By Nabil Bakri
NOTE: if you want to read the actual review, you can
skip the OVERTURE/Introduction
You might also want to read:
OVERTURE
In
1999, an Indonesian animation studio Platoon released an animated movie of the
Chinese legend of the White Snake. The movie, which was made out of extremely
low-budget, ‘Siluman Ular Putih’ or ‘The White Snake Spirit’ (basically ‘The Were-Snake as in Werewolf) then distributed on VCD (Video
Compact Disc) by a home video distributor under the name Emperor/Video Unggul.
VCD was at its highest peak and The White
Snake Spirit was meant to be an addition to a cartoon series produced by
Platoon focusing on stories based on myths and legends especially those related
to Indonesian folklores and Buddhism and/or Hinduism. It is basically like many
cheap-40-minutes-each-English-series with stories like Cinderella, Pinocchio, Aladdin, and so on, but since it was
produced in Indonesia and meant to be enjoyed by Indonesians, the studio released
Asian fairy-tales. Now you might think that, as the largest Muslim country on
Earth, Indonesia would fancy stories from Arabian
Nights, but Indonesia is actually more Hindu and Buddha than you think.
Folklores like Sangkuriang (The Prodigal Son) , Roro Jonggrang (Queen/Lady
Jonggrang), Rama lan Shinta (Rama and Shinta), and many more have no pure
Islamic influence and instead, they involve Gods, reincarnation, spirits,
curses, yin and yang or stuff about balance, animal-demons that can take human
form, and things usually found in the Book of Mahabharata. The traditional Javanese puppet, Wayang, is dedicated to tell the entire story of the Book including
the epic battle between the powerful monkey-God Hanuman and giant king Rahwana
or Dasamuka (Dasa means 10/ten and Muka
means face=the giant with ten heads).
Indonesia
has more Chinese and Indian influence than you might think and that can be
traced to artefacts like Borobudur and Prambanan Temples and the province named
Bali. This is why the country is different from Saudi Arabia or Syria and you
can find so many Javanese-Indian names like Yudhistira (Yudhistir), Bima,
Arjuna (Arjun), Lesmana, Rama, Rangga, and so on in many Indonesians. So, when
Platoon released The White Snake Spirit,
it wasn’t all too odd. I was in kindergarten when my parents bought me a copy
of The White Snake Spirit, I remember
it was when Disney’s Tarzan just hit
the theatres and was brand new. VCD format was as popular in Indonesia as VHS
in the US and the market for direct-to-VCD movies was enormous. Shortly, I saw The White Snake Spirit in 1999 (or maybe
2000) and since iQiYi released The Legend of White Snake in 2019 which is
basically the same story as The White Snake
Spirit, I am intrigued to find out what’s new after two decades—hence the
title 20 Decades of Cultivation.
Before that, however, I had to refresh my memory about The Snake Spirit so I decided to watch the movie once again after
so many years.
The White Snake Spirit or Siluman Ular
Putih (1999)
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| (Bai Suzhen from Siluma Ular Putih||Copyright PLATOON|||Picture processed by Nabil Bakri) |
Bai Suzhen is a powerful Siluman (like a demon, but not exactly a demon, more like
shape-shifter). She is the Siluman Ular
Putih or the White Snake Demon/Spirit with power and knowledge worth of nearly
two thousand years of Buddhism cultivation (xiu-xing,
Indonesia=bertapa). She is in her
long journey in the human world to meet Goddess Guanyim and stumbles upon the
Green Snake, Xiaoqing who owns a mansion in a town. When the Green Snake
attacks, the White Snake fights back and ended up defeating the Green Snake who
then becomes her faithful follower. Suzhen meets Hanwen, a young doctor and/or
apprentice of a reputable clinic. They fall in love and Suzhen decides to
conceal her identity and give a ton of gold to Hanwen for their marriage.
Unfortunately, the gold is taken from the palace by the help of Dedemit or Tuyul (genies but not from the lamp) when Li Gongfu is in charge of
keeping the gold save. It is unfortunate because Li Gongfu is Hanwen’s brother
in-law and when he figures out that Hanwen has the missing gold, things started
to fall apart. Bai Suzhen and Hanwen try to be together multiple times, but
their relationship seems to be doomed since the beginning. In the end, a
powerful monk Shang Fahay captures Bai
Suzhen and locks her in a pagoda/tower until her son Si Se Lin manages to
release her.
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| (Bai Suzhen The White Snake, Xiaoqin The Green Snake, and Xu XIan Hanwen|||Copyright EMPEROR|||Picture processed by Nabil Bakri) |
Since
it is not a multi-million dollar movie, you cannot expect much from the quality
of its animation. From background details, colours, sound, to character
movements, all are not (or even nearly) as good as Disney movies from the 30’s
or 40’s. Even though it was produced in the late 90’s, the animation is
certainly lacking in many aspects as they might just equipped with
less-powerful computers and hey, have you tried editing videos on Windows 98? Siluman Ular Putih is also a very short
feature and therefore, the studio has to fit the long story into a short
running time, making it look like too rushed. Even though it is an animated
movie and a short one, it is still complicated and certainly can be very
complicated for children because it involves love, redemption, and philosophy
of life. This might explain why, as a child, I thought the movie was longer
(and dragged) than it actually is and I did not really interested in checking
the old TV series/Asian Drama. Siluman
Ular Putih is far from perfect and stripping it out from its historical
context will throw the movie to the bin as one of the worst animations ever
made. However, I appreciate the creation of the movie as a pioneer of
Indonesian animation and arguably the best one in the Emperor/Platoon animation
series. It is rather difficult to criticize the movie because in the end, it is
just like The Adventures of Andre and
Wally B or Luxo Jr PIXAR shorts—they
look terrible and outdated today, but were masterpieces back in the day.
Why the Cartoon Instead of
the 1992 Series?
I
think it is because I have not seen the 1992 version of the story. It was
broadcasted on TV and I believe I saw the series but since it was a very long
time ago and I was so little (and so more interested in The Monkey King series), I am unable to compare the 2019 version
with this one just yet. The 1999 animated feature is the one version that
captured my attention more and the one that I was fully aware of. Just like my
previous articles concerning Hana Yori
Dango or Meteor Garden, I think I
should start the discussion with something that I am familiar with. I know the
animated feature Siluman Ular Putih
through and through, it was a huge part of my childhood and when I know that
Warner Bros. distributed the animation White
Snake in 2019, I thought it’s gonnabe interesting to check it out. I
thought that it’s interesting how I saw The
White Snake Spirit in 1999 and 20 years later, the ancient story of Bai
Suzhen and Hanwen became popular once more with a new animation and a new drama
series (two major adaptations in one year! Yikes!).
This brings the exact same aura as Meteor
Garden in 2018 that eventually propelled me to re-watch the 2001 show, the
2009 Korean version, and the entire whopping 50 episodes of the 2018 remake. I
have not seen any other long series/show/drama, Asian or American or whatever,
since Meteor Garden back in late
2018. I tried several times with Korean dramas like I am Not a Robot and He is
Psychometric, even HBO’s Game of
Thrones, but I just do not like soap operas—I even dislike Marvel Cinematic
Universe lately because it never ends
and destroys the line between a FILM and EPISODIC SOAP OPERA. I saw Kingdom, I think it was decent, but it
was only the first season (less than 10 episodes) and I could not give my
review without it being ended first. In 2019, I finally found a story that I can
relate to my previous understanding of moving pictures and I decided to give it
a try.
WHITE SNAKE: The Origin, the
animated feature
This
animation is certainly beautiful and no less smooth in character design and
movements than those produced by big American film companies and the fact that
Warner Bros. is involved in the distribution of the film becomes a strong
reason to assume that the film should
be good, not a guarantee but a good point to recommend someone to watch the
film. Upon watching the film, I realized that this is not the White Snake I knew and certainly not for
children—not because it is too complicated for children but because it has multiple
adult scenes involving partial nudity. It is more like the movie Paprika than Zootopia—No, it is as cool as Zion’s archive concerning the Renaissance in Animatrix but nearly as adult as well. There is no blood nor isn’t
guts splatting all over the place, but a sex scene, no matter how soft it is, is
really not suitable for children unless you are one of those twisted parents
supporting Drag Kids or Queer Kids. I have no complaints regarding character design
(animation style) and movement (CGI technology), I think it is gorgeous and certainly
has some cool moments (action scenes). There are problems with the story
because it is actually a prequel to The
Legend of White Snake, but that too is not my biggest problem. The fact
that the animation is a prequel is enough to make it an interesting work to
begin with and it is a good supplementary content before watching the series.
My
biggest problem with White Snake is
its inconsistencies in building the story and creating the overall tone of the
film. It is sometimes too childish for adults but too mature for children—it is
like making Beauty and Beast with a
sex scene. I thought it should be a fun film for all ages, but then I had to
stumble upon partial nudity and a sex scene. It is difficult to see the film as
an adult film because it is as playful as children’s films. If you are
expecting the level of maturity as Japanese anime Evangelion or Paprika,
you’d be disappointed. The film, in the end, is similar to Dreamworks’ Megamind, in which it is unable to make
up its mind about its target audience. I really hope that White Snake could pick one, whether it is targeting children or
adults (by adults also include teenagers as in PG-13 and not necessarily R-rated)
or targeting all ages with perfect blend of children’s beloved animation with
mature narration like PIXAR’s Up, Happy Feet, and How to Train Your Dragon (the first one, not the sequels). Overall,
I still think it is a good animation and a good prequel if you are interested
in the story of the White Snake
legend. And this is also a problem, because sometimes it is going to be difficult
to understand the story or at least comprehend or appreciate the story if the
audience has no information about the legend whatsoever. Just like any prequel,
it is better to watch it with the company of its context. I mean, Rogue One is a cool movie with space
battle and cool spaceships, but you had to watch Star Wars first to really comprehend the overall story. It is important
to note that White Snake was produced
by a different company from the drama The
Legend of White Snake and there might be no specific relation as a prequel
should normally be to its canon, but it is still a story of how the White Snake
meets the boy who would become her partner in the long-long-distant future. Bai
Suzhen in both Siluman Ular Putih and
The Legend of White Snake explains
about a boy who saved her life once, but never explains it in great details and
the animation White Snake exists to
explain the origin of Bai Suzhen and Hanwen’s fate in living the mortal and
eternal lives together.
THE LEGEND OF WHITE SNAKE
REVIEW
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| (Copyright iQiYi/2019) |
Phew…finally, after a long—no very long—overture, we have arrived at the main event of this article. I would do my best to avoid spoiler, so I assume you have seen the show or at least know the basic story because basically, it is just the same as Siluman Ular Putih or other adaptations of The Legend of White Snake. However, I think it is better for me to tell you the overall story once more. Now, since I started this review from my viewing experience of Siluman Ular Putih, I gotta tell you that the names of the characters are different but similar. How can something be different and similar at the same time? Well, I guess it’s the translation thing, you know, concerning different language. The Indonesian version does not translate the Chinese names into Indonesians (rather odd because usually Chinese students change their names to Indonesian names during their study and Chinese-Indonesians have two names) but just change the letters to make the names easier to pronounce. For example, the Indonesian White Snake is actually Peh Tin Nio—very different from Bai Suzhen, but Peh is actually Bai. Take a look at these names (id=Indonesian, ch=Chinese): Han Bun (id)-Hanwen/Xu Xian (ch), Shao Cheng (id)-Xiaoqing (ch), Hoat Hay Siansu (id)-Shang Fahay (ch), Dewi Kwan Im (id)-Goddess Guanyin (ch), and Li Kong Hu (id)-Li Gongfu (ch). I would use the original names instead of the Indonesiafied ones.
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| (Siluma Ular Putih|||Copyright EMPEROR 1999|||Picture processed by Nabil Bakri) |
SUMMARY
Similar
to the animated 1999 movie, Bai Suzhen is the powerful White Snake with 1000
year worth of Buddhist cultivation. That effort of a millennium allows her to
take a human form, a beautiful woman in white. She wants to learn to live as a
human being in Lin’an City and wishes to fulfil her fate that she was unable to
fulfil a thousand year prior. During her observation, she meets a young and
charismatic doctor/apprentice Xu Xian or usually called Hanwen. During a
puzzling case of a sick woman, Bai Suzhen tracks down the cause that is the
Green Snake Xiaoqin. They become rivals but eventually Xiaoqin becomes Bai
Suzhen’s follower. White Snake’s kindness, intelligence, purity, and of course
beautiful face and exquisite body melted Hanwen’s heart the way his dashing
good look, patience, calmness, and purity melted Bai Suzhen’s heart. They fall
in love and things started to fall apart as if the universe simply would not
allow them to be together in an easy way.
THE STORY
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| (Copyright iQiYi 2019) |
THE GOOD
Since
it is based on a legend, I am unable to complain whether or not it is a good
story because eventually, The Legend of White
Snake is always about Legend of the White Snake (like what do you expect?).
Similar to many other legends and fairy tales, it is unfair to criticize the
story for being different from the source material. Furthermore, there are many
versions of the legend to begin with. To criticize the 2019 drama for being too
different from the source is similar to criticize Disney’s Aladdin or Hercules for
being too different from the source materials. As long as the story makes sense
according to its genre, it is a good story regardless of how faithful it is to
the source, as long as the changes are not too extreme and/or meaningless. How to Train Your Dragon the movie is
too different from the book, but it is a damn good film while maintaining the
key characters and their characteristics: Hiccup is just like in the book and
Toothless is much bigger but with the personality of the one portrayed in the
book. It would be unwise to change the core of the story drastically like what
Disney did with Maleficent, changing
the ultimate villain into a heroine and destroys the long history and legacy of
Walt Disney himself. Yes there are changes in the drama but at least the
essence of the story is pretty much the same.
I
like the overall story of the drama and how romantic two characters can be, and
how sad, how melodramatic, because it is essentially a story of agony and
sacrifice, very typical Asians. Now don’t judge me on making such a comment,
but it is what it is as comprehensively discussed by author Will Storr in his
book Selfie contrasting the
Westerners and Easterners. The stories and heroes or villains in American movies
are usually simplistic and that’s good because that would make a quick and
entertaining movie. A hero is a hero—usually without flaw, and a villain is a
villain, there is always black and white—darkness and light. Asian stories are
usually more complicated than that and to back my claim, I read the Book of Mahabharata, yeah, that thick
and picture-less book and re-watch The
Year of Living Dangerously. Asian stories usually make characters more
human (even though they have Godlike power), there’s always grey area. Heroes
make mistakes and villains sometimes do good things and have reasonable reasons
for their crimes. In Mahabharata, the
readers are invited to see the rivalry from two different perspectives from the
Pandawa family and Kurawa family. They are brothers but separated by greed and
power. In The Year of Living Dangerously,
actress Linda Hunt as Billy Kwan specifically explains to Mel Gibson the art of
Wayang puppet and how complicated
Asian folktales and legends really are.
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| (Copyright iQiYi 2019) |
I appreciate
how The Legend of White Snake tries
to visualize the complicatedness of the legend. This can be seen multiple times
in almost all major characters. White Snake is a demon and according to the young
and inexperienced monk Shang Fahai, is essentially evil and should be
destroyed. However, the high Goddess Guanyin seems to care about the White
Snake as if she is not a demon at all. Shang Fahai then must learn that being a
demon does not necessarily equal to being evil and being a human doesn’t mean
pure kindness. There are people practicing terrible things even more terrible
than demons. We can see this from the character Ruyi who falls in love with
Hanwen but eventually it is clear that love does not equal to the sense of
ownership or possessiveness. Unlike Bai Suzhen and Hanwen, Ruyi is blinded by love
to the path of possessiveness instead of light and the way of Buddha (it is
love that changes Bai Suzhen’s perspective on humans and her idea on
sacrifice). Ruyi does not understand the value of sacrifice and refuse to do
so. In addition, Even though Hanwen is a character of near-perfect, he is not
perfect. He is similar to the character Fahri from Ayat-Ayat Cinta (The Verses
of Love) in which Fahri is being tested by God so that he could realize how
he acts as if he is the purest man on earth even when he never admits that or
has not realize it just yet.
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| (Copyright iQiYi 2019) |
Bai
Suzhen is also an interesting character in terms of her personality
development. She determines to be with a human and neglects Xiaoqin’s advice to
just let go. However, she acts hypocritical when Xiaoqin falls in love with a
human being and tries hard to separate Xiaoqin from her lover. The Legend of White Snake also shows the
flaws of Gods in which they break their own rules (a God having an affair with
a demon), shallow, and often have no mercy. In other words, The Legend of White Snake exposes the
many sides of human beings. The biggest point, however, is the criticism toward
hypocrisy and mob mentality. The drama shows how the people of Lin’an treat Bai
Suzhen and Hanwen badly even after the couple save their lives. These are the
good quality promised by the drama and, of course, (I almost forgot) the
message about the importance of family and the sacredness of marriage. It shows
how marriage is a serious business and should never been done without love or
consent between a man and a woman to eventually become a father and a mother
(we can see this in the case of Ruyi and Hanwen and Bai Suzhen). The drama visualizes
how a man should act to protect the woman no matter what but never reject the woman’s
help (if she wants to work, then just let her as long as that does not mean neglecting
the family and if she is wealthier, then the man should just accept the fact,
suck it up, and be open to the woman’s help). It is very difficult to spread
the value and sacredness of marriage in conservative way in the present time or
at least after 2011 to this very day, and I appreciate the drama to once again point
out the ideal makeup of a family. Well done.
THE BAD
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| (Xiaoqin from Siluman Ular Putih, 1999|||Copyright EMPEROR|||Picture processed by Nabil Bakri) |
I
always say that a good story is a consistent one and fit the logic of its
genre. The Legend of White Snake does
have illogical points like demonic creatures and going back to the past, BUT it
is not a pure drama and cannot be associated with dramas like Sense and Sensibility or Emma because they are essentially
different. Mythical beings would be illogical in Sense and Sensibility, but purely logical in The Legend of White Snake. The overall story is also rather
consistent. Well, if that’s so, why would this be in this part of the review?
Now, I think, apart from several inconsistencies, the drama is very consistent
and it is too consistent that it eventually becomes too narrow and a narrow
story for 36 episodes of drama is not a good omen. The Legend of White Snake focuses on certain points of its story
too much as clearly portrayed in these plot-points:
A. RUYI
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| (Ruyi|||Copyright iQiYi 2019) |
This character is the very reason I avoid soap operas
or drama or whatever. She is annoying and at times unnecessary. She also brings
illogical points in the drama. While the overall story is logical according to
its genre, the actions and reactions of its characters are sometimes illogical
and mostly have something to do with this character Ruyi. The drama opens with
the attack of the Centipede Demon and it can be defeated after several episodes
before they bring in the new demon. By this early setup, I thought the drama
would involve various demons trying to harm people, but turns out, the entire
drama is dedicated for the Heart Demon and as I predicted, it feels dragged. I
do not think that this demon is particularly strong and does not have to be
that strong. Bring in dragons, King Kong, Giant Bull, more frightening demons
like those in The Monkey King. Make a
more frightening and dangerous villain, please! Based on the origin of the
Heart Demon and how it looks, it is difficult to assume that the demon is an
all-powerful demon. I mean, when you look at Thanos, you feel intimidated and
know it instantly that he is the ultimate villain. But the Heart demon? Give me
a break.
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| (a scene from Siluman Ular Putih, 1999|||Copyright EMPEROR|||Picture processed by Nabil Bakri) |
Ruyi also ruins a possible connection between Hanwen
and the corrupt government that could possibly added more intrigues and
complications to the story. I initially thought that Ruyi would be just gone soon
after the marriage between Bai Suzhen and Hanwen so that they could add new
villains or better, focus on the political drama between Hanwen and the
government while maintaining the mythical aspects of the story like having the
corrupt government summoning demons instead of Ruyi. Hanwen is also the heart-robb-star among many other females
in Lin’an and having Ruyi as the obsessed lover is annoying because they keep
talking about how Hanwen and Ruyi are like brother and sister. This Ruyi also
manipulates Hanwen’s sister in the most illogical way that makes his sister
looks so stupid beyond compare. I just dislike such stupidity and unnecessarily
prolonged plot point involving unnecessarily evil character, and I constantly
reminded myself that this is exactly why I avoid soap operas in the first place—because
they can be so stupid at a point that it is just too stupid beyond compare.
B. Heart Demon
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| (a scene from Siluma Ular Putih, 1999|||Copyright EMPEROR|||Picture processed by Nabil Bakri) |
The drama refuses to bring new demons. It is rather
boring to see the exact same villain for more than 10 episodes. Thanos is the
ultimate villain in Marvels’ Avengers
phase 2012-2019. However, we do not see him all the time and all movies were
created or built up to bring the ultimate battle with Thanos. Imagine if we got
to see Thanos all the time, that would reduce the sense of mystery and darkness
that lurks beneath the galaxies. The Heart Demon started as a mere demon or
even not a demon at all because it appeared in monk Shang Fahai’s heart and
therefore I assumed that it is his conscience battling with his evil side. Even
Fahai’s Master does not seem to care that much about the Demon but suddenly it
becomes the most powerful Demon that even Gods are afraid of. Well, Gods appear
when there’s a flood in Lin’an and Guanyin punishes Bai Suzhen for causing the
flood that can kill hundreds of innocent people, why don’t they come to help
Bai Suzhen and Fahai to destroy the demon so they can bring balance back to the
world? Why would they punish Bai Suzhen if the Demon is originated from Shang
Fahai? The Heart Demon often claims that he is part of Shang Fahai and he is
Shang Fahai, why don’t they punish Shang Fahai? Doesn’t it all caused by Fahai?
If the Demon is not Fahai’s and can merger to any host with grudge, why does it
drain Ruyi’s flesh (she’s consumed by the venom from the Frog Demon, but the
Heart Demon would eventually drain her dead once he achieves his ultimate goal)
but not Fahai’s? Why? Why? Why? I kept asking “where’s Guanyin in this
situation? She helps Bai Suzhen in an urgent situation, but this Demon is more
urgent and you fails to show up!?” My logic was crashing all over the place.
Again, this is why I avoid soap operas.
C Wao Daoling
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| (a scene from Siluman Ular, 1999|||Copyright EMPEROR|||Picture processed by Nabil Bakri) |
Ah, the Frog Demon. He comes after the Centipede and
Fox Demons. Unlike those previous Demons, he isn’t necessarily evil and/or
powerful. My logic refuses to believe that he is able to bring chaos far
greater than the Centipede and Fox Demons. He is just less-powerful compared to
them. For instance, he is unable to see the fact that Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqin
are actually Snake Demons at first sight while more powerful Demons should be
able to see pass through the disguise or transformation. It is also
specifically said that the higher the level of a demon, the more a good-looking
human he/she can be. Bai Suzhen is very beautiful because she has been
cultivating for over a thousand year while Wao Daoling can’t even transform
himself to copy Hanwen’s body and can only do that in dreams that he plants to
Ruyi’s mind to lure her in his arm. My logic was falling apart, refused to
believe that this minuscule Demon is the cause of the ultimate fight between
major characters in the drama.
CAST AND ACTING
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| (Copyright iQiYi, 2019) |
I have no complain with Ju Jing Yi as Bai Suzhen and
Alan Yu Menglong as Hanwen/Xu Xian. However, Ju Jing Yi in white looks so
angelic and innocent that she might be a good Goddess character. I do think
that White Snake should look a little wiser and mature. This also applies on
Alan Yu as Hanwen, perhaps a little more rugged character. But in the end, they
make a good match and look beautiful on screen together. Altering the look of
Hanwen would alter the end fight because Alan Yu portrays the patient and
caring Hanwen quite perfectly though annoying at times. For Ju Jing Yi,
sometimes it is difficult to decide whether or not she is the best choice for
Bai Suzhen because she has to look innocent in many episodes but badass in
other. The truth is I have a lot of complaints about casting choice because
after spending my 24 years of existence watching and collecting films and
series, I think they should consider finding different actors. I am not saying
this because they are bad at acting, but it is better to give the role for
actors who are more suitable, physically, for the part. A decent actor will be
able to act at his maximum level given the right role, but a decent actor can
look horrible in a wrong role. No one thought Emma Watson was a terrible
actress in Harry Potter, but when she
portrays Belle in Beauty and the Beast
musical film, people started to criticize the decision, “Why don’t they cast
someone who can sing instead of using auto tune, because this is a frickin’ musical to begin with!” Here
are the list of my complaints:
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| (Fahai-Hanwen-Suzhen-Xiaoqin|||iQiYi 2019) |
-Fei Zitian as Fahay: I don’t believe he’s a monk.
-Yu Lang as Jin Ruyi: there were moments I thought
maybe the only reason she’s here is because she has a connection with the
producer or writer or director or someone with power to keep her in the show.
Her role is serious and huge, so it needs a more serious actress.
-Li Lin as Li Gongfu: I do not know why they make this
head of police officer a comic relief. Even in the 1999 animation he is painted
as this muscular and serious guy who thinks nothing other than law: he turns
his own brother-in-law to the court for stealing the money from the palace! His
wife seems to have better senses than him in sensing danger or disturbance in
the force—even though she can be very annoying and stupid.
-Wang Weiyuan as Wao Daoling: like c’mon, this is the
mastermind of all these chaos on earth? Okay so he’s cursed to look ugly,
perhaps, but that doesn’t mean he should act like a joker. I mean Darth Sidious
is ugly, but he is serious and we can sense his power just from the way he
talks. Darth Vade? Darth Maul? Heck even Yoda is not good-looking, but his
gesture tells it all about his power and ability.
Once again, I think they are great actors, they just
offered the wrong parts. But then again, the actors do not distract me the most
from enjoying the show. It was the stupid plot lines and inconsistencies I previously
mentioned.
MUSIC AND CGI
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| (Copyright iQiYi, 2019) |
Though the music does not annoy me, I think they
should find better soundtracks. This is not my area of expertise, but I think
there is this human ability in noticing what’s fit and what’s not. For example,
the fast music from Mission Impossible
does not fit any scene in Titanic.
Drums and bass competing in loudness war are not suitable for a romantic scene
and A Whole New World is not suitable
for Freddy vs. Jason when they fight in
the ultimate final. I think it has something to do with the fact that sound
affects humans, like soothing music has certain effects while a rap song has
different effects. I need something like For
You from Meteor Garden 2018,
something that automatically remind me of the drama. The soundtrack should be
the small pill consists of the summary of the entire show. A Whole New World reminds me of Aladdin,
Let it Go reminds me of Frozen, and so on. But at least, I have
no complain about the music. It just doesn’t that iconic but I guess that’s
okay.
The CGI is not as good as I thought. You see, back in
the 90’s they would find a real forest instead of a CG one like Lord of the Rings versus Jumanji 2016. There are just so many
things that can be done with practical effects that they use CG instead. This
is becoming a thing today, with studios use more and more CG and less and less
real properties. I think CG should be implemented to help the filmmaker achieve
something that is impossible to achieve in real life, but if it is doable, just
use real properties. They built the T-Rex in Jurassic Park, the actual ship in Titanic, they went to the jungle of Africa in filming Congo, and they went to Sri Lanka to
film Indiana Jones, and so on. Why
can’t we do that again?
CODA
In the end, I cannot say more about this drama other
than it’s worth a try if you are a drama fan or just curious about the story of
the famous White Snake. I am not an expert in soap operas or dramas or TV shows
so I mostly use feature length movies as examples or comparisons. I saw Legend
of Condor Heroes in early 2000’s, it was on TV so I probably will watch the new
one. Sadly, I only saw few episodes and forgot them all already. So if I watch
the new one, I would have no context whatsoever and no introduction to make. I
don’t know, we’ll see. I guess.
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