View of a Mandarin speaking viewer

Rating: Null/10 (28 March 2001)

I have to say that this is one of the best Chinese Wu Xia films I've seen.However, there is one thing about the movie I just can't stand----the Mandarin pronunciation! In the movie, Yun-Fat Chou and Michelle Yeoh speaks with a Cantonese accent----Okay, Li Mu Bai and Shu Lian could have come from Canton(in the southern parts of China)----Zhang Ziyi with a Beijing accent---well,Jen is a princess----BUT CHEN CHANG!!He speaks with a Taiwanese accent!!!Isn't Lo supposed to be from the Deserts in the western region which-is-nowhere-near-Taiwan???Whenever I hear Lo speak, I grit my teeth and grab the handles of my seat VERY HARD---to fight back the strong urge of jumping up and running out of the cinema! I heard that Ang Lee did not want to dubb this movie(no matter in Chinese or in English),and I think he really made a great mistake not dubbing Lo's part. Some Non-Chinese speaking viewers find it annoying to look at the subtitles in order to understand the plot,well, here's my advice: don't bother reading the subtitles. First, it is poorly translated----there are some things in foreign languages that can never be properly translated into English, and in the case of CTHD, A LOT-----Second, the plot itself isn't anything worth the brainpower comprehending.As a person growing up reading and seeing Chinese martial novels and movies of all sorts, the plot of CTHD is just uncreatively average.So for those planning to see CTHD(again maybe?), pay less attention to the plot and the subtitles, and more attention to the incredibly wonderful cinematography and great fighting scenes!(personally I favor the part where Jen and Shu Lian fight indoors using a lot of different weapons) And if you go to the cinema to see it, take a chance to look at Chinese people among the audience----and have fun seeing their "God!I want to run away" grit-teeth-expression whenever Lo talks!