Hello there.
KPop Demon Hunters is a movie that I saw the trailer of when I was on vacation. Watching it, I thought that my nieces would really love it because of the girl power and the catchy tunes. It released last June 20th, and I noticed that a lot of the social media in the Philippines were gushing about it. I wasn't really going to watch it since I don't dabble with KPop much, but with the glowing reviews I got curious and decided to watch; and boy was I thankful I did.
Going back to the trailer, one of the things that stood out to me was that it was done by the Sony Pictures Animation, which is also the studio behind the Spiderman Across the Spiderverse movies. I really like those movies and it has also won a lot of animation awards. I think the trailer did a great job of teasing the movie showing a good mix of action, comedy, drama, and that awesome music. I got LSS on Soda Pop just from the small clip they included.
The premise is pretty simple enough. The three lead characters are Hunters that are fighting demons. Apart from physically slaying the demons, they also use their singing to create a barrier to prevent the demons from crossing into our world. The demons have tried to kill the hunters countless times, but are no match for their battle skills. This time the demons decided to play the Hunter's game by sending a boy band of their own. I'll try to avoid big spoilers while doing the review, but I hope I do the movie justice without giving much away.
I like how the early part of the movie already set the tone. We are immediately shown an awesome fight scene, comedy, and banger music. There wasn't a long history lesson or explanation of the world. They were able to explain the important things quickly and effectively. I was surprised that they also revealed the twist early on in the movie, but it really helped with showing the gravity of things and set the drama.
There were some good character development and lessons to learn, and the drama wasn't too heavy. The lyrics of the songs are well thought out, and I would suggest those watching to listen to them carefully, and some even have cool underlying meanings [Soda Pop included].
I will have to say that the animation and art is top notch. I expected it after seeing the studio, but they really nailed the visuals of the characters, especially during the music sequences. But I am really thankful on how they went all in on the comedy. The comedic timing is well done and made me chuckle a lot. For the ladies, even though the leads are women, the studio has your back on the fanservice.
My favorite character was the tiger, with Zoey a close second. But they really did a good job of creating memorable characters, each with their own unique personalities. I honestly feel like the 1.5 hours is too short, and they could have made it at least two. I agree with a lot of fans saying this would work well as a series.
The movie was originally done in English, which surprised me since it is set in Korea, and they were KPop stars. Having the original audio be in Korean seemed like a no brainer. The voice acting was superb. They were able to project the necessary emotions flawlessly and they worked well with the animation.
But what really blew my mind was the other language dubs. Sure a lot of movies have dubbing in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or other languages, but this one has Filipino in the top choices. And not only that, but the songs also have Filipino versions! I've heard of some Disney movie songs having different versions, but I don't think I've seen a movie having all of it done in Filipino. You can literally watch the whole movie in full Filipino language.
But it's not just limited to Filipino, I checked a few others and the Japanese, Spanish, and Greek have their own songs in their language as well. I think that's crazy cool that they were able to get these much versions. I did notice that some don't have native versions for the boy band songs. But after knowing this, I immediately listened to the Filipino versions of the songs and was impressed at the quality of how they adapted it. So if your native language is available, try to check it out if it has its own version of the songs.
Overall, I loved the movie. I think it had a healthy dose of everything, from action, comedy, and drama. The biggest draw and where I think they hit it out of the ballpark are the banger songs. I'd say all of them are so well done and catchy, that they can give current KPop songs a run for their money. Looking up the producers, I'm not surprised. A lot of them worked with Blackpink, BTS, and TWICE, which explains the quality.
If you haven't watched it yet, I highly recommend you do. If not for the good story, at least for the awesome visuals and music. It is available for streaming in Netflix, and I look forward to what you think. For those looking for the official lyric videos, head on here. Here is the trailer below:
Happy viewing!