Heroes of the Golden Mask – Movie Review

A classic hero’s journey, a unique setting for mystical adventure and an all-star cast. This is what Heroes of the Golden Mask, from Writer/Director/Producer, Sean Patrick O’Reilly offers to the landscape of animated adventure films upon its release on June 9, 2023.

When one sees names like Ron Perlman and Patton Oswalt in the cast list, visions of comic book heroes immediately come to mind, which is very appropriate for Heroes of the Golden Mask. Which despite being an original concept, has a deep and rich history built into its premise. And just what is the premise of this Chinese-Canadian co-production?

Synopsis: Charlie, a wise-cracking, homeless, American orphan is magically transported to the ancient Chinese kingdom of Sanxingdui, where a colorful team of superheroes need his help to defend the city from a brutal conqueror. Charlie joins the heroes, and secretly schemes to steal the priceless golden masks that grant them their powers before learning what it means to be a hero.

From the opening scene of an attack on the palace at Sanxingdui by Ron Perlman’s villainous Kunyi and his giant flying tiger, the super heroics are on full display. Kunyi’s pursuit of the Jade Blade is interrupted however, as the titular heroes arrive on the scene in their signature golden masks, which imbue them each with unique powers. After the death of their leader in the skirmish, the responsibility of finding the next wearer of the mask falls to Li (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) and through the use of magical portals that open through time and space, the hunt begins for this unlikely hero.

The protagonist of Heroes of the Golden Mask is the streetwise and quippy orphan, Charlie (Kiefer O’Reilly) who although described as an American in the synopsis, is performed with a pretty strong Canadian accent. Charlie may be the focus of the film’s narrative, but he ultimately falls pretty flat in terms of his personality, despite some clever dialogue. Luckily he’s surrounded by many colorful characters, not the least of which is the crime boss, Rizzo played by the late Christopher Plummer, to whom Charlie owes a large debt that needs to be repaid.

Part of the promotion for Heroes of the Golden Mask is its distinction as the last performance by Christopher Plummer, best known for roles in films like The Sound of Music, Star Trek VI and animated fare such as An American Tale, Rock-A-Doodle, Pixar’s Up and many more. Plummer’s choice to play Rizzo as a  Marlon Brando-esque, Godfather type loan shark adds some fun spice to the stew of Charlie’s origin, but the real adventure begins as the street kid is reluctantly convinced by Li to learn bout his destiny of heroism behind a mask that chose him.

Arriving in in the ancient lost Chinese city Sanxingdui, Charlie meets the rest of the team of legendary heroes whose abilities when masked include: shapeshifting into various animal forms, manipulation of flying energy balls, a mighty hammer and energy arrows. Charlie himself ends up with a kind telekinesis/levitation ability. Add to the mix that two of the heroes are from other lost cities and you have quite an interesting crew. These include Zuma, who is an ancient Mayan Chichen Itza warrior and the Atlantean fish-man, Aesop, played by Patton Oswalt.

It’s Oswalt’s Aesop who gives the film it’s heart, with his kindness and enthusiasm in befriending Charlie upon his arrival, while attempting also to mentor the boy in the altruistic motivations that should be behind serving as a hero in this group. Aesop also shows Charlie that this team of heroes could potentially be the family that Charlie has lost. Unfortunately, Charlie mostly sees these masks of pure gold as an opportunity to square his debt with Rizzo, which leads to some decent dramatic tension throughout the various adventures.

The fight scenes are also well choreographed, as each power is distinctly visualized with signature colors and effects. The well staged camera movements allow for each moment of the action to be tracked clearly by the eye and while that might seem like an expectation from any film, let’s not forget how many Michael Bay Transformers movies failed to learn their lesson on that front.

As for the animations style of Heroes of the Golden Mask, some viewers might be reminded of the similarly themed Kung-Fu Panda, but the attention to detail and character design in this movie are pretty impressive for an independent, mid-budget production. Particularly praise would be paid to the monster designs that do invoke some pretty creepy vibes. For example, when the heroes face off against the giant creature with a hole for a face, there are genuine feelings of dread as they try to come up with a plan to defeat the behemoth. 

Recent animated features like the Puss In Boots sequel and the Spider-Verse films have made the use of varied animation styles within the same film as an exciting visual flourish and Heroes of the Golden mask does the same in an expository flashback, wherein the formation of the group an the power of the portals is explained to Charlie. In a very clever twist, the boy asks the Aesop, the Atlantean to explain it all in the style of a movie trailer, which got a chuckle out of me.

While I can’t admit to being able to distinguish all of the characters on the team from one another by the end of the film, out side from their power sets, the team dynamic plays well as the film approaches its climax. Charlie’s choice as to whether or not to betray the team by absconding with the masks back to his own time and his ultimate showdown with Kunyi are satisfying conclusions to this adventure. Speaking of Perlman as Kunyi, the voice work is fine, but the character as written is unfortunately nothing more than a standard gravely voiced bad guy.

While not every character gets time to be truly realized in this film, Heroes of the Golden Mask does feel like it has great potential to expand the stories of these characters in future sequels. Traveling to various times and places through magical portals makes the opportunities for exploring the universe endless and the world established in this movie is worth revisiting in future adventures.

Heroes of the Golden Mask will premiere on digital June 9 from Gravitas Pictures. If you’d like to get a more behind the scenes look at the making of the movie, I did get a chance to interview Sean Patrick O’Reilly for Popgeeks, an interview you can read or watch on the YouTube channel.