Review of The White Dragon (2004) by Michael K — 03 Aug 2010

It was good I was expecting a wall to wall action movie and found a heartwarming romantic comedy with a few Wuxia-style action sequences thrown in. The acting was superb (IN CHINESE OF COURSE) and Cecilia Cheung and Francis Ng shine in the role of Phoenix Black/Little White Dragon and Chicken Feathers respectively with the humour and romance being very believable as Chueng's initial resistance to Ng's character proves, and how he slowly worms his way in to her heart with his honesty and affection for her.

A surprise to me I have to say I enjoyed it far more than I expected, and enjoyed how it had the comedic tone of 'Kung-Fu Hustle' at the start and then later more of a 'House of Flying Daggers' or 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' style of romantic tone, but the shift was done in a subtle way, unlike most western romantic-comedies which shift from the humourous part of the movie to the romantic part in as little a time as it takes to make a scene change.

Kudos to Wilson Yip, he has made a funny, touching, and most importantly entertaining film, I found it to be more entertaining than 'House of Flying Daggers' released the same year. It was lacking 'White Dragon's wit and charm and that pacing was so slow it was almost boring, whereas this movie moves fast and has lots of laugh on the ride.