Film Name: 豆福传 / Tofu
The tale of a bean seeking immortality seems bizarre, yet its meaning remains utterly ambiguous. Not to mention, this story bears almost no connection to the historical anecdote of the King of Huainan inventing tofu. It’s a classic example of a work cloaked in traditional culture, indulging in arbitrary and culturally devoid reinterpretations.
In fact, if you’ve seen the prequel “Shen Jing Dou,” you’d know just how nonsensical this story of eating, sleeping, and playing with beans truly is. A group of fictional giant bean people cultivate immortality in a place resembling a mental hospital, relying on crude physical gags to elicit laughs. While the film tones down these gags and introduces a hint of genuine emotion between Dou Fu and Dou Xiang, it ultimately amounts to little more than adding a veneer of seriousness to an inherently frivolous plot.
The most glaring flaw is that we never learn what path Doufu ultimately attained through his cultivation. What enabled him to master advanced spells like wall-walking within that mountain-top prison? Did he possess special innate talent, or did his mindset undergo any substantive growth or transformation?
The entire film lacks the evocative depth of its closing theme, “Ting Ai,” with lyrics by Fang Wenshan and music by Leehom Wang. The song’s verses—whether describing “misty mountains drifting over ravines, babbling streams, daisies swaying in the breeze; old walls in this ancient town are covered in moss, people play chess beneath the trees,” or the humanistic musings like “The King of Huainan wrote a legendary chapter here, the secret of tofu; this bean-loving land I cherish will never give up, a dream never recorded in history books”—all emphasize the themes of ‘affection’ and “longing.”
But where is the film’s humanistic resonance? After watching the film, viewers gain no deeper understanding of tofu’s origins as a Chinese food, nor does it spark greater interest in the King of Huainan’s invention. The sci-fi robot battles between Nerve Beans and Black Beans severely disrupt the film’s historical and cultural setting. While we haven’t established a clear standard between the state-encouraged creative transformation of traditional culture and the state-discouraged fabrication of tradition, this film clearly leans toward the latter.
From a screenwriting perspective, the abrupt shift from the first half’s cultivation-focused narrative to the second half’s sci-fi twist feels jarringly incongruous, lacking essential groundwork. The final friend who abandons cultivation in the first half never reappears, failing to create a convergence between the two characters’ divergent life paths—a disappointing oversight. The prison’s deranged “mentor” character is even more puzzling. Even Sun Wukong’s teacher, the Bodhi Patriarch, later ‘reappears’ through a “never to meet again” device. Yet this mentor plays no role in the actual conflict—utterly unacceptable. In short, the film lacks an overarching plan for these characters, seeming to improvise as it goes.
The film’s most compelling aspect lies in its portrayal of Dou Fu and Dou Xiang’s love story. Had this same depth been applied to the invention of tofu itself, it would have elevated the narrative significantly. Such an approach would have made the historical anecdote of the King of Huainan inventing tofu far more compelling.
What, then, constitutes the innovative transformation of traditional culture? Having beans battle each other with robots? Absolutely not. But what if we gave Liu An, the King of Huainan, a background of seeking immortality and alchemy? What if we imagined he was refining elixirs to reunite with his beloved, and that longing ultimately crystallized into a product called tofu? That would be it. It would deepen our cultural identification and emotional connection to the humanistic sentiments embedded in tofu, making us more eager to learn this story and recall it whenever we see tofu.
Please specify：Anime Phone Cases » Tofu 2017 Animation Film Review: To explore the profound connection between cultivating immortality, romance, and tofu.