michelle liu

I have to say something: I love this film. Although I expect nothing from this film considering potential confusion with the other film (same name in 2020), I was attracted by the characters and the story instantaneously. This film is packed with events and stories - fast paced is something I appreciate. I was deeply touched by the bridging cutting scene when all demons/spirits and Boya were united to protect. We see how the story persuade Boya to believe that there are kind spirits out there and they are loyal to their masters. The master, Qinming, also protect others. This is a beautifully crafted story about love, loyalty and sacrifices. This film is packed of great actors who execute well. I don’t want to mention animation or visual effects because it is given nowadays big budgeted films (especially Chinese films) should have that. This one is not an exception. I love this film so much better than the other one. This film is worthy of your time.

Compared to the other film with the same name, this one is not good (not even comparable). There are only four or five main characters in this film, but after watching the whole film, you don’t see character development, you don’t see how they resolve personal conflict, and you don’t want to care what happen to them. You only see how the director tries to feed the plots to audience directly with so much explanation. The film wastes so much time in scenes that don’t contribute to the storyline nor character development. The cinematography, acting and light are wonderful, but none of this can save director’s incompetence in telling a cohesive story. Netflix has another film named “Ying Yang Master” (2021), with the same image quality and acting but have the one thing that this film does not have - a story that you will believe and all bunches of characters you can related to. You feel their emotions, love what they love and hate what they hate. Not this one! Sorry Director Guo, after a decade long of trying, you still cannot tell a good story,