not necessary to view. If it helps you fall in love with Chinese culture and the old tradition of Japanese animation, great. If your impressions turn out to be rather negative - do not judge by the first film about the entire rich anime industry, "Legend" is not an indicator here.