Snow
Girl and The Dark Crystal (2015 aka Zhongkui: Snow Girl and
The Dark Crystal/Well Go USA Blu-ray)
Picture:
A Sound: B Extras: C Film: B+
Long
ago when Gods and Demons walked the Earth, every 1,000 years they
would clash in titanic epic battle for the Dark Crystal, who ever
holds the stone will control Earth for the next 1,000 years.
Zhongkui, a human turned Champion Avatar for the gods vows to get the
stone, but finds himself to face Little Snow, a Snow Fairy Demon he
fell in love with long ago. As Heaven and Hell wages war against
each other, can these two star crossed lovers find a way to co-exist
or must they kill each other?
In
Peter Pau & Tianyu Zhao's Snow Girl and The Dark Crystal
(2015), Zhongkui is a warrior exorcist for the Gods, trained all his
life to get rid of demons who come in the form of beautiful women,
but what if all of it had been a lie? Instead of protecting the
people and peace the Gods intended to create chaos so that the people
would rely on the powers of the Gods? After Zhong Kui discovers the
truth between the Gods and Demons, he realizes he by killing innocent
demons, he has been only fueling the hate which cause the war,
serving a God only pretending to be benevolent.
First
of all, this was an incredibly beautiful movie with huge amounts of
CGI where the characters, costumes would turn into fantastic demons
and warriors (I would say 90% of the movie was CGI). It was like a
Chinese version cross-between of Marvel Comics' Thor and Lord of the
Rings, an epic battle between good and evil, Heaven and Hell, with
Earth as the battle ground. Highly recommended!
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image is pretty strong,
impressive and consistent throughout, no matter the minor issues with
digital video, while the film was issued in theaters (possibly at the
last minute) in a Dolby Atmos 11.1 mix. Either way, the lossless
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 mix is warm and soundfield-consistent
throughout, if not always equal to the picture, though it can be when
it needs to be. Extras include a Making Of the movie piece and
trailers.
-
Ricky Chiang
