DragonBlade : The Legend of Lang (2005)

I saw this film this evening at the Freer Gallery in Washington, DC, as part of their 10th Annual Made in Hong Kong Festival. Yes, yes I understand it is the first ever computer generated kung-fu movie out of Hong Kong, but it was awful. I guess this is as much a rant about the film as it is about including it in the film festival. This is an example of a highly pandering (can you say that?) direct to video for pre-schoolers. The animation is completely awful. It looks like a late 80s video game...just purely awful. I will give it that some of the fighting is 'neat', but did that make me want to sit through 90 mins of horror for? NO. It references countless films. As a cinephile of course ya get me every time...but in recent days this has become far too much (a few other films in this 'genre' come to mind). It is just one and another reference, line, on and on...are you trying justify us parents (not that I am one) sitting through this garbage? This is a great example of a direct to video minor film. Then again do we need more examples of that?

I really wasn't hot on seeing this film. I'm not into cartoons, and even less into fighting movies. But my friends wanted to see it and so in I went. I have to say that going to watch the film with not expecting anything much might have helped, but I actually really liked it. I'm amazed that this was made in Hong Kong. The last thing I saw like this was Shrek which was very funny - but this is actually a lot more cooler. Even with me not being into fight stuff I was really tensed up for the fighting bits. I actually left nail marks on my bf's arm :p Also, what I really liked was that they didn't make the girl part (Ying Ying) in the film too girly. I mean, she was actually even cooler than the lead guy. I really had to laugh at the way she controlled Lang - go girl power go! I'm going to get the DVD and learn some of her moves ;)

Dragonblade (Chinese Version) is great success; the fighting scenes are filled with excitement, tension and romance. I was invited to the Dragonblade Charity Premiere (in Hong Kong) and I watched the movie before it was released in the cinemas. The sounding could have been so much better, however, we watched it in a lousy cinema, but if you watch this movie in a good cinema, the sounding would be so much better.The movie is filled with a great deal of Hong Kong humor and however the language is awfully vulgar (especially for kids, but they wouldn't understand those jokes). This movie is spectacularly hilarious, and I would like to watch the English version of Dragonblade. Apparently, the English version of Dragonblade is much better than the Chinese version, because the movie was originally English. This movie is going to be released internationally, and it is going to be a very successful animation movie. I am truly impressed by the standard of this movie; you would not expect such a good movie made entirely by Hong Kong animators. This film should be internationally recognized, because the standard of this film is definitely high compared to other Hong Kong movies. Although it may not be as good as 'The Incredibles' or 'Monsters Inc.', as in storyline, the fighting scenes are completely worth watching, and the jokes will definitely crack you up!!! The story is quite basic and straightforward, there are no complicated or confusing scenes, which is good in a way. I would recommend this movie to everybody, especially Hong Kong viewers, because they should be proud of the Hong Kong animators, this film is produced and made in Hong Kong. I would recommend this movie to animation lovers and mainly teenagers, because the language to quite vulgar for young kids.Dragonblade is a fantastic sensation! Congratulations to Wendy Choi!

At first I thought, "what did I get myself into?". Twenty minutes into the movie and I started looking at my watch and wishing that I wasn't here. I didn't come all the way to Hong Kong to watch a crap Kungfu movie! Then all of a sudden… Ka-POW! Talk about being worth the wait. DragonBlade is a roller coaster ride with a long way up in the beginning. And as we all know, the further up that roller coaster goes... the bigger and more exciting that ride ends up. I just can't imagine anyone getting the total impact of the fights without watching it on the big screen… the fights are so in your face that it absolutely pulls you in. So worth seeing.