Victor Alvarado

Surprisingly good for a western live action adaptation. Most of the casting choices are on point and the action sequences, while goofy-looking at times and not necessarily faithful to the source material (which is expected), are actually enjoyable and fun. The also did a good job with the editing, being able to cram the whole East Blue Saga into 8 episodes. Hope it gets renewed for another season. I can’t wait to see more of Iñaki Godoy as Luffy.

The movie started out good with the early fighting sequences standing out. I think casting was great and character development moves at a decent pace during the first half of the movie. However, the story moves quite slowly and it loses its momentum in the second half. The fantastic elements that begin to pop up feel a bit in your face and get more attention that they deserve. The final arc was kind of underwhelming and anticlimactic both in its action and in wrapping up the story. The excessive nods to Chinese culture elements become unnecessarily stereotypical and the final battle feels more like a mashup of “Mulan” and “How to train your dragon” than a MCU movie. In the end, the characters are salvageable, even though at times it felt as if the story was more about Tony Leung’s character than Shang-Chi himself, I just hope Marvel finds a better way to incorporate him and its lore into the MCU where it doesn’t feel forced, like they did with Captain Marvel.