Xiang Jian Ni was one of my favourite drama series in recent years. I was excited and intrigued when the movie was announced. I assumed that the leads signing on to the project meant some form of quality assurance.
In the end I was let down. The writers could not decide whether to write this for fans of the drama series or for new fans, and they settled for some kind of in between. It involves the same characters, same mechanism for time travel and same mystery involving someone falling off a building, but otherwise it is sort of a new story not connected with the original story.
A few glaring plot holes aside, I vaguely get this new-ish story, but it wasn't well executed. While I was rooting for the main couple to succeed in the series, here they just exist to service the plot lines. The script felt rushed, some explanations were left out, and one who have never watched the series would probably be quite lost midway with the jumping timelines and the multiple characters played by the same actors.
What saved the day would probably the actors, who are still charming to watch and really made the best out of this script that probably needed a few more drafts. Ultimately they should have just left the drama series alone.
In the end I was let down. The writers could not decide whether to write this for fans of the drama series or for new fans, and they settled for some kind of in between. It involves the same characters, same mechanism for time travel and same mystery involving someone falling off a building, but otherwise it is sort of a new story not connected with the original story.
A few glaring plot holes aside, I vaguely get this new-ish story, but it wasn't well executed. While I was rooting for the main couple to succeed in the series, here they just exist to service the plot lines. The script felt rushed, some explanations were left out, and one who have never watched the series would probably be quite lost midway with the jumping timelines and the multiple characters played by the same actors.
What saved the day would probably the actors, who are still charming to watch and really made the best out of this script that probably needed a few more drafts. Ultimately they should have just left the drama series alone.