Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre (Yi Tian Tu Long Ji) 2009

 Rating: ***

Genre: Wuxia, Romance, Drama
Episodes: 40
Cast: Deng Chao, Ady An, Liu Jing, He Zhuo Yan, Zhang Meng, Lu Chen, Wu Xiao Dong

"Based on the popular novel by Jin Yong Kam Yung, he also wrote Legend of the Condor Heroes and Return of the Condor Heroes, the Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre takes place during 14th century China during the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, roughly 100 years after the events of Return of the Condor Heroes. After decades of struggles, famine, and bitterness which the Chinese citizens blamed on the Yuan Dynasty's misgovernment, the Martial Arts sects have begun to rebel. Prince Ruyong asks Cheng Kun, a Shaolin monk with an ulterior motive, for a plan on how to deal with the rebels."


For this drama, I really want to give it a lower score but I am trying my best to be nice.  Now, I will admit that it was a show that got me addicted, but the production did not give the story justice.  It was quite obvious with the props that they were stretching the budget a bit.  I mean, did you see that stuffed polar bear they used?  There were so many problems with the special effects, props, and acting that I really don't know where to begin.  However, since A is the first letter of the alphabet, I guess I should start with the acting.

I may not know much about acting, but there are some universal expressions that can be distinguished no matter the culture.  Many of the actors didn't do well in expressing pain, and it really annoyed me.  It kind of made me want to repeatedly bang my head against my desk.  It wasn't so bad once the main character was old enough and the main story started, but by then I was about 10 episodes in.  In all honesty, I think that's why it was so bad.  If you're going to pick bad actors for the historic scenes, you should probably use "flashback" orders.  What I mean is that some writers choose to start the story off a quarter of the way through the story and do flashbacks of past events to let the viewers understand what previously happened in the main characters' life.  This works better than having to sit through 10 episodes (7.5 hours) of bad acting before the main story even begins.

The next main point I have is the special effects.

1. The snow land looked like desert sand.  It's as if they filmed at the beach and then digitally whitened the sand to make it look like snow.
2. Whenever they did an aerial view of the Fiery Ice island (or whatever they called it), I could see a sail boat in the shot.  (Maybe I'm seeing things?)
3. They use the same aerial shots over and over and over again.  Like the scene with the birds flying or the aerial view of the island.
4. The change in scenery was way too often on the snowy island.  It looks like various artists created different view points for the backgrounds but never compared notes so the color of the sky/ground and general area goes back and forth during the scenes.
5. They get out of the water and the next moment they are completely dry.
6. Episode 4 - 12:02 - In this frame, you can see that they forgot to use the special effects.  You can actually see the raw footage, including the green screen in the background.  I have to say, though, it's a nice green screen they have there.
7. Although I didn't notice it myself, I heard there was one instance where you could see the wire pretty clearly.  If anyone knows the timing for that, I'd really like to know as I'd like to see what I missed.
8. When they did an aerial view of an iceberg, the water didn't react with the ice at all.  A professional would use visual effects to make it look like the ocean was reacting to the iceberg.  Because of that, it looked extremely fake.  I won't even start on how it looked like styrofoam.
9. An iceberg usually has at least half of it's volume under water.  They obviously didn't know that, though, as some of the shots didn't reflect that fact.

I also have a few micellaneous comments I'd like to discuss.  For instance, why doesn't she call him a hubby-type name instead of "Ge"?  They are married, yet she calls him that.  It's just kind of odd to me, you know?  I'm sure that even in that dynasty they had words like "husband" or "dear" to describe their spouse.  "Ge" is fine for very good friends or lovers, but for your husband?  Secondly, do you want to know how Eskimos came about?  The married couple had a few more kids, but they abandoned them on the island.  (Ha ha ha, I'm just kidding.) Thirdly, and maybe I'm wrong here, the main character completely forgets about one of the girls for like ten episodes.  He goes to save her, but ends up getting distracted and never mentions her again until she finally shows up.  What's up with that?  Last, but not least, I never would have thought I'd read the word "Lion King" in this series.  I don't know why, but I found it comical.


Looking back, I really did enjoy the series.  The only problem is that they didn't produce it well enough to really make the story shine.  I can't really say if the reason the effects were so bad was because they didn't have enough money, or they just didn't hire the right people to do the work, but I guess it can't be helped.  If you have already read the novel before, I'd suggest that you just skip the first 10 episodes in order to save yourself the misery of having to notice all of the acting and production problems that it had.  The last 75% of the drama was very good, but they kind of botched the first quarter of it.  I probably won't watch it again mainly because I cannot stand watching all of the mistakes, but it's a decent show to watch if you are bored.

Rent a girlfriend back home for new year

Rating: ***

Genre: Romance, Comedy
Episodes: 25
Cast: Joe Easy, Yuan Zi Fei, Xue Jia Ning, Du Chun, Diana Peng

"Chu Xiao Xiao, is an independent, liberal thinking, wealthy, college student raised by a single mother. When her family goes bankrupt and her mother goes missing, Xiao Xiao is forced to find a job to pay off creditors. Sun Yi Wei is the serious and stubborn son of a prestigious ancestral family. He graduated from Qinghua University before studying abroad and returning to work at a prominent Beijing IT company. However, Yi Wei is now over 30 years old and his family is starting to pressure him to get married by sending him off to matchmaking sessions. When Xiao Xiao and Yi Wei first meet she beats him up over a misunderstanding. Needless to say, it was hate at first sight. To stop his family's meddling, Yi Wei tells them he already has a girlfriend. Thrilled, they demand he bring her home for Chinese New Year. So, Yi Wei needs to find a girlfriend, and fast. His best friend suggests he put out a personal ad online to rent a girlfriend. To his surprise, it is Xiao Xiao who responds to the ad. The pair make a contract and Xiao Xiao becomes Yi Wei's fake girlfriend for two weeks of New Year celebrations. But can the couple who can't stop bickering really convince his family they are in love? Or will playing house finally heal Yi Wei's broken heart? This adorable and touching romance is told with a unique blend of modern China and ancient tradition."


 For every drama I actually finish watching, I want to say that the drama was good.  However, this drama kind of left me hanging.  The reason I watch romantic comedies are not for the romance, but for the comedy.  I want to say that I loved it, but there were so many things that I just couldn't stand about it, so I'm going to have to give it three stars.

As for why I gave it three stars, I think I should start out by saying that the storyline wasn't all that original to begin with.  Normally I wouldn't be too picky about a cliche drama if the drama was well written and well produced, but I didn't like how the story was shown.  The first 7-10 episodes of this drama were very humorous and enjoyable.  However, when I got halfway through the drama, I got kind of bored. It was like this great beginning where everything was going great, and then halfway through the drama just flatlined. 

It's not that the story doesn't have merit, I think that the characters were very well rounded and the dialogue was good.  However, I didn't feel that the two main characters had much of a relationship at all.  There were like two loving glances, two hugs, and two kisses in the whole drama.  There was very little to show that the word "romance" is supposed to be one of the genres.  Instead of actual emotion being showed, they just had a lot of cliche scenes like sprained ankles, drunken girls, and white knight rescues.  I won't even begin to discuss the ending, as I would spoil it to no end for the viewers who wish to see how bad it really is.  Truthfully, I kind of want to put it as a two.  If it weren't for the first few episodes of me laughing my butt off, I probably would have given it that rating.


I also have to say that the way they showed this drama is really weird.  The beginnings and endings of each episode are very foreign to me.  I know you're probably saying to yourself "Well, actually TO, it is foreign to you.  It's a Chinese drama and you're American, what do you expect?", but that's not what I mean.  I've watched enough dramas to know that it is standard to end an episode in a cliffhanger or at the end of a scene in order to make the viewer want to watch the next episode.  However, this drama always stops the episode in places you would never expect.  It's almost as if they filmed the entire series, split it into twenty-four equal pieces, and then slapped the opening/ending titles onto it.

I think I might be a bit over critical when it comes to Chinese romantic comedies as there are very few I actually adore, but I cannot help it.  In this drama, I don't see anything worth re-watching.  Do your self a favor and stop watching this drama half way.  Don't blame me if you don't take my advice and end up falling asleep at your computer.

My Bratty Princess

Rating: ****

Genre: Romance, Comedy, Drama
Episodes: 33
Cast: Jang Na Ra, Alec Su, Bao Lei, Chen Xiu Li, Lu Xing

"Situ Jin, a mischievous free-thinking lady, and her companion, A Ling, go on a series of adventures. She does not know that she is a princess of the former royal family. To protect her family’s reputation outside the home, Situ Jin dresses as a man and calls herself Xiao Longxia. Concerned about the plight of the refugees which the officials have been ignoring, she comes up with various schemes to help them. Emperor Zhu Yun has been steadily working on consolidating the empire that his father had left him. A monk once gave him a puzzle, telling him that whoever solves it will help him with the problems of the empire. He escapes from his palace to wander around the city with his companion. He befriends Xiao Longxia after he realizes that the money she has conned and stolen from others is being spent on the refugees. When Xiao Longxia solves the puzzle, he decides to maintain closer ties with her. The prince of Yunnan resents the emperor since his sister, the previous queen, had been killed with her family. He sends his son, Bai Yu Fei, to cause unrest and to marry Princess An Ning. An unlikely friendship develops between the Emperor, Xiao Longxia and Bai Yu Fei, each pretending to the others to be someone else. Palace and court intrigues, rebellion and assasination plots abound. "


Oops, I guess I forgot to review this.  It's kind of odd, don't you think?  I don't know how this slipped through my net.  I hope I haven't left a few more undone.  For My Bratty Princess, I really don't remember it well enough to give a decent review.  Seeing as how it was four stars when I rated it, though, it must've been good enough to watch.

My Bratty Princess was one of the first mainland period dramas that I watched.  I remember enjoying the mischievous attitude of Situ Jin.  Considering it was thirty three episodes, I don't know how I would've gotten through it if it wasn't good.  After all, I didn't have the patience for any drama that was longer than 18 episodes back then.

Anyway, I'm sorry for the less than informative review.  Feel free to let me know if I missed any more reviews.  I may have to re-watch some of the dramas.