Jue ji

The storyline seemed somewhat jumbled but the accompanying computer graphic imagery and action sequences were very pleasing. The concepts weren't run-of-the-mill. Definitely worth a watch if you enjoy animated films.

You read my title, spend your money elsewhere. The movie story line is so convoluted, I got instant migraine just from watching it. The opening scene give some back ground about the fantasy land of the story, but that's about it. as the story progresses I keep asking myself, who is this character and why should I care about him? and as new character appears, the same questions repeat it self. Who is this new character and why should I care about it? and after 30 min I began to ask who is the protagonist who is the antagonist of the story? and as more characters with no background keep being added to the story. My interest in the movie just completely over. 1 hrs into the movie the only thing I get from the movie is there are bunch of guys and bunch of girls who meet and fight each other for I don't know what is the reason. What the hell am I watching? and the ending is a complete non ending. who won? who lose? So it's a bunch of guys who meet and fight and no one is winning and no one is losing? WHO WRITE this stuff? 3 year old baby? Whoever write this story need to go to school and stop bringing misery to movie viewer. Here is a basic story writing : Opening, Content, and Conclusion. and the 3 D animations, sure it capture the face of the movie star into 3 D CG, but they fail to capture any expression from their face, it's like watching a doll house. Even in death their face is expressionless. Trust me your money is better spend watching other movie. I want my money back! too bad Chinese theater don't give refunds.

A lot of people give this movie a very low rating despite its appeal. Honestly, I've seen worse movies. Just to be clear, I found it pretty awkward at first to watch because of the attempt to use realistic CGI which does look real enough at first glance but then also looks animated enough which causes the movements to be a bit stunted. You do get used to it, and I think that in the end, it worked well. The acting could definitely have been better, but I think that's just the actors themselves finding the new medium difficult to adjust to. I know multiple actors that were cast in the movie, and it's not their acting skills that fail. I do believe it's just that in the transfer of the motion capture into the final CGI product, that that's where most of the little nuances of acting were lost. The movie moves through its story really quickly, so you need to be able to keep track of many characters and many different plot directions at the same time to enjoy this movie. The plot itself was intriguing to me, but I found that the last fifteen minutes of this almost two- hour long movie is where most of the background information is explained. I've heard that there is a book to go along with this that helps to explain a lot. I did not read it, yet I understood what was going on in the movie okay. People are just used to a more straightforward plot line. I've also heard that it resembles other previous movies. I have no knowledge of these, so I don't know how much it resembles them or if it's truly plagiarism like this movie has been accused of. The ending definitely leaves off as a cliffhanger, but I don't know if there are any plans for a sequel. As of this time, I have watched this movie twice; once in Chinese with English subs, and once in English. I personally liked it better in Chinese because the dialogue matched with how the mouth moved, but if it's easier for you, the English dub isn't bad. And after watching it twice, I do appreciate it more the second time. If this movie was American, I don't think it would've gotten as much hate as it did. That being said, I am only going to give it a seven out of ten because of what I mentioned earlier in my review. I do think it's worth at least one watch, and after that then you can decide for yourself whether or not you liked it.

Personally... I've enjoyed the movie. Also, if this a crap movie?! Obviously most people don't know what an actual crap movie is. Truth to be told, there are so many bad, and I literally mean bad movies out there. This is nothing compared to a bad movie.

This could have made for a decent 45 episode drama, but in just two hours there are too many characters and concepts, too much world-building, for anyone's head not to spin. I have no trouble keeping the dozens of characters in lengthy dramas straight, but the dizzying speed of this movie was beyond my abilities to maintain.

If it were a TV series I'd probably be whining instead that the graphics are terrible. As it is, by turning the entire film into CGI they managed to make the monsters look natural to their environment, a decision for which the filmmakers do deserve credit. The scenes that ought to have captured the viewer's attention and imagination the most would have looked quite corny, no doubt, were this a live-action film, so I am willing to tolerate the animation. It does work quite well in this regard.

The film ends with two random characters whose role I only faintly understood discussing what just happened. This oughtn't have been necessary. The viewer ought to have known more or less what was going on as it happened, but at least we do discover the plot before the credits roll.

Probably one thing that most American viewers found refreshing is that this does not feel Chinese in the slightest. The architecture, the mannerisms, even the eyelids, seem rather European. I was expecting a more Oriental experience, something more like Fights Break Sphere or Tribes and Empires or Ever Night, but instead it seemed almost like I was watching a Disney movie.

In the end, the most redeeming quality of this film is that it is entertaining. There are far, far too few fantasy films being made to begin with, much less really good ones. This, while not particularly amazing like Lord of the Rings, is good and at least an entertaining option for the would-be fantasy viewer who is otherwise distraught by lack of choices.