SYNOPSIS:
The Sword Worship Villa was destroyed after being accused of
conspiracy to overthrow the emperor. The sole survivor of the
villa, Ao Jue (Tong Zirong) was bestowed a sword which becomes
powerful with the Fire Kirin's blood. However the Fire Kirin
has been killed by Wind (Richie Ren) and Cloud (Nicholas Tse).
As the only two people in the world who have Kirin blood running
in their veins, Wind and Cloud gets embroiled and a deadly calamity
ensues...
MOVIE REVIEW:
As a adaption of Ma Rong Chen’s popular manhua (Chinese
Comics) series Fung Wan (Wind Cloud) or Storm Raiders as it’s
better known as, this animation make a weird series of error
in it’s adaption choices.
First
of all, this animation chose to start it’s tale right
at the end of the first story arc of the original comic series,
the climatic showdown between Nip Fung (Wind), Bou King Wan
(Cloud) and Hung Ba (the main villain for the first story
arc). For those who are unfamiliar with the comic series or
the very first movie ten odd years ago, it’s like throwing
them into the deep end of the pool during the first swimming
lesson.
Since
Reboot is trendy right now, it made one wonder why didn’t
the animated series choose to re-start with the arguably “best”
storyline of the whole Fung Wan series.
There
were numerous cameos (such as the Tin Ha assassins) and usage
of important characters such as Duen Long that were given
very little time and effort to explain their roles, their
respective Kungfu skills or even motivations. This influx
of unexplained characters from the Fung Wan world would leave
those uninitiated a bit frustrated and felt that this animation
is catered strictly for the fans with prior knowledge.
But
when the modification made in this animated tale of Fung Wan
came about, it would likely make the fans shake their head
in unison. A puzzling choice when it comes to adaption as
the Fung Wan series were popular for a very good reason and
instead of using what had already been proven to be good,
the filmmakers chose to dumb the story by a few notch with
it’s various changes and new inclusion to the Fung Wan
mythos.
The
change is suspiciously made to pander and cater to the children’s
demographic. The inclusion of a fumbling constable and “adorable”
orphans to the story felt like a cheap attempt to up the cutesy
level in this animation. It served very little to progress
the story and the time these characters took up could have
been put to a better use, such as exploring the darker nature
of Fung and Wan in more “insightful” details.
But
then again, as another misstep, when the animation do try
to explore the various dark issues about human rage with both
leading characters, that exploration would probably prevent
this animation from getting screen time in a children TV program.
In the end, this film demonstrates that it tries to appeal
to various groups but resulted in alienating everyone instead.
To
nitpick further, the casting choice of Nicholas Tse and Richie
Ren’s voice for their respective role as Wan and Fung
felt miscast and the quality of the animation here felt good
enough for a TV special or straight to dvd release but definitely
not for a theatrical run.
The
only thing that stood out as an impressive take on the whole
Fung Wan franchise would have to be “Nameless”
(one of the central characters in Fung Wan comic series) educating
the main villain of this movie and the portrayal of Nameless’s
peerless Kungfu skills felt essentially true to the comic
source. It’s a pity there are far too few of such moments
in animation.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
None
AUDIO/VISUAL:
As
mention above, the standard of the animation here are from
TV or straight to Dvd releases and it didn’t disappoint
with it’s Video and Audio playback in a TV / Dvd settings.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Richard Lim Jr
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