1
JeA
Mars
A colourful depiction of a dark tale
As a passionate fan of fantasy genre and an old admirer of Chen Kun and Zho Xun, I'd waited patiently for this film to be on Netflix and I wasn't disappointed.....
Story: Fantasy worlds and Chinese xianxia with demons (monsters) and human stories has always been attractive to me and I must admit, at least in films, I've been rarely let down. I haven't played the game but "TYYM" has an interesting and involving plot. Story is said nicely and the pace is right so you'd barely feel it's 2 hours long.
Not having any prior knowledge of the story, at the end I was able to grasp characters' thoughts, motives. backgrounds and growth. Characters were introduced well and their first impressions kind of showed their personalities. World building and plot structure is fantastic and believable. Even though, I would've liked it to explore characters more deeply. Also, the film spent too much of the screen time to reach the bridge scene thus the last plot twist after that was a bit bland.
Cast: Chen Kun is excellent as cunning, mysterious yet internally struggling Qingming, he has a boyish aura around him that make him look the perfect young and rather vulnerable half human/half demon. Zhuo Xun is great as calm and powerful Baini as well. Their on screen chemistry and harmony shine as always and over shadow the supporting, younger characters.
CGI: TYYM has excellent and very real CGIs. I've watched too many CGIed films so I have many material to compare and I say it's good! Most of the side characters and nearly all background ones are monsters, despite this animations aren't glaring or cartoonish ( like Chen Kun's other fantasy "Zhong Kui and Snow girl ..."). Animals and demons' features are detailed and fight scenes are choreographed tastefully and artistically. My own favourite was Red Evil Ghost, lol.
All in all I really enjoyed this film and I would like to think the post credit animation means a sequel is in mind, since the world-building was so excellent and characters had potential for more adventures. Maybe in the meantime I would take a chance with the game!
Story: Fantasy worlds and Chinese xianxia with demons (monsters) and human stories has always been attractive to me and I must admit, at least in films, I've been rarely let down. I haven't played the game but "TYYM" has an interesting and involving plot. Story is said nicely and the pace is right so you'd barely feel it's 2 hours long.
Not having any prior knowledge of the story, at the end I was able to grasp characters' thoughts, motives. backgrounds and growth. Characters were introduced well and their first impressions kind of showed their personalities. World building and plot structure is fantastic and believable. Even though, I would've liked it to explore characters more deeply. Also, the film spent too much of the screen time to reach the bridge scene thus the last plot twist after that was a bit bland.
Cast: Chen Kun is excellent as cunning, mysterious yet internally struggling Qingming, he has a boyish aura around him that make him look the perfect young and rather vulnerable half human/half demon. Zhuo Xun is great as calm and powerful Baini as well. Their on screen chemistry and harmony shine as always and over shadow the supporting, younger characters.
CGI: TYYM has excellent and very real CGIs. I've watched too many CGIed films so I have many material to compare and I say it's good! Most of the side characters and nearly all background ones are monsters, despite this animations aren't glaring or cartoonish ( like Chen Kun's other fantasy "Zhong Kui and Snow girl ..."). Animals and demons' features are detailed and fight scenes are choreographed tastefully and artistically. My own favourite was Red Evil Ghost, lol.
All in all I really enjoyed this film and I would like to think the post credit animation means a sequel is in mind, since the world-building was so excellent and characters had potential for more adventures. Maybe in the meantime I would take a chance with the game!
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