[[2026 Movies]] ## 2026-01-01 Technically watched this again on New Year’s Eve, but whatever. **The Legend of Hei** is very cute and good. Honestly I could end the review there and wrap it up, but I guess I’m a little better than that. I think where this movie excels is in the way it subverts expectation a couple of times as it plays out. My understanding of Chinese myth and folklore is rudimentary at best, and embarrassing minimal at worst, which sucks, but also made it so that I was actually caught off guard by some of the twists and use of powers. Both the original and English dubs are pretty good, and the animation is great, particularly when Hei is in their cat form. Some of the fight scenes are a little janky — there were more than a few moments where the camera would cut five or six times in just as many seconds, for example. But for a first movie from HMCH, it’s a great showing. I’ve been told the sequel improves on the original in pretty much every way, so I’d like to check it out this year. A very pleasant movie that’s worth a look if you wished there were more **Dragon Ball Z** combat sequences to break up the saccharine moments you usually find in a Ghibli film.