Review: Miraculous World: Shanghai – The Legend of Ladydragon

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Marinette heads to Shanghai to celebrate her Uncle Wang’s anniversary, and conveniently join Adrien, who’s there for the opening of his father’s new shop.

Unfortunately, shortly after her arrival, she finds herself stranded in Shanghai after getting her purse stolen. Even worse, her bag contained her kwami, Tikki. Without the ability to transform into Ladybug, our protagonist is helpless in a massive city.

Luckily, a girl named Fei comes to her rescue. She shares that she’s looking to retrieve something that was taken from her as well: a bracelet given to her by her father, to help guard his legacy.

Marinette and Cat Noir (who just *happens* to be in Shanghai as well) attempt to help Fei reclaim what’s hers, but it turns out that powers working against them may be far more sinister than previously thought.

The crew have their hands full, facing off against Hawk Moth and akumatized super villains. Thankfully, it turns out Fei may have more to her than meets the eye. But will she be powerful enough for good to triumph?

Our take

Ok, we’ve been here before: CGI superheros bounding around in a new country. Despite having reviewed the stateside version of Ladybug and Cat Noir’s international adventures (United Heroez), I’m still not super familiar with this show’s lore.

This movie gave me plenty of opportunities to catch up, although most of the actual info came from a deep dive into the Miraculous Ladybug fan wikis, which are…thorough, to say the least.

But first, some compliments! The hex-tiled or pixelated globe in the intro was fascinating. I actually wish they’d incorporate more of this animation style into the rest of the story. It seems like a nice balance to the hyper mobile, mega stretch and squish character movements usually found onscreen.

The soundtrack also isn’t half bad. Incorporating more woodwinds into the classic theme songs and levying appropriately dramatic new tracks help make this world emotionally complex.

Beyond that, though? It’s underwhelming. More of Marinette pining for/stalking Adrien. More of Adrien somehow still being oblivious. Both to the fact that Marinette is in love with him, AND that his Dad’s a super villain, who keeps creating new super villains. More barely concealed identities. More of the same weirdly convenient encounters that ultimately go nowhere.

Fei (aka Ladydragon) has a story that’s interesting, and seems like it will be the main focus of this movie, but then it’s just…kinda not. Also, it’s weird that her transformation changes her hair color, in my opinion. Sure, there’s slight Lina Shields/Angie Sirius vibes, but no one else’s hair color changes for their transformation, so it seems like an odd choice. But maybe I’m just being picky.

Xanthe Huynh (recent heard as Fina in Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear) for her part, brings some much needed dimension to this character with her stellar performance

Overall, if you’re already invested in this world and these characters, of course it makes sense to enjoy this movie for what it’s worth. But if you’re new enough that you, like me, will end up wasting and hour reading about wtf “akumas”, “kwamis”, and “renlings” are, save yourself the time and trouble, and watch something else.