I bought a DVD of this from a second hand shop because it referred to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon on the box. This is just as lush looking, but the story is from another planet. It's all well acted and brilliantly directed and all that, and the settings are epic and beautiful, but the script has the shudder inducing obviousness of an internet fantasy parody. The fight sequences are strangely detached, and some nice special effects (such as a bamboo walkway rising up and attacking a character) are almost lost in the twitchy editing.
Even more distracting is the fact that the character Cloud has a nineteen eighties hair colouring job that kills any sense of exoticism.
Actually, as I write this it occurs to me that this might be aimed at children and the UK DVD has been clumsily packaged for an adult market. Anyhow, despite all this criticism, it is a fun DVD for idle minds. Try watching this with vodka, and making farting noises every time someone says "Wind" (it's the name of one of the characters).
For the full effect, I recommend the director's cut. My DVD includes this and the international version, which besides being a great deal shorter, is dubbed, which kills it.
Deranged, but joyous.
Even more distracting is the fact that the character Cloud has a nineteen eighties hair colouring job that kills any sense of exoticism.
Actually, as I write this it occurs to me that this might be aimed at children and the UK DVD has been clumsily packaged for an adult market. Anyhow, despite all this criticism, it is a fun DVD for idle minds. Try watching this with vodka, and making farting noises every time someone says "Wind" (it's the name of one of the characters).
For the full effect, I recommend the director's cut. My DVD includes this and the international version, which besides being a great deal shorter, is dubbed, which kills it.
Deranged, but joyous.