Zhongkui: Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal (2015)

I love this movie so much

Please don't spend money on this.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Nothing is what it seems in this cleverly done movie. In this epic adventure, the thin line separating good from evil is often blurred and crossed, leaving the audience wondering about who the true hero really is. The only constant is immortal love. A must watch for those who love this genre, you won't be disappointed!

The Three Acts: Initial Tableau: Every 1000 years at July 15, a period of travel among Hell, Heaven, and Earth ensues, where travel is done by reincarnation. Devastation results as demons reincarnate near the village of Hu on Earth. The powers that be in Heaven dispatch a volunteer, Zhang Dao Xian, to help out the humans caught in the crossfire. Zhong Kui steals the 'Dark Crystal' from an active ceremony in Hell itself, and is spirited away by Zhang, one of the gods. The Snow Demon volunteers to the Demon King to fetch back the crystal. Her sister, Little Snow, is being held captive by the King, so her compliance is assured.Delineation of Conflicts: Snow Demon wants the crystal for her King. Heaven wants to keep it, so as to restore all the souls taken by demons. Zhong Kui is assigned to protect the Dark Crystal as it lies hidden within Hu. When a traveling troupe of entertainers arrives from the west, Zhong finds that Little Snow came with it. Can Zhong help free Little Snow from Hell, or will she seduce him away from his primary duty to Heaven? Will he successfully defend the Dark Crystal and the captured souls within it?Resolution: There are some major reversals during the final segment as resolution approaches. Those were quite well done.

All movies has it's flaws, but besides that, Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal is a visually-pleasing movie. The CGI isn't perfect, but it does its job. It most certainly is better than other Chinese movies when it comes to the animations. The story is mostly a drama/fantasy surrounding the subject of heaven and hell, demons and gods. I didn't really enjoy the movie at the start, but I'm glad I watched through the entire film.The movie itself is good, and the story line stays interesting and entertaining. I would definitely recommend trying this movie out especially if you love mythical creatures.

Zhong Kui (Chen Kun) has been trained as a scholar and a demon- hunter; the God Zhang has taken him as a pupil in preparation for stealing the Dark Crystal, which the demons of hell own and use to store stolen human spirits. Zhong achieves that quest, but the King of the demons enlists the aid of Snow Girl (Li Bingbing) to steal the Crystal back. Matters become more complicated when it becomes clear that Zhong and Snow Girl were former lovers, and they still mean more to each other than human and demon should. Will their love save - or destroy - the three realms of Heaven, Earth and Hell?This is a beautifully striking film, filled with gorgeous scenery and marvelous fight scenes. The film-makers went all out with CGI monsters and other effects, using a number of different companies (including Weta Workshop), although that decision results in uneven effects from time to time. For example, some scenes look more like a video game than a movie. But overall, the spectacle holds up well, although I think I might need repeated viewings to understand the whole thing!