K-Pop Demon Hunters Review!

Alright! Today I'm reviewing the 2025 smash-hit that no one saw coming: K-Pop Demon Hunters. Set in the mythical world of South Korea, K-Pop Demon Hunters tells the story of a trio of musicians whose music creates a barrier between our world and that of the demons. Passed on through generation to generation, we land in the present day with the K-pop band Huntr/x , which includes the deadpan dancer Mira, the cheerful rapper Zoey, and our protagonist (and lead vocalist) Rumi, who hides the fact that she is part-demon from her bandmates. Close to creating a permanent barrier between our world and the demon world and freeing herself from the demon curse, Rumi's plans are thrown into chaos when a rival boy band, Saja Boys, whose members are secretly demons, shows up to upset the balance. 

Now, right off the bat, if that sounds like a lot of exposition to get out of the way, it is. But the good news is that the movie isn't weighed down by it at all! Instead, it opens with a battle between Huntr/x and some demons in a plane that's cut in half before they skydive into a crowd of 50,000 people and start a show for them. It's the definition of "show, don't tell," and sets the stage for one of the most watchable movies in recent memory.  

This is probably the biggest selling point of the movie as well; it's just fun to watch. If you think the combination of K-Pop, 20-something popstar leads, demon romance, and slick animation style isn't for you, you're probably right - you know yourself better than I do. But I can also confidently say that, should you watch, you'll still have a great time. The movie is so spunky that it never gives you a moment to be bored, hearkening back to the instant likability of The LEGO Movie and Spider-Verse with its chaotic leads and rapid-fire plotting. 

The other selling point is obviously going to be the music; since the main characters are K-Pop stars and the premise relies on their music being good to keep the demons out of Earth, you need some pretty great music to sell the premise - and they delivered. Like, scarily so. Like, the main track of the movie, "Golden," broke records with 11 consecutive weeks at #1 on Billboard's Global 200 and was only dethroned because Taylor Swift dropped a new album. It's just that good. The other tracks from the movie, most noticeably "Takedown," "How It's Done," "Your Idol," and "What It Sounds Like" are all superb as well, but I'm giving "Golden" a gold star since it also serves as the "I Want" song and the chorus shows up as a leitmotif during the movie's climactic hero moments, so the emotional weight of the movie is tied to the song. 

This is also where I praise the voice acting. Arden Cho, May Hong, and Ji-young Yoo are all iconic as Rumi, Mira, and Zoey, respectively, but I really have to give the laurels to the artists providing their singing voices: Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami. Ejae receives double laurels for also writing many of the songs on the track and the impressive vocal range she demonstrates: This will be more for the music nerds and fun fact fans, but "Golden" hits an A-5 note in the chorus - not on the big showstopping Broadway belt at the end, but on the chorus. To put that in perspective, the high note at the end of "Let It Go" - you guys remember that note? The one every talent show kid tried (and failed) to hit in 2013? - is an E♭5, giving "Golden" a three-note advantage, and the highest note on the album, found in "How It's Done," is a D6 - almost an octave higher. That's.... that's insanity. And it's impressive insanity. 

The three main characters are also all laudable as some of the strongest female leads of the 2020s. After watching big companies try (and fail) to make bankable leads out of Captain Marvel, Rey, and Snow White, K-Pop Demon Hunters serves us three superb exemplars to show us "how it's done, done, done." I'm not going to analyze why Rumi, Mira, and Zoey worked while the other three didn't, but I will say that the creators certainly knew who the target audience was: elementary and middle school girls. With fabulous costumes sure to inspire fan art for years to come, funny characterizations, and realistic friendship (Their favorite pastime is sitting on the couch and eating carbs), K-Pop Demon Hunters isn't afraid to make their leads look goofy, which makes them look normal, which makes them relatable, which makes them popular. I can't think of characters who became so instantly iconic since Moana.

The animation is also superb! Obviously inspired by the revolutionary Into and Across the Spider-Verse movies (also made by Sony), K-Pop Demon Hunters features gorgeous imagery, cityscapes, lighting, framing, and shadows, all obviously taking cue cards from bedazzling music videos. Everything is snazzy, snappy, and whippily edited. However, a minor criticism - with such high notes and impressive vocals, the mouth animations are surprisingly restrained - like, open wide! You're singing an A-5!!! 

The movie's not perfect - For as fun and watchable as it is, there are a few plotlines that feel underbaked. Everything involving Rumi's adoptive mother feels like leftovers from a longer cut of the movie, the idea of the demons being coerced and not inherently evil is dropped halfway through the film, and Mira and Zoey's tragic backstories seem more like throwaway lines than emotional threads. But!!! Rumi basically has a lightsaber, so it all balances out. 

Overall, I declare K-Pop Demon Hunters the Frozen of the 2020s. The superb female leads, powerhouse songs, unprecedented popularity, amazing animation, humor, memorable characters, and ingenious marketability are all factors that make it such a great movie and one of the best films of the year. It feels like it should either be the finale or the pilot of a wildly successful television series, and I have no doubt we haven't seen the last of Huntr/x.  

Overall, I give K-Pop Demon Hunters an 8/10. "K-Pop Demon Hunters is so good that Disney will probably remake Buffy the Vampire Slayer as retaliation."