Life is Beautiful
My views on 'Till the end of the moon'
Starting from the obvious, I liked 'Till the end of the moon'. The reason I started watching it because I had the proper 'second lead syndrome' while watching Ashes of love, and then after watching Love is sweet I was rather eagerly waiting for Till the end of the moon.
Fair warning this review will not have spoilers but it will still address some of the problematic elements of the show.
The Good:
I have read the novel from which the drama is based on (albeit the translated version), I can assure you that the drama did a much better job with the same plot when compared to the novel. Every character had a point and wasn't 'lost' and used adequately. The story in itself is well worth it to be told in the form of a drama with this amount of budget.
The VFX, costumes and the general scale of the drama looked grand and the story deserved to be told in this grand of a scale.
The original show was supposed to be 56 or more episode but had to be edited hence the pace of the show was affected, the reason I am adding it as a good point of the drama is because unlike other previous 'good ' Xianxia dramas that I had watched there were NOT a lot of filler scenes. The plot was fast paced. Something important was happening every episode
Most importantly the acting in this drama particularly by the Luo Yunxi in his portrayal of the various phases and stages of Tantai Jin, Ancient Demon Lord, Cang Jiumin and Ming Ye have been truly a master class in acting. The fact that he dubbed his own voice for the drama was extremely helpful. The chemistry between Bai Lu and Luo Yunxi genuinely pulls the drama together.
The Bad:
In the good aspect of the drama I had mentioned that because the 56 or so episode drama had to be edited which made the pace of the drama more fast moving, most people who have watched the drama knowing this fact have been rather generous as audiences because of the cuts the makers have had to do because of the newer censorship laws in China. However, that does not mean that there were no issues with certain areas in the plot of the drama. Namely episode 33 was completely butchered. If I hadn't read some of the script online I still wouldn't have been able to grasp what had happened during that episode. Mind you that plot point is important to the drama.
The biggest victim if I could put it that way of the editing of the drama were the 2nd ML and 2nd FL. A large part of the audience were not able to connect with the 2nd ML and 2nd FL's story and tragedy DESPITE the fact that they were integral to the plot. The acting by the both the 2nd ML and 2nd FL was in my opinion very very good, however, the motives of their character particularly at the ultimate stage of the drama stopped making much sense, because of the edits.
Although the VFX, costumes and the scale of the drama were grand, the lighting, make up and dubbing of the drama were on certain occasions extremely jarring. The make up in certain episodes seemed inappropriate and visibly cakey on certain occasions.
The could be better:
The first episode of the drama is probably the weakest aspect of the show. A lot of things about that episode can put the viewers off.
The OST of the drama is actually very very good, but it was not used well in certain scenes. Same is applicable with the fight scenes, some of them were truly outstanding but others seemed extremely out of place and fake. Considering this is Xianxia genre show, there was certainly scope for improvement especially in the sequences were the 1st ML and 2nd ML were not present the fight sequence seemed lacking.
The 3rd ML and 3rd FL were very cute, however, in the acting department both of them seemed a little bit of a novice. I felt as thou they were a bit stiff and the chemistry was bit lacking.
Bai Lu has DONE A WONDERFUL job as the main FL of the drama, however, something was wrong with her dubbed scenes in certain sequences. Considering the BTS of the show were and are constantly being posted by Youku everywhere her acting or dialogue delivery at those moment were absolutely fine, but something on a few occasions went a bit awry during the dubbing process.
In Conclusion
Overall I genuinely enjoyed the drama and most of the credit goes to the Main ML and Main FL . Although the cinematography wasn't crisp, but the makers pulled off well in scenes that truly mattered. People who enjoy angst filled romantic tragedies will 100% like the drama. Especially if you are a Luo Yunxi or Bai Lu fan this one is a treat.
Fair warning this review will not have spoilers but it will still address some of the problematic elements of the show.
The Good:
I have read the novel from which the drama is based on (albeit the translated version), I can assure you that the drama did a much better job with the same plot when compared to the novel. Every character had a point and wasn't 'lost' and used adequately. The story in itself is well worth it to be told in the form of a drama with this amount of budget.
The VFX, costumes and the general scale of the drama looked grand and the story deserved to be told in this grand of a scale.
The original show was supposed to be 56 or more episode but had to be edited hence the pace of the show was affected, the reason I am adding it as a good point of the drama is because unlike other previous 'good ' Xianxia dramas that I had watched there were NOT a lot of filler scenes. The plot was fast paced. Something important was happening every episode
Most importantly the acting in this drama particularly by the Luo Yunxi in his portrayal of the various phases and stages of Tantai Jin, Ancient Demon Lord, Cang Jiumin and Ming Ye have been truly a master class in acting. The fact that he dubbed his own voice for the drama was extremely helpful. The chemistry between Bai Lu and Luo Yunxi genuinely pulls the drama together.
The Bad:
In the good aspect of the drama I had mentioned that because the 56 or so episode drama had to be edited which made the pace of the drama more fast moving, most people who have watched the drama knowing this fact have been rather generous as audiences because of the cuts the makers have had to do because of the newer censorship laws in China. However, that does not mean that there were no issues with certain areas in the plot of the drama. Namely episode 33 was completely butchered. If I hadn't read some of the script online I still wouldn't have been able to grasp what had happened during that episode. Mind you that plot point is important to the drama.
The biggest victim if I could put it that way of the editing of the drama were the 2nd ML and 2nd FL. A large part of the audience were not able to connect with the 2nd ML and 2nd FL's story and tragedy DESPITE the fact that they were integral to the plot. The acting by the both the 2nd ML and 2nd FL was in my opinion very very good, however, the motives of their character particularly at the ultimate stage of the drama stopped making much sense, because of the edits.
Although the VFX, costumes and the scale of the drama were grand, the lighting, make up and dubbing of the drama were on certain occasions extremely jarring. The make up in certain episodes seemed inappropriate and visibly cakey on certain occasions.
The could be better:
The first episode of the drama is probably the weakest aspect of the show. A lot of things about that episode can put the viewers off.
The OST of the drama is actually very very good, but it was not used well in certain scenes. Same is applicable with the fight scenes, some of them were truly outstanding but others seemed extremely out of place and fake. Considering this is Xianxia genre show, there was certainly scope for improvement especially in the sequences were the 1st ML and 2nd ML were not present the fight sequence seemed lacking.
The 3rd ML and 3rd FL were very cute, however, in the acting department both of them seemed a little bit of a novice. I felt as thou they were a bit stiff and the chemistry was bit lacking.
Bai Lu has DONE A WONDERFUL job as the main FL of the drama, however, something was wrong with her dubbed scenes in certain sequences. Considering the BTS of the show were and are constantly being posted by Youku everywhere her acting or dialogue delivery at those moment were absolutely fine, but something on a few occasions went a bit awry during the dubbing process.
In Conclusion
Overall I genuinely enjoyed the drama and most of the credit goes to the Main ML and Main FL . Although the cinematography wasn't crisp, but the makers pulled off well in scenes that truly mattered. People who enjoy angst filled romantic tragedies will 100% like the drama. Especially if you are a Luo Yunxi or Bai Lu fan this one is a treat.
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