Deep Sea (film)

Deep Sea (Chinese: 深海; pinyin: Shēnhǎi) is a 2023 Chinese 3D animated fantasy film, written and directed by Tian Xiaopeng who previously directed Monkey King: Hero Is Back,^[15] co-produced by his company October Media and Coloroom Pictures.

Deep Sea
Promotional release poster
深海
Directed by	Tian Xiaopeng (田晓鹏)
Screenplay by	Tian Xiaopeng[1]
Produced by	Qiao Yi[2]
Starring	Tingwen Wang (王亭文) Xin Su (苏鑫) Kuixing Teng Ting Yang Jing Ji Taochen Fang [3]
Cinematography	Mazhiyuan Cheng[4]
Edited by	Aner Lin[5]
Music by	Mao Buyi Tang Hanxiao (zh) MIUMIU
Production companies	October Media (Chinese: 十月文化, OCTMEDIA) Coloroom Pictures (simplified Chinese: 光线彩条屋影业; traditional Chinese: 光線彩条屋影業) [6][7][8][9]
Release date	22 January 2023 (2023-01-22) (China) [10]
Running time	105 minutes[11][12]
Country	China
Language	Standard Chinese
Budget	200 million RMB[13]
Box office	US$136.1 million[14]

Plot

A young girl explores a strange underwater environment.^[16] Shenxiu, a little girl whose parents were recently divorced goes on a sea trip with her new family. Still not having dealt with not having her mother around, she hears a hum similar to a song her mother used to sing and by following the sound she enters the fantastical Deep Sea Restaurant run by sea animals serving humanoid fish.^[17]

Original voice cast

• Su Xin (苏鑫) as Nanhe
• Wang Tingwen (王亭文) as Shenxiu
• Teng Kuixing (zh)
• Yang Ting
• Ji Jing (吉静)
• Fang Taochen (方韬辰)
• Dong Yi (董一)

Release

Deep Sea was scheduled for release on 22 January 2023 (Chinese New Year).^[18]

It was nominated for screening as part of Generation Kplus at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival^[15] as well as for screening as Animation category at 36th Tokyo International Film Festival.^[19]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of 26 critics' reviews for Deep Sea are positive, with an average rating of 7.5/10.^[20]