A scene from Big Fish & Begonia (Shout! Factory)

Big Fish& Begonia is a clunky title for any film, particularly one with such rich and imaginative animation, both hand drawn and digital. However, it fits nicely with this aquatic-based saga that features a boatload of characters and plotlines to satisfy its grandiose world-building and labyrinth-like plotting.

The whole shebang begins with a somewhat ponderous voice-over explaining the rules of writer-directors Xuan Liang and Chung Zhang’s world. It’s based on aspects of Chinese mythology, but it’s clear a little Miyazaki was thrown in for good measure. Apparently, there is a world under the oceans where a race of metahumans live; they are neither humans nor gods, but they are responsible for the balance in the natural world. So, one person will have the power to commune with plants, and another lightning, and another wind. Once they come of age, they are sent to the human world in the form of dolphins to observe the laws of nature more thoroughly. They are warned, though, not to fraternize with humans.

Unfortunately, in a Little Mermaid twist, 16-year-old Chun becomes fascinated by a young fisherman, who ends up dying while saving her life when Chun, who has taken the form of a red dolphin, is trapped in fishing net. After making a deal with the keeper of souls, she must raise the young man from a small dolphin to maturity in order for him to go back to his human life. Meanwhile, Qui, Chun’s best friend, nurses a lifelong crush on her. And her love for this dolphin/human soul creates a bit of an emotional conundrum.

All this is established in the first half hour. It’s a lot to pack in. Luckily, the visuals are stunningly. The animation, though full of weird mystical and just plain odd creatures, is cleanly presented. It is breathtakingly colorful and full of striking images. Afterward, though, when the plot should be settling down, the narrative takes more left turns and tosses more red herrings into the mix. Viewers end up suffering from mythological whiplash, as more and more idiosyncrasies of this world are presented and muddy up the plot.

Even though a good chunk of the plot is inspired by Chinese mythology, there is a distinct sheen of contemporary New Age thought that feels somewhat trite, with much talk about listening to the earth and genteel aphorisms about how to treat one another, which is, of course, lovely but somewhat simplistic, particularly in light of the otherwise complex world Liang and Zhang build. Meanwhile, plot strands are built up and disappear as quickly and wispily as cotton candy in the mouth. One villain named Rat Woman quite literally disappears just us her character should be driving the plot.

Yet in the long run, Big Fish & Begonia does deliver. It has an emotionally satisfying climax, and the core triangle of boy/girl/dolphin is solid enough to allow for some plot misgivings.