This movie is based on a classic Chinese folk tale "Madame White Snake". You can find the synopsis in wikipedia. You'll find the same main characters in this movie but that's where it ends. The changes are too numerous and consistently void in adding any sort of values to the original, it makes you wonder why they even bother sticking with the characters at all -- besides the obvious marketing advantage of familiarity.
It is chock-full of CGI. The kind of movies that we were all overdosed on back when CGI was new and quickly overused. We've all learned to stay away from those movies. Now, we're seeing a whole new generation in Asia who'll learn by making the same mistake of going to these hollow, dumb movies but looking pretty on the outside. It's not always pretty either. The CGI quality is inconsistent. The giant snakes are not coming across at all well. They reminded me of a karaoke singer who went way beyond his vocal range. It's sad, we're sympathetic, but let's just stop it now and never do it again.
There are no character developments to speak of. Each major character is an archetype of their folktale counterpart often acting in inexplicable ways. I have no ideas why the characters do what they do. They either do it because that's what the original story said they do, or because they're trying to be funny, or just some random act to lead to CGI set piece.
Quite a disappointment really but I'm guessing this movie did well in Asian market. HK movie industry is great in cranking out movies with maximizing profits as the main goal. The intelligence level of their movies have slowly but surely going up in recent years but I have to wonder if they feel they have to re-dumb it down to cater to the new and expansive market mainland China's.
If you want to gain an insight into what passes as a blockbuster in Asia these days, this movie is for you. Otherwise, don't even bother.
It is chock-full of CGI. The kind of movies that we were all overdosed on back when CGI was new and quickly overused. We've all learned to stay away from those movies. Now, we're seeing a whole new generation in Asia who'll learn by making the same mistake of going to these hollow, dumb movies but looking pretty on the outside. It's not always pretty either. The CGI quality is inconsistent. The giant snakes are not coming across at all well. They reminded me of a karaoke singer who went way beyond his vocal range. It's sad, we're sympathetic, but let's just stop it now and never do it again.
There are no character developments to speak of. Each major character is an archetype of their folktale counterpart often acting in inexplicable ways. I have no ideas why the characters do what they do. They either do it because that's what the original story said they do, or because they're trying to be funny, or just some random act to lead to CGI set piece.
Quite a disappointment really but I'm guessing this movie did well in Asian market. HK movie industry is great in cranking out movies with maximizing profits as the main goal. The intelligence level of their movies have slowly but surely going up in recent years but I have to wonder if they feel they have to re-dumb it down to cater to the new and expansive market mainland China's.
If you want to gain an insight into what passes as a blockbuster in Asia these days, this movie is for you. Otherwise, don't even bother.