Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon (2013)

Sadly Over-hyped

Absolutely Fantastic

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

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.

I watch a fair amount of Asian cinema so I've seen a lot. This movie really stands out!First of all the quality and quantity of special effects are very good. The interaction between the main characters, the mix of dark story lines, and the humor suburb. Overall the underlying story is interesting and compelling.It's great fantasy fun!I'm surprised this movie doesn't have a higher rating and appears to have had not much of a presence here in America. It's too bad there is no English dubbed version (not that I know off), and, or, they just didn't market it enough for a Western audience. A lot of people will probably just bump into this movie late at night at one time or another and be pleasantly surprised.If you like action movies, epic fantasy stories, etc., you are probably going to love this movie.

A prequel of the colossal moneymaker DETECTIVE DEE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM FLAME (2010, 7/10), which dominated the box office of Chinese National Holiday week (starts from 1st October) three years ago, and a similar (if not higher) lucrative income will repeat this year in the 7-days stretch too. Saw the 3D version inside a hustle-and-bustle local multiplex with a full house audience, righteously Hark Tsui's strenuous endeavor in the state-of-the-art technology of visual stunt pays off handsomely this time, the film confidently dispenses awesome CGI full views to parade Tang Dynasty's palatial splendor, and conjures up a PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN derivative island quest, with nighttime cliff skirmish proffers a taut engagement of amazement, culminates with a sea dragon showdown to gratify the long-awaited anticipation. Also there are ample presentations of novel martial art feats (anti-physics notwithstanding) to cater for the target audiences. But the film is at best to be referred as satisfying, compared to its predecessor, the whole "dragon king" case doesn't measure up to the intelligent reasoning required for a grave and ambitious scheme such as toppling over an entire nation, maybe it is because of a "young" detective Dee, not weathered enough yet. The freshly-recruited cast brings new and drop-dead gorgeous faces to the franchise (quintet of beauty,Chao, Feng, Lin, Kim and Angelababy in their prime appeal) , but they are all employed as chessmen to follow the procedure without any further digging into their personalities or plainly reduced to eye-candies. If one must pick the best from available, Carina Lau, majestically reprises her role as Empress Wu Zetian, years before the coronation, she already arbitrarily ministers the state affair behind the Emperor's throne. Stating the obvious, the franchise enjoys an ongoing and surging bankroll which will secure further follow-ups, one advise to the screenwriters, don't defame the word "detective", in addition to cook a feast for eyes and ears, our brains also need something palatable to feed on. Plus if the ultimate weapon to quell the monster is poisonous food, maybe we should all pray for the huddled mass in any rate.