Reviewer's grade: B
You know you're not in Kansas anymore when a movie is narrated by a fish. In this Cinderella fable set in New York City's Chinatown, 17-year-old Ye Xian (An Nguyen) arrives from China, only to find herself a virtual slave in the employ of a massage parlor.
Enduring abuse by a vicious proprietor, Ye Xian receives help from a mysterious old crone. Writer/director David Kaplan lends the tale a hard-candied coating through rotoscoping animation. If "Year of the Fish" doesn't always live up to its promise of magic, its most successful moments reach near-splendor.
"?Phil Bacharach
