Chinese cinema, like any modern industry in the Middle Kingdom, adapts very flexibly to the surrounding reality. And if five years ago “Mermaid” Stephen Chow resembled classic Soviet cinema, then Shi shen ling or “Witch“In our localization gravitates towards the classic Hollywood of the late 80s, evoking fond memories of the first parts”Star Wars”.
In the center of the story, which is a free adaptation of a mobile game Onmyoji from company NetEase Games, the magical Bureau of Ying-Yang, which for centuries has kept the Scale Stone – the concentration of the power and soul of the legendary king of monsters. One of the defenders of the shrine, the half-monster Qingming, was forced to flee several years ago due to false accusations of killing a friend and trying to steal an artifact. Currently, he, along with the tamed monsters, trades in petty theft on the road. And now unknown people steal a magic stone, which is swallowed by a ferret – one of Qingming’s familiars. On the trail of the half-monster are the mysterious forces of evil, representatives of the Bureau and the capital official Yuan Boy, who dreams of returning an important cargo.
The gripping story smoothly transports the viewer from the world of medieval China to the world of monsters, which are more reminiscent of representatives of alien civilizations from the universe “Star Wars”. Clandestine arena battles, powerful characters and cute demons return to more modern magic. “Disney“, where all the scenes and characters are calculated to hundreds of tenths of a percent by the experimental audience. But the Chinese do better than the House of Mouse” – their characters have some kind of innocent sincerity. In addition, the film is literally saturated with juicy and incredibly beautiful shots that can be used as wallpaper on your phone or desktop.
The rest of the “Sorcerer” makes good use of computer graphics, cute monsters and cute beauties to demonstrate a nostalgic and very exciting adventure wrapped in Chinese mythology. This, in any case, is much better than what the last couple of years have shown us. Jay Jay Abrams…
Author: Alexander Loginov (xtr)
8/10
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