A Big Mission follows an adorable little devil during his daily work routine. His alarm clock wakes him flashing his mission of the day. That mission is always the same—destroy the world. The demon sets about doing so and easily succeeds against the dinosaurs. He continues to do such a good job that he is given a promotion and a new home.
Now the devil undertakes his biggest mission yet, destroy humankind. Believing this to be like any other mission, he wakes up on the first morning of his new assignment only to be thwarted by the furniture and appliances in his room. He is knocked unconscious by a lamp. The next day he is locked in a closet. Day in and day out, he is trying his hardest just to make to the door to our realm, much less destroy it. Does the devil win? Or is he overpowered by power cords?
A Big Mission is written and directed by Longyin Zhou and Yujie Chen. They do an excellent and very humorous job at setting up the devil’s everyday work. Despite the lack of textures- everything in the movie looks way too smooth- the glee with which the baby devil fulfills his duties is readily apparent. This might sound odd, but due to his cute appearance and attitude, the audience actually sides with the literal destroyer of worlds for the first few minutes. Of course, that does change, especially within the last 30-seconds of this 5-minute short.
“…he wakes up on the first morning of his new assignment only to be thwarted by the furniture…”
Aside from the previously mentioned lack of texture, the animation is good, though not great. The character designs are wonderful, as is the color palette. But, there is little weight to anyone or thing. When the lamp bonks the devil over the head, and he hits the floor, it appears more that he is floating down than falling. This is a repeated issue, but it never wholly breaks the movie.
That is because A Big Mission is very charming. Maybe it is the lively score? Perhaps it is the number of jokes jam-packed into the film? Or could it be the excellent character designs? Whatever the case, the film is infectiously fun. It is a prime example of what I call “anti-headache” movies. Such films might have flaws but put a smile on your face for their entire duration. Watch a title like this with a headache, and by the end, the headache will be gone.
A Big Mission doesn’t boast the most stellar animation, and the textureless objects often look and feel weightless. But, the character designs are simply the cutest, and it jams as many jokes as possible in its short runtime. As such, this is a fun ride overall.
A Big Mission screened at the Dragon Con Independent Short Film Festival.
"…the devil undertakes his biggest mission yet, destroy humankind."
