Some people think they can review a film without ever visiting the country, not speaking the language, and especially not knowing the CULTURE. The previous reviewer falls into this category. It took me ten yeras living in Ningbo to perceive the culture...and that is the base of all the humor, drama, etc! At least it is far above the Hollywood staple diet of these 8 year old comic book movies. "Super-Hero"? The only thing that's super is the green screen. Has Hollywood become so dumb-downed that cant find an intelligent screenplay? Look to the South Koreans for that. The best films EVER made, bar NONE.

Now, I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into here in 2022 as I sat down to watch "Jiao zhu zhuan" (aka "Legend of the Naga Pearls") from writers Tan Cheung and Xu Zhaoqing. But it being a Chinese movie that I hadn't already seen was sufficient enough to make me watch it.

And I will say that the writers definitely churned out something unique, because "Jiao zhu zhuan" turned out to be a mixture of adventure, comedy and action that had elements of many movies to it. So I will go out of my way here to say that director Lei Yang managed to deliver a movie that will have something for everyone in the audience here.

The story was good and entertaining, although the movie was a little bit slow paced at times, which made the 1 hour and 48 minutes feel somewhat longer. And I will also say that you have to keep focused and attentive to the movie, because it can be a somewhat diffuse and difficult storyline to keep up with.

They had a good cast ensemble in the movie, and it was a surprise to see that Simon Yam and Xing Yu were in the movie. But they were so heavily disguised by make-up and prosthetics that you could almost not recognize them.

"Jiao zhu zhuan" is a watchable movie for sure, however I doubt that I will ever be returning to watch it a second time though.

My rating of director Lei Yang's 2017 movie "Jiao zhu zhuan" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Having watched a number of big budget movies from China on Netflix, I have noticed a common problem with a significant portion of them that probably explains why these movies haven't really caught on. "Legend of the Naga Pearls" has another example of this ultimately fatal problem. Yes, there are some good things to say about the movie despite having this big problem. Visually, the movie look gorgeous, with good cinematography, good sets and costumes, and some good special effects. The cast is charming and game. There is some exciting action. And the world that this movie is set in really feels like a new world and not derived from other previous fantasy movies.

So what's the problem? Well, to put it bluntly, the movie makes little sense. Although I got a little idea of what was going on, most of the time the movie moves from scene to scene without answering for the most part some really big questions that keep coming up. For example, how did the hero manage to get the three dragons before the climatic sequence? I don't think the incoherent story is due to translation problems, nor do I think you have to know Chinese history or culture to understand the story. The story simply doesn't go into enough detail about the characters and the various plot threads. As a result, you can't get involved with what happens.

This is not the worst Chinese blockbuster I have seen, and I admit it is better than some American blockbusters. But I would say skip it, even if you have interest in Chinese cinema.