Zhong Kui fu mo: Xue yao mo ling

Zhong Kui (Chen Kun) has been trained as a scholar and a demon- hunter; the God Zhang has taken him as a pupil in preparation for stealing the Dark Crystal, which the demons of hell own and use to store stolen human spirits. Zhong achieves that quest, but the King of the demons enlists the aid of Snow Girl (Li Bingbing) to steal the Crystal back. Matters become more complicated when it becomes clear that Zhong and Snow Girl were former lovers, and they still mean more to each other than human and demon should. Will their love save - or destroy - the three realms of Heaven, Earth and Hell?

This is a beautifully striking film, filled with gorgeous scenery and marvelous fight scenes. The film-makers went all out with CGI monsters and other effects, using a number of different companies (including Weta Workshop), although that decision results in uneven effects from time to time. For example, some scenes look more like a video game than a movie. But overall, the spectacle holds up well, although I think I might need repeated viewings to understand the whole thing!

First things first: the cgi is miserable at best. Well I may be too harsh now, which is the opposite of what some may think of my rating. But I wanted to warn anyone thinking about watching this. Having said that, the general cinematography and the landscapes are wonderful. The acting is at least decent, if you don't mind the overdramatic nature of it all.

Of course you also have to dig the fantasy nature, fairy tale like pacing and overall structure of the movie. Good vs evil ... but is it that easy? I reckon the movie has some twists along the way, as to not be as predictable as it seems. Then again, some may even call those predictable twists. A good natured story for the fantasy and eastern (cinema) lover in you

I watched about 15 total minutes of this movie. i took a chance on it because it looked interesting, but i immediately lost interest. i watched some of the action sequences because that it was specifically intrigued me about the trailer. and while they were somewhat creative, the CGI was horrendously sub-par. it looked like i was watching a video game on xbox360 or a computer animated movie like final fantasy. and the physics in the fights looked awful. those scenes alone weren't even worth watching (1 viewing)

I have to say that CGI of this film is not very good...Actually I think it would be better if Zhongkui and Snow Girl took fighting scenes in their human form.

And Li Bingbing is stunningly beautiful, I love her.

It's no understatement that half of Zhong Kui is made of video game CG animation, which is not a bad thing visual-wise. This is probably one of the better looking animations from Chinese films, it is much more detailed and graphically pleasant from other recent works, though not every scene is gold. With aesthetically pleasing production value of costume and setting, the movie changes an average myth story into an eye candy.

Story follows Zhong Kui, a demon slayer with tragic past and his love interest the Snow Girl. As fate has it, they would meet in a struggle for a magical relic called Dark Crystal, so far the title is on point. The script stumbles a bit as the heavenly endeavor has too many plot devices masked as supreme powers and also much of the film is invested on Romeo and Juliet theme.

This is usual in mythical flick, the character or item has overpowered attribute so there's little consistency. Fortunately, the two leads perform well, especially Li Bing Bing as Snow Girl. If a comparison should be made, she's dressed and presented much like Disney's Cinderella. Her pale visage and good acting will delight the audiences, moreover the film utilizes the beauty in majestic set pieces throughout.

Pacing is rather slow, the film serves also as drama between the two, this can be exhausting as the predictable romantic plot takes a bulk of the movie. It employs a couple of decent twists at latter half only to end up on an anticlimactic conclusion. Nevertheless, each scene is presented with elaborate colorful vistas and dashing outfits.

Furthermore, half of it is well crafted CGI animation, everyone who have played any video games will see the resemblances. This is much better than previous Chinese animation, the details of face and clever way it paints the environment outweighs some occasions where the effect seems plastic or slow. There are times that the graphic might look jarring and outdated, but for most important part it is quite presentable.

Zhong Kui doesn't stray far from typical myth of heaven and hell or forbidden love cliché, although it has stylish production and gorgeous set pieces to paint an ordinary tale with more fascinating colors.