Critics,are you kidding us

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Young Detective Dee is the adventures of a youthful Sherlock in Medieval China with state of the art CGI and a sea monster.The film starts with warships sent by Empress Wu destroyed by an unseen monster. Young Dee arrives in the capital city intending to become a detective with the Da Lisi police force. He already has a rival in Yuchi.However there is another monster attacking the city linked with a courtesan. Dee links up with a medic to find answers and gets the attention of the Empress.The film is fragmented with many plot lines, its a while before we see Yee's ability in detective work. What we do get is a sprawling adventure with gargantuan set pieces mixed with impressive CGI and some sly humour.At times the action overpowers the film which could had done been with being more concise. In some sense Young Dee is overshadowed in his own movie.It is still an impressive introduction of recent Chinese action- adventure cinema.

Empress Wu (Carina Lau) will not allow the enemy forces invading Baekje Kingdom to win. She orders a garrison of warships to bring assistance to their allies, but the calm seas they are to sail upon are immediately fraught with peril, as an unseen monster completely decimates everything in its path. It is a colossal loss, and the beginning of the film that is Young Detective Dee.Dee (Mark Chao) arrives in Luoyang, under orders to become a detective with the Da Lisi, the Capital's police force. Working alongside him in his quest for answers is Yuchi (Shaofeng Feng), who has little faith in Dee's capabilities, and a doctor, Shatuo (Lin Gengxin) who Dee appoints to assist. But the mountainous paranoia and fear gripping the Capital escalates when it's revealed there isn't just one monster attacking the city, but two, one of which is directly linked to the beautiful courtesan Yin (Angelababy).What is most impressive about the film Young Detective Dee is its flawless ability to come together, after originally feeling so fragmented at the beginning, with a vast quantity of plots being moved about like pawns in a chess game. At the same time however, this is potentially its greatest flaw, the chronologically directed film being tied together in a nice little bow. In the end, there are no unanswered questions, and because of this, the film fails to stay with you after the credits have finished.Although the movie is titled 'Young Detective Dee', Mr. Chao's Dee, despite been very likable and intelligent, occasionally seems to be out-staged by Mr. Feng's interpretation of Yuchi, a feat accomplished by their similar screen presence. Though Yuchi is the direct opposite to Dee, the film seems to fail in its attempt to develop Dee as the lead character.The feature contains a number of the stereotypes often found in Chinese action films, including brilliant fight scenes, an intriguing conspiracy, and a gorgeous young woman, although Young Detective Dee also incorporates a wealth of beautiful visuals. The special effects are exceptionally outstanding, rivaling Hollywood's technical capabilities, and the acrobatic fight scenes, if not occasionally a little fake, are just as effective, but even more so with Kenji Kawai's impressive score. Moreover, the use of humor brings a lively sense of amusement, and nicely prohibits the film from becoming too serious. In a feature which contains fantastical elements, the logical explanation to this uniquely original case, which incorporates science and medicine, is a highly interesting concept, however, this originality does not stem throughout the entirety of the feature.Some of Dee's detective skills mimic those seen recently in the American adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, while a number of the weapons share a similarity with those wielded in the Guillotines. A number of the ocean scenes will in all likelihood remind viewers of Pirates of the Caribbean, while one particular action scene set on a cliff, appears to be ripped right out of GI Joe Retaliation. Each of these particular components are fabulously executed, although the 'been there, done that' feel leaves the viewer hungry for something more.Furthermore, a number of the action scenes seem to continue for longer than they should, and though each will surely entertain, this is accomplished by sacrificing the viewer's interest. One thing I fundamentally enjoy about Chinese cinema is I am almost always wowed by their action scenes, and though the scope and ambition of Young Detective Dee was massive, I was never hanging off the edge of my seat. On top of this, a number of the action scenes failed to employ any sense of realism, and even suspending one's own disbelief cannot justify how some of the characters are able to walk away unharmed from the massive fights they endured.Young Detective Dee is a solid action film that won't keep you guessing, but will certainly keep your attention with its outstanding visuals. Though American films often have an over reliance on special effects, Chinese features are seldom similar in this respect, and this particular film's attempts to potentially impersonate a Hollywood feature is a decision that should not be attempted again lightly.

Tsui Hark is back again with his latest fantasy-action-drama-adventure-thriller epic - Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon, which serves as a prequel to Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame released in 2010.The film tells how the young Dee rise to become a respectable detective for the Tang Dynasty, befriends the doctor Shaluo (similar to Sherlock Holmes and Watson) and his rival, Chief Commissioner/Detective Yuchi, unravels and solves an intriguing mystery case which involves a plot to assassinate the royal family and palace officials to overthrow the entire kingdom.In order to fully enjoy the film, it requires some suspension of disbelief from the audience for some of the fantasy or action elements shown in the film such as riding a horse underwater, 'Kraken' beast, parasites that can change a person's looks and behaviour entirely, flying around fighting in the air, etc.Although the wire-action choreography was great and well handled throughout the film, but the action scenes gets a little too much and it feels tedious to watch as the film moves on. It took away the focus of the mystery plot and a lot of potential character development required in the film. However, most of the lead and supporting actors did a fine job in portraying their character roles.The CGI has improved a lot and looked believable and realistic compared with past Chinese big budget films. Overall, it's still a watchable, entertaining Chinese big budget production comparable to Hollywood standards.

Legendary Hong Kong director Tsui Hark returns to the Tang Dynasty Sherlock Holmes character which, three years ago, gave his then-flailing film career a much needed shot in the arm. A prequel that sees Taiwanese actor Mark Chao stepping into the titular role once played so memorably by Andy Lau, 'Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon' also sees Tsui Hark building on his much-lauded maiden stereoscopic movie 'Flying Swords of Dragon Gate' by delivering a 3D spectacle that puts many of its Hollywood counterparts to shame. Yes, this is one of the rare films which boast of the 3D format that we will actually recommend paying to extra dollars just to see it with a pair of glasses on - and that is, we may add, from watching the 2D version no less.Following a rousing prologue that sees the mighty navy of the Tang Dynasty decimated at sea by a massive underwater creature, Chao's opening narration establishes the time and place of the events that follow. It is 665 AD, the joint reign of Emperor Gaozong (Sheng Chien) and the Empress Wu Zetian (Carina Lau) during a time when the country is at war with the Fuyu kingdom. Dee is set to take a job as a magistrate at the Dalisi based in the capital of Luoyang, an organisation whose mission is to keep the peace and investigate any disturbances.No thanks to the superstition of the common folk, the beautiful courtesan Yin Ruiji (Angelababy) is held as sacrifice to the sea monster at a temple. After he lip-reads a plot by some bad men to hold her ransom, Dee rushes to her rescue, only to be confronted by a human-like reptilian beast that slips away in the melee. Unfortunately for Dee, he isn't that lucky, his initiative to take action on his own earning the wrath of the head of the Dalisi, Yuchi Zhenjin (Feng Shaofeng), who throws him into prison.Dee's rivalry with Yuchi is one of the recurring themes of the story, which pits the two as intellectual equals racing to crack the case before Zetian has the latter's head for incompetence. It is in prison that Dee meets the Uighur prison doctor Shaluo Zhong (Lin Gengxin), who will become an effectual sidekick Dee relies on for advice - especially as it becomes clear that the explanations he seeks to the phenomena going on around them are medical in nature. Reunited with his 'Dee' scribe Zhang Jialu, Tsui Hark spins an intriguing mystery revolving around a nefarious conspiracy to overthrow the entire kingdom and its noblemen by an obscure fishing tribe known simply as the Dongdoers. Tsui's penchant for the fantastical remains intact here; and while the earlier 'Dee' had a talking deer, this one figures to throw in a white horse that can swim above and under water on its way to uncovering the origins of the 'Kraken'-like gargantuan monster as well as the half-human, half-reptile animal that seems obsessed with Ruiji. Granted that it does require some suspension of disbelief on the part of its viewer, but Tsui ultimately leaves no stone unturned in rationalising every single detail of his twisty plot.More so than in the first 'Dee' movie, this one finds Tsui on a much more assured directorial footing juggling a detective story with a good bit of palace intrigue and even tongue-in-cheek humour thrown in for good measure. One of the most amusing bits of the movie is the antidote Shaluo and his master (Chen Kun) comes up with to purge the palace officials of the parasitic infestation taking root in them, a truly delightful little detail that Tsui even uses to end the movie on a high note in a special scene in the middle of the closing credits. Tsui's storytelling is brisk and engaging from start to finish, connecting the dots ever so fluidly from clue to clue as he pieces together a mesmerising tapestry of schemes and secrets.Enabling his work at top form is an excellent technical team, most notably Kenneth Mak's exquisite production design, Lee Pik-kwan's opulent costumes and Bruce Yu's overall immaculate image design. It is as sumptuous a period epic as you have ever seen, and a most exciting one at that thanks to veteran action director Yuen Bun's cornucopia of gravity-defying wire-ful sequences. Bun and Lam Feng's choreography here most resembles that of Tsui's earlier 'wuxia' pictures, their integration with plenty of impressive CGI work clearly a product and testament of Tsui's vivid - and rather awe-inspiring - imagination that had also undoubtedly conceived the action in 3D right from the get-go. Amid the visual spectacle, it is to the actors' credit that their characters remain more than one-dimensional. Feng does solid work as the stern Yuchi whose initial strong distrust of Dee gives way to admiration and even respect. Carina Lau doesn't have much screen time as the Empress, but where she appears, is never less than captivating in her regalness. But perhaps the greatest surprise here is Chao, who tempers Andy Lau's showiness with quiet charisma and wry intelligence that gives the titular character a more down-to-earth but no less humbling stature.And once again therefore, Tsui Hark is back at the very top of his game with yet another outing of this Tang Dynasty sleuth. Coupling a finely spun mystery with splendid visuals and spellbinding martial arts action, Tsui cements his 'Dee' franchise as Asia's answer to Guy Ritchie's 'Sherlock Holmes'. Indeed, the title of this movie is a befitting metaphor of Tsui's own work here, he the metaphorical sea dragon that has risen from the depths of his own doldrums to set the gold standard in blockbuster entertainment for Chinese cinema.