DragonBlade (2005)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Antony Szeto

Writers:

Trevor Morris (English translation)
Trevor Morris (screenplay)

Release Date:

6 January 2005 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Animation | Fantasy

Plot:

When a town is being attacked by a deadly creature Lang becomes the one to have to deal with it. But...

Plot Keywords:

Teenager | Master | Love | Kung Fu | China

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Karen Mok	...	Yingying (voice)
Daniel Wu	...	Hung Lang (voice)
Stephen Fung	...	Hung Lang (Cantonese Voice)
Sandra Ng Kwan Yue	...	Bali-Ba (Cantonese Voice)
Sui-man Chim	...	Master Wu (Cantonese Voice) (as Jim Chim)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Doug Baker	...	Lord Ko (voice)
Sam Bobertz	...	Short Youngster (voice)
Stephen Bolton	...	Mr. Hung and Guardian Spirit (character movement)
Simon Broad	...	Sifu (voice)
Anna May Chan	...	(voice)
Anson Chan	...	(voice)
Victor Chan	...	Masu (character movements)
Matthew Cheung	...	Ari(character movement)
Amy Chum	...	Mrs. Hung (character movement)
David Collier	...	Lord Ko (character movement)
Scott Evens	...	Noodle Seller and Tall Youngster (voice)
Wioletta Glazewska	...	Pretty Student (voice)
Crystal Goh	...	Ari (voice)
Clarence Hui	...	The Counselor (character movement)
Daniel Kao	...	Short Youngster (character movement)
Colette Koo	...	(character movement) (voice)
Chris Kung	...	Mr. Hung (voice)
Sharon Kwan	...	Big Sister (character movement)
Chi Tai Lam	...	Tall Youngster (character movement)
Kin Leung Lee	...	Fat Man Shum (character movement)
Hiu Man Li	...	Pretty Student (character movement)
Lily Meyer	...	(voice)
Reuben M.	...	Masu and Guardian Spirit (voice)
Jack Murphy	...	(voice)
Ada Ooi	...	Yingying (character movement)
Arvin Robles	...	Hung Lang (character movement)
Kathryn Ryan	...	The Apprentice (voice)
Pierre Sieur	...	Big Sister (voice)
Sarah Sieur	...	Little Brother (voice)
Wai Fong Suen	...	Mrs. Hung (voice)
Karl Suriya	...	(character movement)
Antony Szeto	...	(voice)
Xavier Szeto	...	Little Brother (character movements)
Mike V. Szuc	...	Master Wu and The Boar King (character movement and voice)
Hugh Terry	...	Fat Man Shum (voice)
Grant Thatcher	...	Bali-Ba and The Counselor (voice)
Jamie Wilson	...	Bali-Ba (character movement)
Tweety Wong	...	The Apprentice (character movement)

Also Known As:

Dragon Blade: The Beginning (International: English title) (DVD title)
DragonBlade: The Beginning (International: English title) (DVD title)
DragonBlade: The Legend of Lang (Hong Kong: English title) (working title)
Long dao qi yuan (China: Mandarin title)
Long dou kei yuen (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

English | Mandarin | Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Hong Kong:I

Filming Locations:

Beijing, China

Company:

DCDC

Trivia:

World's first 3D animated martial arts movie.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Babe (1995)

Impressively made local movie

I'm not sure who it was that described this movie as "Crouching Tiger meets Shrek", because that in itself sets an unreasonable benchmark in all sorts of ways. Let's be fair here, both Shrek and Crouching Tiger won Oscars, for crying out loud. Dragonblade is first and foremost an animated children's feature, produced on a shoestring budget - particularly compared to the sackfuls of money thrown at the likes of Shrek. Moreover, the only similarity with Crouching Tiger is in that martial arts are featured in this film, but it's far from being an art house movie, nor does it pretend to be so.

As far as plots go, it's not the most complex out there - but then again, you have to constantly remind yourself throughout that it's a kids' film. Boy meets girl, girl has idiot brother, idiot brother lives up to expectations, mysterious monster terrorizes village, boy sets off on quest to find weapon to defeat monster, all is well in the end. Characters are introduced throughout the story, mostly diversionary, some irritating - of these, three spring to mind - the obligatory cartoon sidekick animal creature, the funky Guardian spirit and the grammatically-challenged teacher type (oh why does wisdom equate with a Yoda-like sentence construction?).

What is scintillating about this film is the martial arts. Directed by a martial artist himself, the film attempts to do justice to the intricacies of wushu. Several fighting styles are apparent in the film, carefully rendered and presented in a way that wushu purists will feel vindicated, yet non-experts will be entertained. The various set-pieces between characters are unique, exciting, laudable. In that respect, definitely enough to keep accompanying parents entertained for the duration of the film - along with various script nods to other films. From the not-so-subtle Taxi Driver innuendos to the blatant Babe reference. With a little Klingon thrown in.

I would have like to see much, much more action in the film. The pacing of the plot is slightly uneven (let's get to the throwdown, people!), with too much time spent on story exposition and not enough on the central premise of the film - it's a cartoon action movie for kids, right? Again, the budget must be kept in mind when appreciating the animation involved. Then again, it's not meant to be realistic - it's a cartoon, folks.

Just as Mulan worked in English and not so much when dubbed into Chinese, I believe this film to be the opposite, appealing in far greater amounts in its original Cantonese version. Voiced by actors recognizeable to the Chinese-speaking market, the idioms and language used, along with the singular heritage of the movie leading to its setting, makes it immediately less corny than its English counterpart.

In summary, it's a good little kids' movie, with enough in it for accompanying parents to appreciate. Moreover, as a film 100% produced in Hong Kong, it's definitely something that Hong Kong can be proud of.