Chinese fantasy animation 'Throne of Elves' to hit cinemas

Characters in Throne of Elves in promotional photos. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Throne of Elves, the Chinese answer to The Lord of The Rings, will open in mainland theaters on Aug 19.

Set in a fictionalized wonderland, the fantasy feature centers on a human hero who teams up elves to fight against an evil ruler.

Ji Guanlin, a veteran voice actress known for her voiceover work in the Mandarin version of Avatar, will voice the elf queen in the film.

Speaking of the characters and sets, Ji says it's a spectacular film boasting a number of breath-taking scenes.

Song Yuefeng, the director, reveals the movie used motion-capture technology to transform live action into animation.

Nearly 500 animators have worked for more than two years on the 3D feature-length movie.

"When I was making my own animated film several years ago, I found it's hard to do it in 3D format due to the limits of technology. But Throne of Elves shows the fast development of Chinese animation, which is very inspirational," says Zhang Chun, director of Big Fish & Begonia, a smash hit domestic animated movie.