The Curse of Turandot (2021)

Dylan Sprouse was what made me want to watch, the movie itself kept me watching . . .

I had been eagerly waiting to watch this movie ever since I had heard of and saw the the trailer not once but three times even.
I found it so refreshing to have an American actor that I had grown up watching (Suite Life on Deck) included in this production and I must commend him on his efforts and how well he portrayed his character it made me happy to see him speak mandarin.
I did quite enjoy this movie and although having never heard of the supposed opera it is based off, I found myself very much fascinated and besotted with the storyline. It was intriguing the way the story played out and I was stunned by the mesmerising visual effects which I was very impressed with especially the way the bracelets fused with her skin and how vibrant the fireworks were. It was also quite nice that it was more of a reversed damsel in distress as well, the amount of times she ended up saving him :D
I enjoyed the couple pairing and would have liked to have seen a bit more of them together after they had come to realise the truth and that were in fact on each others side all along having been innocent children at the time of the disaster cause.
Although the ending was somewhat obvious and to be expected it was still slightly unfortunate but it didn't leave me too disheartened as he continued onwards to achieve his dream.
To be honest I must have been too much into the movie as I didn't pay all that much attention to the music, oops, but I certainly enjoyed those that were cast for their roles very much and wouldn't mind at all watching it again if I got bored one evening.

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Very underwhelming and boring viewing experience.

Lazy writing, meh CGI, plot and tropes you've seen hundred times over, flat characters.... I could've forgiven them all and given this movie a neutral rating if not for one thing that drew me mad.
Exoticism.
Now, if you have seen lots of Chinese costume dramas and movies you'll know 99% time the styling is not even 70% accurate to actual history which is fine, as long as you use your artistic license in a sensible and consistent manner and doesn't pretend to be what you are not.
But here, all the side characters were dressed in a way that resembles the Mongol Khan era fashion but only the female lead was dressed in a dresses that resembled Western model of "princess style" that had little to no similarity with Chinese styling. To appeal to whose palette?
To me it seemed like movie makers thought if they dressed the princess in a way that is more authentic the viewers wouldn't find it compatible with their idea of "pretty", especially viewers who are unfamiliar with C-content/only came to watch because of Dylan Sprouse.

So yeah, I was thoroughly unimpressed. Do not recommend.

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