Why so much hype?

Overrated and overhyped

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Overall, The Sorcerer and the White Snake was an enjoyable movie due its "forbidden love" theme. The romance between Susu, a snake demon, and Xu Xian, a mortal, was sweetly portrayed. Unfortunately, the movie follows the pattern of most forbidden love stories by ending in a way that is bittersweet at best. Love does not conquer all obstacles in this movie. Additionally, those who love fantasy and the supernatural will not be entirely disappointed. The movie has several types of supernatural beings; however, the portrayal of these beings may be disappointing to some. There is a lot of CGI that can be overwhelming. Less CGI and a little more imagination would have made the supernatural elements of the movie less cheesy. I do not typically watch movies for their action scenes so I have very little to say on that front. Perhaps the action lovers will watch this movie solely because Jet Li is in it. The movie does its best to cater to the romantics and those seeking a little more than just a love story. It is worth looking into, especially for those who enjoy romance.

After watching this movie, I read what the original story and opera is actually about. I won't rate based on the original story. If you want the original, go read it or see an opera. I don't base my rating of this movie on its CGI. If you want "eye candy" go watch fireworks. This movie is a martial arts film with a great deal of action from the start. There are moments of comedy that I found very funny. Overall it is a forbidden love story.I don't understand if the Buddhist monks are supposed to come off as being jerks and idiots or not. In the very first fight scene between White Snake (Shengyi Huang) and Abott Fahai (Jet Li) he issues an ultimatum to leave but gives Xu Xian (Raymond Lam) a dagger knowing it could kill Xu Xian's wife. White Snake, at this point in the story, has done no harm and even saved a whole village from a poisonous curse.Cutting White Snake no slack, it would seem, the monks attack her in the home in the very next scene. I know that Buddhism is a philosophy of life, but these monks, in this story, come off as being close to sanctimonious zealots. It is here that the tale becomes a tragedy and I never cared much for Shakespeare either. But I don't lower the rating for that reason as well.I gave this movie low ratings for showing a serious lack of character motivations and development. I seriously didn't understand the motive for continued interference by Abott Fahai. The movie dropping the unfinished subplot of Neng Ren, only to inject it once again at the end seemed abnormal and out of place. The "forbidden love" aspect and whole premise to any kind of moral is not explained. At the end of this story, you are left with a big question mark over your head, and wondering if you understood the plot at all.

I simply loved the magical moves and powers displayed in this movie. I thought they were very imaginative and just spectacular! These kind of movies spark the imagination and, I believe, are more than worth watching, just for that. The fight sequences were some of the best I've ever seen. That alone would have been enough to make a very good movie. But the romance was perfect too! As I was watching it, I just kept thinking, "Oh my goodness, this is so awesome! This is the best movie I've ever seen, so far!" The only reason I give it a 9 and not 10/10 is the ending. So as not to spoil anything I will only say that I understand why they ended it the way they did, and in a way that is perfect for the kind of movie they were trying to make, so you might indeed like it, but that part was not perfect for me.

This is an absolutely awful film which I watched on the strength of a Jet Li leading role alone. Sadly, Li isn't enough to save what soon becomes a mire of inanity and endless fantasy drivel about a romance between a snake demon woman and the human who has the misfortune to fall in love with her. The tone is vapid and silly throughout, and the film is clearly aimed at child viewers with its extremely poor CGI effects and silly fight sequences.The thing that surprises me most about this movie is how poorly judged it is when it comes to sympathising with the characters. Li is presented as a misguided monk who's forced to learn the error of his ways, but he comes across as a paragon of decency and virtue when it comes to the outrageously irritating white snake, played by the terrible Shengyi Huang. Huang's character is presented as childish, stupid, selfish and completely self-obsessed, yet come the climax we're supposed to identify and empathise with her character's plight. Err…no, thanks. She's just a brat, and it's a shame that her character never receives the ass-whupping that she so clearly deserves.As for Jet, well, he's gone on record to complain about this movie; in the first place, he was told he wouldn't have much fighting to do (pretty much all his scenes involve fighting), and secondly, he found the action scenes hard to film because he had to go easy on his opponents while they beat the hell out of him. The action scenes are very poor, I admit, wushu-derivative and singularly lacking in impact. I won't even mention the calibre of the acting or the storyline, which goes on and on until the OTT climax which sees the actors absolutely dwarfed by wave upon wave of lame CGI. And the nonsensical retitling for western audiences? For crying out loud, there isn't even an emperor in the film! How stupid do they think we are?