Film Name: 洛克王国4：出发！巨人谷 / Roco Kingdom 4
For some reason, adorable Abu is gone; for some reason, Fabia has vanished; for some reason, the 2D Rock is being turned into 3D… This year’s “Roco Kingdom 4” has been reduced to nothing but the cuteness of pets. This has transformed the beautiful world Rock built with positive emotions like dreams and friendship—a world children once longed for—into a blatant commercial territory.
I can’t help but recall the two pirate characters—one male, one female—from last year’s “Roco Kingdom 3.” Their strikingly vivid personalities and the emotionally resonant connection hinted at with just a few strokes became the film’s most dazzling highlights. I even remember the duck and the misfit Lepi from “Roco Kingdom 2,” whose interactions with the main crew were both amusing and genuinely heartfelt.
In truth, the emotional brilliance of the “Roco Kingdom” film series has never resided solely between Rocos. It truly shines through the bonds formed between new characters introduced in each installment. While the first film centered on the emotional connection between Dragon Star and his pet Abu, subsequent films treated the emotional ties between Rocos and their pets as a given, using them merely as plot devices. What truly matters are emotional increments like the relationship between the Young Elf King and the Adult Elf King.
“Roco Kingdom 4” not only deprives us of the familiar elements mentioned at the outset but also robs us of the emotional depth that defined previous Roco films. It feels like being abruptly thrust back into a forum—a Web 1.0 relic—after years of using Web 2.0 platforms like microblogs and blogs, leaving every sensory faculty feeling stifled.
Therefore, the true brilliance of “Roco Kingdom” lies in its second and third films. In the fourth installment, no matter how adorable Magoo is, how magical his skills become, or how enthusiastically the villainous Gardener sings, these elements will be perceived as heavily commercialized attempts to appeal to the masses rather than genuine, heartfelt moments that truly resonate.
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