User reviews

The story is a drag and could have been better...then this movie would have been awesome!..

If you like magic and ilusion in a interest fable in a ancient China you will enjoy this movie.

Legend of the Demon Cat is a colourful Sino-Japanese fantasy movie. It follows a former Chinese government official and poet who teams up with a Japanese monk to investigate strange events at court leading to injuries, illnesses and deaths. The dynamic youngster and the calm intellectual soon realize that all those events are related to a vengeful cat. They need to figure out the secret behind the mysterious animal in order to stop further catastrophes.

This movie convinces on several levels. The costumes are colourful and eye-catching. The locations look diversified and elegant. The two different lead characters complete each other in a balanced way. The first half of the movie sets a mysterious tone but also has solid pace.

Things get worse in the dragging and disjointed second half. The second hour mostly consists of lengthy flashbacks and the two intriguing main characters simply become listeners or spectators. The story also becomes more predictable and one would have hoped for a more spectacular outcome.

In the end, this movie should please to fans of colourful fantasy movies and those interested in traditional Asian culture. The mysterious parts of the story vanish in the second half, the dramatic elements become predictable and the crime elements are replaced by complicated flashbacks. It's regrettable that a movie that showed much promise in its first half changes so drastically in its second half. The director and scriptwriter tried to experiment and innovate but a fluid pace and clearer structure would have been the better options in this case.

Initially I have to say that "Legend of the Demon Cat" (aka "Kûkai") turned out better than I had anticipated it. Sure, I hadn't even heard about this 2017 movie from director Kaige Chen before now in 2020, when I sat down to watch it.

I read the synopsis and weren't overly impressed. But still, it was a Chinese movie, and one I hadn't already seen, so of course I found the time to sit down and watch it.

The storyline was interesting, and it was a nicely character driven story. Needless to say that the characters in the movie were good, because otherwise the movie wouldn't have worked out as well as it did. And they had some talented actors and actresses on the cast list.

I found the story to be entertaining, although I have to admit that the steam started to seep out of the kettle after the movie hit the 1 hour mark. Then it seemed that the storyline started to clutter and made less sense - or becoming a bit more confusing. Either way, the movie was much more enjoyable in the first hour.

"Legend of the Demon Cat" mixes a couple of genres well together, and makes for an enjoyable and entertaining movie. I am rating it a six out of ten stars.

This is a classic ghost story by the great Chinese film director, Chen Kaige. While beautiful and heartfelt, it is also kind of slow and talky. But if you have a bit of patience, it is definitely worth seeing. The ghost story makes a lot more sense than most of its ilk -- there are good reasons for all that happens.

This is a popular work by a director whom Americans know best as an art house director. How well does it stack up against other grand masters from the Chinese cultural world who tackle popular works? For me, it does not stack up to Taiwan's Ang Lee and his 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dagger'. But it has more heart than Zhimou Yang's 'Hero' and 'House of Flying Daggers' -- which, on the other hand, are better paced than this movie. So I'd call that one a draw.

Seeing that this film is adapted from some Japanese series, I would like to say that I have not heard or seen this series so I watched this film without any expectations, not even having seen the trailer or poster before watching it.

To begin, at the beginning it seemed really interesting and the plot pointed to a deep involvement of the main characters, and seeing how it contains mystery, I expected there to be many mystifying encounters occurring TO the main characters. However, as surprised as I was, this is the first show I have seen that sidelines the main characters into simple narrators quite early on.

The plot is also kind of disconnected, with a few main plot lines just barely having any connection with each other. Regarding the genres listed for this movie, I would say it is 70% drama, 20% fantasy and 10% mystery, which is pretty amazing for how the movie was trying to develop. Well, it is only 10% mystery because the presentation in the movie is so obvious that I don't feel bewildered at all. It's like a roller coaster ride with a straight track likening a railway, barely any twists and turns and just totally boring. My friends and I were dozing off at times, one kept asking when the movie ends and the other wanted to leave 30 minutes before the movie ended.

There were some very beautiful scenes, which add points to this movie, however they were usually used for some scenes which do not progress the story much. Oh yes, there are quite a few scenes which felt like they could be removed and nothing else would be affected, also known as fillers.

Regarding the cast, I'm not sure it is just me but some of the acting and actors/actresses do not seem to fit into their roles that well, for example the monk, whose behaviour and facial expressions seem quite uninhibited for "a renowned monk".

After seeing a few stellar reviews, I am still confounded as to what makes this a great film. Sure, there were great graphics and a few twists here and there, but overall it felt more like a documentary. It felt like a history documentary instead of some suspense drama that keeps the watchers' interests going.

My overall verdict is that unless you like terribly straightforward movies that presents content to you straight up, it is much better to invest your time and money watching another show instead.

Chen Kaige's best film since 21th century. As the biggest Chinese-Japanese co-production film ever, Yao Mao Zhuan is very different from the Hollywood cliches. I can feel the flow between each shot, just like traditional Chinese ink-wash painting. And the story structure is very interesting. It splits into two parts, these two parts are like mirrors, you can find same symbols, characters and plots in both sides. And all those things come together, make the magnificent Tang Dynasty comes alive. However, Chen Kaige is not satisfied in telling the greatness of Tang, but also the dark side, the politics and humanity.

Chen Kaige shows a stunning artistic ambition in this Legend of Demon Cat. The story behind the mystery is simply beyond imagination, and the production design, costume, hair & makeup, music score and visual effects along the way are just impressive. This film is a spectacle about Chinese culture and history, and the way it presents them is unique and surprising. Besides the dazzling visuals, believable narratives and characters also help convince the audience that the unfolding fiction is real.

In fact I was reading recently a bit about Japanase buddhism and Kukai, the founder of Japanese Shingon Buddhism. So I felt excited when I learned there is a recent high budget film with him as the main protagonist as it seemed.

My expectations turned out to be utterly misplaced. Neither he is important, nor his buddhism. If not for his robes, I could have overlooked he's a monk. It doesn't even play any important role in the plot he's a Japanese in China. Perhaps I'm missing some important hints, but to me all the film seemed to be composed of such disjonted pieces.

And when stripped of them, the plot becomes just a decent historical ghost story overusing and overexposing the computer generated special effects at the expense of telling a coherent story and portraying a least a few somewhat believable characters. In the end even the "demon cat" itself failed to convince me with its overcomplicated and overexalted story, failing at the most crucial point of the whole movie in the simple task of telling a believable tragedy.

The spirit of a murdered woman takes the form of a black cat and wreaks havoc upon a Tang dynasty city, collecting debts along the way. The cat even enters dreams. She was abandoned by a heartless person whose greatest happiness was to control others. Historical figures including a famous poet, Bai Juyi, and a visiting Japanese monk, Kukai, attempt to appease the woman's restless, vengeful soul.

A real city from the past was built as the set. It took over five years and $200 million! Chen Kaige, present for this world premiere and director's cut seen at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, remarked that it takes eight hours to walk completely through this city. The film is worth watching for the set alone, plus the elaborate, colorful and beautiful costumes and people. I love one of the main themes of the film, which is standing up for human dignity. Legend of the Demon Cat is fast paced, which is both its weakness and its strength. Based on a bestselling novel by Baku Yumemakura.

The content of the story is quite good, just need to understand the lines. This world is true or false, how to deal with it? Unfortunately, the narrative techniques chosen by the director are quite different from those of ordinary people.

I fell pity for the japanese actor to take a part in this "phenomenal" movie... I wonder what his fans thought about this.... ck ck ck.... but the damage has been done... maybe he was framed to take a role in it.... poor of him

This movie presents one of the most adorable camera work you will ever see. Actings are also quite amazing. The cgi is acceptable too but could be better.

However, the story is not rich enough or has not been told properly. You can clearly see that the director is trying hard to keep you on the edge of your seat but there is no enough material to do so.

So, overall, it worth a shot but it's not the best.

My eyes are full of typical Chinese aesthetics: Gorgeous, luxurious, uncontrollable grand narrative desire, overwhelmed with conceit, trying every means to attract attention... as well as...... Disrespect for history, arbitrarily tampering with characters and historical facts (it was originally a very complicated and majestic tragic history, but it was changed into a farce dominated by several warlocks), and actively avoided serious connotations (such as serious historical reflection and political analysis).

This one movie may have a planned appeal to a specific market target group, but upon careful analysis, it has no nutrition in it.

Legend of the Demon Cat Is a love letter to Chinese epic ghost story in the past with a massive budget,talented actors and to my surprise it win in everyway.Directed by Kaige Chen a man I really need to check out his previous works after this one Legend of the Demon Cat is a stunning visual treat with a complex plot based on the love story of Yang Guifei one of the Four Beauties of ancient China about how her beauty can bring down the Tan-dynasty with a more fantasy take on the story.Both China and Japan bring their best game so I hardly have any problem beside not seeing this movie on the theater for a more epic experience

As I wrote in the title, this movie is technically stunning.

However:

• The story, which is quite bland, takes too long to unfold, making it a bore;
• The acting is off (too theatrical);
• It tries to be funny, but once again, the humor is quite bland;

If you like the genre, you might find it interesting for the visuals. If not, I would just skip it.

The costumes are so beautiful, from the clothes to the ornaments just so elegant and detailed, looks expensive overall. I think the costume designs are on par if not better than Nirvana in Fire. The cinematography and the effects are so fluid, especially the cat is so lifelike and I really enjoy the shadow of the cat moving from one lantern to the other. In addition, I really like the seamless switch between the illusion and reality. The story is very intriguing and keep me guessing until the end. The styIe of the 'mystery' feels kinda similar to Hyouka somehow.

The story started off intriguing and well-acted and devolved into a omg, what happened. Why would directors put obviously Caucasian and/or unimpressive actors in this film? It totally ruined the atmosphere. The story itself is interesting. This needs a serious remake with better actors and proper casts, mostly in the last half.

Lots of backstory throughout. Besides it is so visually that it needs to be seen several times

I like this movie so much. I was deeply shocked by the beauty of the flourishing Tang Dynasty in the movie. Li Bai is one of my favorite poets. In this movie, Li Bai in my heart is perfectly displayed. White crane youth's persistent love is also touching. Magic makes people think deeply. Chen Kaige did not disappoint me, but regretted not going to the cinema at that time.

You will need at least watch twice this movie to better understand the story!!