Meeting your match
Wonderland of Love (WoL) is a surprising enjoyable ride, following the love story of Li Ni and Cui Lin.For the review, I will mainly use Cui Lin’s nickname, Ah Ying, when referring to her since this is what Li Ni likes to call her by.
Li Ni’s and Ah Ying’s meet cute began with a fight for food supply and reclaiming of the cities to save the “king” that was being held hostage at capital.
What was intriguing from the get go was the battle of wits between the two of them, who held different armies. Smart and capable as they were, we couldn’t tell who had the upper hand nor who to root for as they competed for the same resources and gain the upper hand.
Li Ni and Ah Ying quickly turned allies when they unwittingly figured they worked more effectively together. The interactions remained fun to follow as they maintained the playful friendly flirtatious rivalry between them. … until the dynamics started to change by episode 16-ish when it seemed like Li Ni became the stronger one, be it from moral code, family power, or affection shown to other.
For the record, I still like Ah Ying a lot. She is one of the cunning, decisive, and likeable female leads that’s hard to come by in an idol drama. The slightly disappointed part to me was the troupe-y plot devices used to create the necessary tension between female and male leads to move the story along.
There were instances I felt that she overused Li Ni’s affection for her and / or she got turned into a weaker party. Was her hidden weapons only used for Li Ni? Where’s the independent cunning female lead we were introduced to at the start? It wasn’t that Ah Ying had the obligations to return Li Ni’s affection the exact same way he was doting her biasedly (on some level) or troupes like obsessive SML cannot be used in stories. It would’ve been nice to see a little more layers in Ah Ying and her development that’s present on Li Ni’s side through their love journey …or maybe I fast forwarded too much to see that side of Ah Ying.
On the other hand though, I recognised that a lot of conflicts they had were realistic and consistent with their characters setup. Li Ni may be loyal, upright and capable - but he is also impulsive and idealistic. Cui Lin is indeed cunning, pragmatic and overbearing - but she is also caring to her loved ones, willing to make the necessary sacrifices for the bigger goal and is resourceful. I guess this made them perfect for each other.
The real pity is the one dimensional supporting characters and slightly draggy plots. With weaker supporting cast, WoL’s story plot were less engaging and felt cliche-ish at some parts. They could’ve totally cut the story to 24 - 26 episodes and it likely would’ve made no difference to the enjoyment of Li Ni’s and Ah Ying’s love story.
Acting wise, I like both Xu Kai’s and Jing Tian’s portrayal of the characters and their chemistry. Believable enough for me to invest in Shi Qi Lang’s and Ah Ying’s romance in WoL. Lovely enough for me to swoon for those romantic moments and ignore the cliche-ness way of showing them on screen.
All in all, WoL is the typical idol drama that has a strong start, which somewhat feel draggy troupey halfpoint, and finishes off with an okay-ish, predictable climax. It’s still an enjoyable drama when one has the right expectations for it.
With both capable leads who are complement to each other in terms of wits and great chemistry, WoL is overall a fun and enjoyable flirtatious idol romance story.
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Too redundant, tired of ML chasing FL
ML constantly chasing FL, didn’t think see was that exceptional nor pretty, too argumentative, and scheming. Jing Tian is showing her age to me should play with ML who are closer to her age like her ML Jeremy Tsui in Legend of Zhuohua. The series and their age was not exceptional either. I seen both perform much better in several seriesWas this review helpful to you?
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Très belle série, bien construite
Cette série est belle, on sent qu'il y a du budget. Les costumes, les lieux de tournage, le nombre de figurants, tout concourt à faire du spectacle.Et les acteurs sont absolument super ! Xu Kai est dans son meilleur rôle, il est vraiment brillant !
Un acteur qui est époustouflant c'est Gao Han dont l'évolution du personnage est vraiment très bien construite et très bien jouée.
Les rôles support sont vraiment à la hauteur, que ce soit l'équipe des bandits, le 2e couple, la consort etc
Et enfin, un magnifique 40e épisode complet pour savourer un brillant happy ending !
La seule chose que je n'ai pas aimé c'est le personnage principal féminin qui est parfois pénible.
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Salah satu drama terbagus di 2023
Gue ga tau harus mulai dari mana. Ini pertama kalinya gue nulis beginian.Padahal ga terlalu suka nulis juga, tapi karena drama ini bagus banget, gue termotivasi untuk meracuni user2 lain khususnya yg dari INA untuk cobain nonton drama ini.
Dramanya ringan untuk kategori perang dan konflik kerajaan. Tidak terlalu banyak presure, jadi pas nonton dramanya bawaannya senang aja gitu.
Jalan ceritanya menarik banget, ga kepikiran untuk skip satu adegan pun.
Mengenai akting, gue suka banget sama akting semua pemeran yang ada di drama ini. Bener2 top! Parah! Aktingnya xukai superb banget disini. Keren ya, dia itu bisa "berbicara" dengan matanya
Gue suka sama interaksi Xukai dan Jingtian di drama ini. Semuanya nampak natural dan ngalir gitu aja. Ga ada adegan yg dipaksakan, bener2 se smooth itu. Bener2 ga nyangka kalo mereka punya gap umur yang lumayan jauh, artinya chemistry mereka di drama ini tu bener2 top notch!! Exceptional ceunah. Hehe
Gue juga paling suka adegan2 yg di take di dalam hujan, sumpah keren banget!! Slow motionnya, musicnya klop!
Semua aspek dlm drama ini tuh overall bagus. Dramanya recommended!!
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No Wonderland of love but Love story
Inizialmente questo drama ha fatto fatica a convincermi, ma dalla ventesima puntata circa, in poi, mi ha definitivamente attaccata al monitor del computer!Che storia! Una bellissima storia d'amore che nulla ha a che vedere con il titolo del drama.
Molto ma molto ben recitato da tutti gli attori.
I due attori protagonisti sono stati veramente molto bravi, convincenti tanto da chiedersi se fra i due non ci fosse qualcosa!
La storia è carina, niente di che, ma si distingue per il rapporto d'amore che nasce quasi subito fra i due protagonisti e continua imperterrito fino alla fine, diventando sempre più forte superando moltissimi ostacoli.
Il bellissimo Xu Kay è stato sorprendente, ha espresso alla grande ogni emozione che richiedeva il momento. Quasi pareva che non recitasse, ma che vivesse interiormente le scene.
Jing Tian inizialmente l'ho trovata fredda, forse un pò antipatica, probabilmente a causa del ruolo che doveva recitare nelle prime puntate, quello della donna scaltra e furba e bugiarda. Ma poi l'ho apprezzata veramente molto, anche lei ha ben espresso ogni sentimento ed emozione che richiedevano i vari momenti drammatici ma anche spensierati del drama.
I due attori che hanno impersonato i due fratellastri di Li Ni sono riusciti a farsi odiare quanto basta, bravissimi anche loro. l'imperatore invece è il più scemo fra tutti i drama che ho visto fino ad oggi! Tanto da rasentare l'idiozia, ma anche simpatico :-)
L'unico personaggio un pò "opaco" è stato Erduo o Chang'er... un sempliciotto che rasenta la stupidità.
Simpaticissimi i compagni di battaglia di Li Ni, uccisi in un agguato, accompagnato dalla malinconica ballata del fiume Laolan, composta e cantata da Xueran Chen, il quale canta anche Will you still remember.. queste due canzoni sono due perle che danno pregio ad una ost che non si distingue in particolar modo.
Le locations interne sono stupende, con tendaggi e colori raffinatissimi.
I costumi sono altrettanto di pregio, Veramente molto belli.
Questo è un drama con un super lieto fine, il quale dura addirittura per tutta una puntata. E' cosi che si fa! non come quei drama dove il finale, sebbene sia positivo, dura qualche secondo e stop! (vedi La storia d'amore fra una fata e un diavolo ad esempio)
Non è un drama perfetto, c'è qualche "buco" che si fa perdonare perché alla fine ne è valsa la pena guardarlo.
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TUDO PELO MEU CASAL
Um dorama com um casalzão maduro mesmo com suas infantilidades, me divertia muito vendo o romance deles, as provocações, os flertes, o fato deles se entenderem tão bem, não precisavam de palavras, eles sempre competindo pra ver quem é o mais esperto, e vamos concordar que os dois são gênios! Achei muito legal todo o enredo e como conciliaram a trama militar com o romance. Teve gente que não gostou do modo que a A Ying agiu algumas vezes, mas é completamente compreensível, além também que o Lini sabe o gênio forte que ela tem haha. O casal secundário é fofo demais! Os personagens que morreram lutando ao lado do Lini, foi muito triste de assistir, chorei muito. O que achei que não combinou foi o titulo do drama kkkWas this review helpful to you?
