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The Frog and the Tiger: Hmong Animation for Children
“For the first time in Hmong history, an original Hmong animated feature [with] friends, culture, battle, [and] danger. Split Horn Studios Presents: The Frog and the Tiger July 2006.”
These are the words that are spread across the screen between short peeks into a world where frogs, tigers, monkeys and other animals speak, dress and live like the Hmong in the 3 minute and 14 second trailer for the animated feature The Frog and the Tiger.
Cheng Xeng Vue, of Morganton, North Carolina, is the creator, animator, writer and director for The Frog and the Tiger. He started the production in June of 2005, working on it part-time during the week and full-time on the weekends.
Vue’s fascination for animation developed when he was a child watching classics like Transformers, Voltron and Thundercats and then grew with him as he crossed over into the world of Japanese Anime. However, he explains that his inspiration for creating this film did not grow out of any particular animation he had viewed, but rather that it came out of the struggles he faced with trying to instill the values and traditions of the Hmong culture in his own two children.
He developed a growing concern for the preservation of the language and culture concluding that, “I waited for someone to create [a cartoon] for my children to watch because they don’t want to speak Hmong, but I haven’t seen any. I decided to create my own movie for my children and to share with the next generation of Hmong children.”
Considering his concern, Vue created Split Horn Studios to incorporate the Hmong language and culture into animated cartoons that will appeal to Hmong children that have lost the ability to speak the language and the desire to learn about the culture.
Split Horn Studios’ first attempt to do this happens with Little Frog and friends as they journey into the Dark Forest to find three special items requested by the village shaman (also a frog) to complete the requirements for a ritual necessary to save Little Frog’s mother. During their journey, Little Frog and friends will meet many dangerous obstacles, including a Tiger that is determined to have frog legs for dinner and pursues Little Frog throughout the Dark Forest.
There is a certain level of amusement in seeing an elderly frog shaman tell a little frog boy that the source of his mother’s illness is because she has “poob plis lawm os” (lost her spirit). There are definitely lessons on culture that have been cleverly weaved into this story and, as Vue has sought out to do, children and adults will be captivated and influenced by this animated film.
Along with Winsor McCay, the creator of the first animated feature film in 1918 and Walt Disney, the creator of the first animated feature film with sound in 1937, Cheng X. Vue will make history when he releases the first Hmong animated feature film promised to be available in July 2006.
Clips of The Frog and the Tiger can be seen on the trailer at www.split-hornstudios.com.
Comments
were the hell can we find
were the hell can we find the full movie?
I totally fell in love with
I totally fell in love with this movie. I was kind of iffy at first but it turned out to be a great movie. My kids can’t turn it off. The story line is also really good. I like how they have it so it teaches kids about our culture. There is so many little kids that know little to nothing about our culture. I encourage my kids to speak and learn about the hmong culture. I believe that with in 10 some plus years our kids will be so far off of the hmong culture that they won’t even understand some of the things that we say to them in hmong. That is something that we should never let happen. But that is a whole subject in it self.
Again what you guys are doing is great. Keep up the good work, I can’t wait till your new movie comes out.
Sincerely yours,
Lydia Kue
This is a really good movie.
This is a really good movie. When my friends told me to watch it all they told me was its really funny and its kind of like Dora the Explorer. I started watching it and got really into the movie. Its a sad story line. Almost made me cry because I wish I would of done something to make my mom feel better when she was sick. It has a great theme song also. Keep up the good work guys.
Ua tsaug rau Cheng Vue. I
Ua tsaug rau Cheng Vue. I think this is a big step into making our kids and others (teens) understand the cultures and religions that has been pass down by our ancesters. It’s sad to see kids, teens, and adults who can’t even speak and understand Hmoob properly anymore or understand the activities they do at New Years.
Again, thank you
Tu Thao
WOW..I REALLY LIKED THIS
WOW..I REALLY LIKED THIS MOVIE..I WAS WAITING FOR SOMEONE WHO HAD THE TALENT TO DO THIS KIND OF MOVIE. IT WAS A GREAT TIME TO SPEND WITH MY BOYS AND MY HUSBAND. I COULD FINALLY SIT DOWN AND ACTUALLY ENJOY A “hmong movie”. THIS WAS GREAT. KEEP IT UP AND WE ARE WAITING FOR THE NEXT MOVIE COMING UP.
As hmong fist animation
As hmong fist animation movie, you’re doing great but some how you need to have more than one person over voices the characters. Throught out the whole movie, there were only two voices and that’s boring.
haha... i love this movie...
haha… i love this movie… especially at the end when they were having the hmong new year… my little cousins all love this movie also… i think it teaches the little hmong kids on how hmong life was like and it teaches them what the hmongs are… and also for american people… they can watch it and get to learn more about the hmong people..
This is such a good movie
This is such a good movie for the kids. It was a really good idea!!! I loved this movie. It was funny, sad, exciting and it is just WOW!!! I thought the funniest part was when they went to the monkey’s new year and they were like “ ey that looks like the Reflections Band.” ahahhah that was funny. I absolutely loved that part. Not just the kids fell in love with this movie but some adults too. I mean haha I fell in love with it too and I’m not a kid,,, at least I think im not a kid…hahah well the point is… IT TOTALLY ROCKS!!! 2 THUMBS UP!!! WE ARE ALL HOPING TO SEE THE NEXT MOVIE SOON!!! KEEP UP THE NICE WORK!!!! _
Where is the existing
Where is the existing trailer? Not able to locate it anywhere. Would someone shed some light here, b/c we’d like to add such content to our site (http://hmongfilms.com). Thanks in advance.
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