I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

First of all, let's get the main issue everyone talks about out of the way. Yes, there's a lot of CGI, but I feel they did pretty well with it. I don't think they could achieve the epic level they were aiming for without it, and I personally liked all the eye candy.This movie felt like an Asian Lord of the Rings on steroids, massive steroids, almost to the point where they should be illegal steroids. Where Lord of the Rings was a bit too slow for my taste, this story moved way too fast.Characters were dished out left and right so fast and with so little explanation that you're left wondering where they came from and what their reason really is for being there at all. Imagine the Avengers without the previous movies of each hero to help you learn about and understand them. In fact I'd love to see solo movies for some of the characters here like Jiang, Ne Zha, Erlang Shen...There's so much content that they have to work with here, but it was all thrust into one large movie that was frankly just too much, especially for us Westerners that don't have much knowledge of the backgrounds to these stories.Anyway, don't expect a deep story with deep characters. Just take it for what it is - a gorgeous, epic fantasy action adventure - and you'll enjoy it.

LEAGUE OF GODS is another CGI monstrosity aimed at the Chinese market, although Hong Kong producers are criminally responsible for this one. First, the good stuff: it's big budget, based on a classic 16th century novel, and features an all-star cast of cameoing stars. Sadly, the whole thing turns out to be an overblown CGI mess of the kind I've never witnessed before, and that makes it very, very bad indeed.This film offers near constant CGI in a way that would make George Lucas proud. It has more CGI than in STAR WARS: THE PHANTOM MENACE which is saying something. Every scene features CGI in some regard: CGI monsters, CGI snakes, CGI magical blasts, CGI flying, CGI backgrounds, even CGI characters. The direction is a dizzying blend of quick cuts and endless CGI transitions, no surprise given that the director is an effects man best known for his assistant direction on Jackie's WHO AM I?. As for the actors, they don't even get a look in. I'm a martial arts fan, but the wirework-assisted action is in very short supply.Tony Leung is an evil king in thrall to an evil sorceress played by Fan Bingbing. There are so many CGI snakes and effects in their scenes that it's difficult to make them out. A bloated and weary Jet Li, suffering from real-life health problems, offers little more than an extended cameo in his role of a crusading priest (basically the same as his one in EMPEROR AND THE WHITE SNAKE). Louis Koo shows up as a bad guy riding a giant panther while Angelababy simpers and looks vacant (no difficulty for her).The film's bald-headed hero, played by Jacky Heung, has a single expression on his wooden face throughout. The CGI action scenes are endless and wearisome after about five minutes. The plot seems to be a blend of LORD OF THE RINGS, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON, and STAR WARS with no sense or wit about it. The hero is accompanied by a creepy CGI baby and an annoying CGI plant in some scenes. A giant CGI centipede attacks at one point. Later, Louis Koo turns into a fantasy version of the Hulk. It's incredibly poor, laughably so in fact, and a complete waste of time, effort, and money.

I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to review this movie. It kind of defies a normal review that talks about acting and effects and so on. Instead, as you a re watching it, any such notion of critical analysis pretty much goes out the window.See, League of Gods (LoG) is an Asian fantasy and, to our western eyes, used to the likes of Lord of the Rings and even the more recent Warcraft, it doesn't make any sense whatsoever. There is little in the way of story or character development. You are plunged straight into it and given little to establish either the setting or the players.Once you accept that, and simply let the movie wash over you like a mad tide, you'll get more enjoyment out of it.But when I say tide, I really mean tsunami in this instance. The movie is relentless in its madness, throwing ever more craziness at the audience and not caring if you like it or not. It's an onslaught of visual excess that rarely lets up and can be a little exhausting to watch.That said, I did find it a refreshing change from the usual stodge that Hollywood churns out these days.So...will you like it? Well, it depends on your personal level of acceptance of crazy. It's exactly the kind of insanity that Jack Burton, from Big Trouble in Little China, would wax lyrical about..."Giant dancing crabs, farting babies, some guy flying around with burning wheels on his feet and people roaming the skies in stone Tetris ships. I have no idea what's going on here Jiang, but its clear you people have a problem on your hands and old Jack is here to help you sort it out by crossing the eyes and punching some teeth. So why don't you pick up your talking pot plant and we'll go deal with the snake lady and her minions and set matters to rights!"Honestly, that imagined speech should tell you all you need to know about the movie to make a judgment as to whether you''l find it enjoyable.I rated it a five primarily for the craziness and the gorgeous visuals. The CGI is extremely weak overall, but somehow that just adds to its charm. It isn't higher because the story is poorly presented and the characters have little more than token personalities. Acting is acceptable, in so much as there isn't much need for decent acting because it is primarily action.All in all, however, I feel this was an opportunity missed. It clearly wanted to be a Chinese Lord of the Rings, but without the world building and steady build-up it turned out more of a fantasy Transformers.One nice part was the music, by John Debney, which elevates the movie considerably. However, even his efforts can't make it more than a passable effort.My best recommendation is to view this film with your mates, a large crate of beer, and to just treat it as a crazy comedy. You'll get more out of it that way.SUMMARY: Crazy Chinese fantasy epic that espouses style and visuals over substance. Fun to watch for the craziness, but let it wash over you rather than trying to understand what is going on. Otherwise, it is middling at best.

This is one movie school case study where big names will not carry a story if there is simply no story! I was lured into watching this movie by the big names heading it – but it was a waste of talent. The writing was shoddy and we ended up amusing ourselves by playing "spot the movie scene / fairy tale". It was like watching Lord of the Rings – yes here Ji Lei looks for the Sword of Legends while Frodo was looking for a ring, then there was AngelaBaby aka Pinocchio who was made alive by a CG riding panther General Louis Koo, acting as if she walked out of 50 First Dates, with her memory loss (she actually doesn't question why she was on the Porta-Boat with a stranger –ok the question is how does she remember that she forgets…). Then there was the scene from Excalibur with the one worthy or in this case, "woody" one pulling out the sword with a Star Wars /Battle Star Galactica fighting scene going on in the background. There was also the General turned monster scene that looked like one of the monsters from Lord of the Rings, the giant centipede that that resembled scenes from Men in Black, there was every a scene with the "eye" which reminded me of Stardust where the blind witch sisters fought for a look. Fang BingBing's octopus "tails" were like Spiderman's Octavius. The palaces / castles looked like Thor's Asgard palace, the Pool of Spring looked like the dungeon pools in Harry Potter and the list goes on.I hated that they dubbed Tony Leung speaking Mandarin with a Cantonese accent – come on, if you are going to dub, at least let the character speak normally. I love Huang Xiaomin but his costume made him look like a golden cob of corn (or a golden walking condom)– and not the mortal enemy of fox demoness Daji (Fan Bingbing)! And what was it with Ao Guang's (Emperor of the East Ocean) underwater palace being destroyed by a farting Nezha?!I was looking forward to some good old-fashion ku-fung fighting but all we got was some poorly executed CGI. In this day and age, the quality of the CGI was quite unforgivable. Even the Scorpio King was loads better.Waste of acting talent and budget!