princess-d

PRINCESS-D

The story
An idealistic graphic/game designer by the name of Joker (Daniel Wu) is working on a game design when he meets Ling (Angelica Lee) who works as a bartender in a dance club. Joker finds himself being totally smitten and enthralled by the spunky Ling. She becomes his basis of inspiration as well as the model of his game's titular character - princess-d. With the help of his younger brother, Kid (Edison Chen), Joker designs the game independently and upon completion both brothers join forces to market it to the various gaming companies.

The review
I like the premise of the story, no matter how cliche it may sound: if you dare to dream, just maybe even the impossible becomes possible. The Chinese title is pretty symbolic too: Seong Fei literally means 'Want to fly'. And this is a story of a boy and a girl whom each have a dream. His, to develop a game software which will eventually become successful. And hers, to escape her harsh realities of life and start anew elsewhere. Essentially, I feel both are looking for their own individual utopias. Both are searching for the freedom to fly after their dreams. As much as it is a story about chasing after one's dreams, this is also a story about growth - Joker learns to break away from his perfect cyber reality; Ling gets to start life anew; Kid realises that ICQ flirting and dating isn't all that's cut out to be; and Dad (Anthony Wong) eventually learns to accept another woman into his life. It was interesting how every main character had their own ghosts to overcome. Unfortunately the storytelling leaves much to be desired and we never fully understand why is it things turned out the way they did. Such a pity, as what could potentially have been a better film was marred by shoddy editing that left me confused most of the time.

I guess the saving grace of this film was the strong performances by the entire main cast - Anthony Wong just seemed so perfectly in-tune with his role (what can you ask for from such a polished actor?) and Edison Chen, though not great, wasn't too bad as Kid. Then of course there are both the leads, Daniel Wu and Angelica Lee. Their characters, Joker and Ling, were both interesting - each with their own story to tell. Daniel Wu has always struck me as a dramatic actor more and he does well in getting into Joker's shoes here. Most commendable though was Angelica Lee's performance. Her feisty albeit troubled Ling is a character full of conflict and she played the part believably. She doesn't have a beauty that would immediately catch your attention and it is her charisma that inevitably draws you closer. Which is the case with Joker. He finds himself drawn into her seemingly darker world. Again we have the cliche, 'boy and girl of different worlds fall in love.' But then, it seems that the film also throws us another question: does Joker really love Ling or is he simply in love with how he has modelled her to be - his princess-d? There are a lot of interesting plotlines like these riddled throughout the film but the problem was that they were merely touched upon briefly without further development. It was like dangling a juicy carrot in front of your face only to whip it away at the very last minute. Disappointing. A case of the storytellers trying too hard and stuffing too many 'thought-provoking' things into the main theme. The original premise was interesting and simple enough. It would have been a lot better if they had just stuck to that.

What about the CGI sequences?
Honestly, compared to the Pixar and Final Fantasy stuff, no big deal. Though I won't deny that the CGI here was beautifully done. There's an interesting parallel similarity between the game and real life though. The part when Joker explains that when in trouble, princess-d draws on her wings to help her fly away from danger - it seems to imply that no matter what difficulties one may be in, there's always this extra reserve that one draws upon to get out of whatever fix one is in. And that is what makes each and everyone special. It is that resolve to pick one's self up after having fallen down and to fly again.

So, to watch or not to watch?
Interesting premise riddled with lots of meaning. Disappointing storytelling. Fine performances by all the actors. Overall, I'd say give it a go.

This review can also be found at spcnet.
Agree/disagree with my review? Drop a note in the guestbook.

Year of release: 2002 Country of production: Hong Kong Director: Sylvia Chang Language: Cantonese Genre: Drama Cast: Daniel Wu, Angelica Lee, Edison Chen, Anthony Wong	PRINCESS-D The story An idealistic graphic/game designer by the name of Joker (Daniel Wu) is working on a game design when he meets Ling (Angelica Lee) who works as a bartender in a dance club. Joker finds himself being totally smitten and enthralled by the spunky Ling. She becomes his basis of inspiration as well as the model of his game's titular character - princess-d. With the help of his younger brother, Kid (Edison Chen), Joker designs the game independently and upon completion both brothers join forces to market it to the various gaming companies. The review I like the premise of the story, no matter how cliche it may sound: if you dare to dream, just maybe even the impossible becomes possible. The Chinese title is pretty symbolic too: Seong Fei literally means 'Want to fly'. And this is a story of a boy and a girl whom each have a dream. His, to develop a game software which will eventually become successful. And hers, to escape her harsh realities of life and start anew elsewhere. Essentially, I feel both are looking for their own individual utopias. Both are searching for the freedom to fly after their dreams. As much as it is a story about chasing after one's dreams, this is also a story about growth - Joker learns to break away from his perfect cyber reality; Ling gets to start life anew; Kid realises that ICQ flirting and dating isn't all that's cut out to be; and Dad (Anthony Wong) eventually learns to accept another woman into his life. It was interesting how every main character had their own ghosts to overcome. Unfortunately the storytelling leaves much to be desired and we never fully understand why is it things turned out the way they did. Such a pity, as what could potentially have been a better film was marred by shoddy editing that left me confused most of the time. I guess the saving grace of this film was the strong performances by the entire main cast - Anthony Wong just seemed so perfectly in-tune with his role (what can you ask for from such a polished actor?) and Edison Chen, though not great, wasn't too bad as Kid. Then of course there are both the leads, Daniel Wu and Angelica Lee. Their characters, Joker and Ling, were both interesting - each with their own story to tell. Daniel Wu has always struck me as a dramatic actor more and he does well in getting into Joker's shoes here. Most commendable though was Angelica Lee's performance. Her feisty albeit troubled Ling is a character full of conflict and she played the part believably. She doesn't have a beauty that would immediately catch your attention and it is her charisma that inevitably draws you closer. Which is the case with Joker. He finds himself drawn into her seemingly darker world. Again we have the cliche, 'boy and girl of different worlds fall in love.' But then, it seems that the film also throws us another question: does Joker really love Ling or is he simply in love with how he has modelled her to be - his princess-d? There are a lot of interesting plotlines like these riddled throughout the film but the problem was that they were merely touched upon briefly without further development. It was like dangling a juicy carrot in front of your face only to whip it away at the very last minute. Disappointing. A case of the storytellers trying too hard and stuffing too many 'thought-provoking' things into the main theme. The original premise was interesting and simple enough. It would have been a lot better if they had just stuck to that. What about the CGI sequences? Honestly, compared to the Pixar and Final Fantasy stuff, no big deal. Though I won't deny that the CGI here was beautifully done. There's an interesting parallel similarity between the game and real life though. The part when Joker explains that when in trouble, princess-d draws on her wings to help her fly away from danger - it seems to imply that no matter what difficulties one may be in, there's always this extra reserve that one draws upon to get out of whatever fix one is in. And that is what makes each and everyone special. It is that resolve to pick one's self up after having fallen down and to fly again. So, to watch or not to watch? Interesting premise riddled with lots of meaning. Disappointing storytelling. Fine performances by all the actors. Overall, I'd say give it a go. This review can also be found at spcnet. Agree/disagree with my review? Drop a note in the guestbook. <