Where to Watch

Classic overview

The Founding of Ming Dynasty is a highly fictionalized fantasy retelling of the early years of Zhu Yuanzhang’s life that was obviously geared toward younger audiences. The tale actually begins in Heaven, where the various gods are busy paving the way for a new emperor. The very basic facts of Zhu Yuanzhang’s life are ostensibly correct, but it takes a rather unexpected turn into traditional giant monster territory, with a Taoist priest summoning a gigantic red-haired ogre (amusingly referred to as ‘superman’ in the subtitles) to destroy our heroes, who are in turn rescued when a golden dragon (the animal manifestation of one of the deities from earlier in the film) rises from the ocean to do battle with said ogre.