Legend of the Naga Pearls

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.