I sat down in 2022 to watch the 2005 Chinese action comedy "Qing Dian Da Sheng" (aka "A Chinese Tall Tale") for the second time since first watching it back in 2005. I only remembered the movie by its title and movie's cover. Oddly enough I had entirely forgotten the contents of the movie.
But with good reason, because writer and director Jeffrey Lau delivered a massive dung heap of a movie here with "Qing Dian Da Sheng". The entire storyline was just one random scene after another put together in what assimilated being a storyline and faked coherency. I was seriously looking for a sign of a red thread as this movie trotted on for 106 minutes. Trust me, this movie feels and looks like a collection of random ideas and concepts put to the screen.
And as if a lack of an actual storyline or any sense of coherency wasn't enough, then the CGI effects in "Qing Dian Da Sheng" have aged like stale wine. The visual effects are pretty horrible to look at. And even by 2005's standards, the effects were something from a computer game in the early 2000s. It wasn't great then, and it sure isn't great now.
I will say that the props and costume departments that worked on "Qing Dian Da Sheng" definitely managed to deliver something worthwhile amidst the heap of rubbish that is the rest of the movie.
The movie is starring Nicholas Tse and Charlene Choi in the two leading roles, and I wonder how proud they are of this particular accomplishment.
If you enjoy Chinese folk tale movies, then do yourself a favor and stay well clear of the 2005 movie "Qing Dian Da Sheng".
My rating of "Qing Dian Da Sheng" lands on a very generous three out of ten stars.
