I'm surprised at overwhelmingly positive reviews for this film on here, because I feel like I watched a different film. Okay, I didn't like the original DETECTIVE DEE to begin with, so perhaps expecting to enjoy this one was doomed from the outset, but I had no idea I'd be sitting through one of the dumbest, most CGI-laden fantasy adventures since EMPEROR AND THE WHITE SNAKE.
If this is the way Chinese fantasy cinema is going, then I despair. YOUNG DETECTIVE DEE: RISE OF THE SEA DRAGON is a hopeless mess of a film, a sprawling action-adventure chock full of some of the worst CGI you'll ever see. As this is a 3D film, the viewer is constantly assailed by extremely poor looking CGI weapons flying out of the screen, but that's not enough. There's CGI jumping, CGI horses, CGI buildings, CGI backdrops, CGI everything really. Only the sea monster itself is a halfway decent bit of CGI. Everything else looks horrible, fake, like in a poor PC game.
The plot is nonsensical and long-winded and even when the villain is apprehended it somehow goes on for another hour or so. The actor playing the youthful Dee is wooden and uninteresting and with no big names in the cast list you're struggling for something to enjoy. The comic relief guy with the ape's arm is okay, I suppose. Tsui Hark seems to have plowed THE AVENGERS for inspiration, what with the incessant CGI action and the big angry green bloke, but his film is a total failure by comparison. YOUNG DETECTIVE DEE is a dog of a film, one that's packed to the brim with action but constantly bores you nonetheless.
If this is the way Chinese fantasy cinema is going, then I despair. YOUNG DETECTIVE DEE: RISE OF THE SEA DRAGON is a hopeless mess of a film, a sprawling action-adventure chock full of some of the worst CGI you'll ever see. As this is a 3D film, the viewer is constantly assailed by extremely poor looking CGI weapons flying out of the screen, but that's not enough. There's CGI jumping, CGI horses, CGI buildings, CGI backdrops, CGI everything really. Only the sea monster itself is a halfway decent bit of CGI. Everything else looks horrible, fake, like in a poor PC game.
The plot is nonsensical and long-winded and even when the villain is apprehended it somehow goes on for another hour or so. The actor playing the youthful Dee is wooden and uninteresting and with no big names in the cast list you're struggling for something to enjoy. The comic relief guy with the ape's arm is okay, I suppose. Tsui Hark seems to have plowed THE AVENGERS for inspiration, what with the incessant CGI action and the big angry green bloke, but his film is a total failure by comparison. YOUNG DETECTIVE DEE is a dog of a film, one that's packed to the brim with action but constantly bores you nonetheless.