The Sorcerer and the White Snake

The Sorcerer and The White Snake is visually stunning as well as breathtakingly inspiring. This movie is more than CGI, computer rendering, or even cinematic location. It's about love. The power that love wields between two people who are in love and the control, twist, and even anguish that love sometimes will exert over us. Yes, the fight scenes were well filmed. Additionally the colors exploded violently from frame to frame, it was exceptional. I would be inconsistent if I however did not point out that if this film had a major Hollywood studio budget. Some of the CGI scenes would have looked slightly less choppy, and perhaps more money, would have helped to further polish an already outstanding movie. The Sorcerer and The White Snake is a rare gem, it is a love story told through art. I found the water sections in the opening of the movie simply stunning. Art and love translated through film, simply exceptional.

I hope you will take my advice and grab a copy of this as soon as you are done reading my review. I promise you, this movie will not disappoint in any way shape or form.

After reading some lukewarm and scalding reviews, I was going to pass on this movie. I'm so glad I didn't. While I see the flaws that some reviewers point out, the CGI and fantasy settings were so beautiful and Jet Li's fight sequences so breathtakingly spectacular, that I loved this movie!! Jet Li played the powerful sorcerer-monk to perfection with that inner-calm thing he does so well. The magical and majestic action sequences had me cheering and rewinding several times. They were fresh, unusual and epic. This is now one of my favorite Jet Li movies and I'm already a huge fan.

I loved the fabled-love story thing as well. The characters were likable, including the green and white snakes and I found myself rooting for them. As a chick who loves romantic, fantasy martial arts, this was a beautiful blend of what I love most in a movie.

Just beautiful!

I could not help myself liking the love story between human and spirit... similar to the unforgettable Chinese ghost love story but they have improve since then 20 so years after this is the new generation of CGI effects ...

I love the part the snake pointed out some spirits are not all bad and human can be worse... I'm a love sick person when it comes to true love ...whew... the last part before they part ways.. no one can deny that this may have been one of the best scene ever made... its filled with emotions .. when the leading man recalls... just so breath takings emotional ...

I go back to watch this movie whenever i chance by it again and again and again ...

Fresh actors portrayed the four leading roles as human and spirit interact.. the music scoring and the main theme love song has given more impact to the dramatic impact in this movie...

Watch it and i know you will agree... Jet li played the major part as the sorcerer but the 4 actors( the lady snakes+ doctor+ monk) stood from the rest ...

So many people reviewed this as bad and I will be damned if I understand why. The story is that of an old Chinese legend (well, a more modern interpretation), the actresses are very beautiful and the acting, for what it's worth, is not bad either. To bash a movie because the CGI is a little choppy and Jet Li fights magically instead of kicking behinds seems the height of triviality.

The Legend of the White Snake starts a long time ago, way before there was a written version. The original is quite different from the modern version as well, being a horror story about a demon tricking a human to fall in love with her and her jealous demon buddies are doing everything in their power to break them up. At least this is what I got from Wikipedia. The film, though, presents it as a total love story where the White Snake and her sister are benevolent demons who visit the human world and eventually fall for two guys. The natural order, represented by the Buddhist monk Fahai, a non compromising demon hunter, doesn't allow this type of union and eventually it all escalates into a bad CGI extravaganza.

I thought the morality of the story was a little bit confusing, but complex, worthy of a script. Nothing is completely black and white and in the end the message is tolerance, even if not everything turns out OK. This complexity has kept my eyes glued to the screen until the end. Yes, the CGI could have been better, but who really cares about that?

Bottom line: I liked it. Popularizes a Chinese legend that I knew nothing about, shows people that a film can have a complex story that is not just black and white, stars really cute Chinese ladies and in end was quite entertaining for me. No masterpiece, but really better than average.

Although Jet Li is essentially the main actor, Raymond Lam steals the show (in my opinion) as herb picker Xu Xian. The beautiful Shengyi Huang is well cast as White Snake and the chemistry between Raymond and Shengyi is wonderful. This is a love story set against a fantasy action adventure backdrop, and the genres blend beautifully. The action is just as amazing as the love story. I did find some scenes to be a bit slapstick silly, but in general this CGI-heavy film was quite fascinating. The flood scene in the final act was truly awesome. I did find the ending a bit overuse of CGI to a point where I almost lost what was actually happening, but the love story portrayed by Raymond and Shengyi swiftly pulled me back to their reality and it was simply spectacular. This is a very imaginative film.