I hate subtitles....that having been said.....GO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!!

Rating: 10/10 (5 February 2001)

Okay, here goes....
I am known for hating subtitled films by anyone who knows me. I have no patience for them, they are distracting and give me a headache whenever i've seen them before. So I was interested but not overly so when we decided to see this movie because of the subtitles.
I left the theatre two hours later with tears streaming down my face, my voice cracking, the hauntingly beautiful Yo Yo Ma-performed score emblazened in my musical mind, and planning to see it a second time in the near future.
In short...I know now what I will be rooting for come Oscar night. I am one of simple movie tastes...check out other reviews I have here for the variety I normally tend to see. But I had heard nothing but good to fantastic word of mouth about this movie, and I finally gave in to my fiancee's pleas to see it, and I am so very glad I did.
From the first moment of the movie, the cinematography is amazing. And while the subtitles were made a bit more annoying in the first few moments by a doofus sitting directly behind us reading them aloud (then laughing!) for his 3 under-ten children (thankfully they left before the movie was even half over), I found myself unconcerned by them in the first few moments.
This is NOT a movie to see if you cannot accept it as what it is. It is a lavishly produced fairy tale, not your average "chopsaki" movie. It is thoughtful in presenation, it's fight choreographer deserves a lapful of awards (although the wire flying was a bit annoying at times) and it's story presented matter-of-fact without any gloss or hype surrounding it.
Personally, I thought the scenes between the two young leads in the desert were the best in terms of action and dialogue. They had a chemistry that truly only comes off well in this sequence, and the director's execution of this entire series of sequences left me totally mesmerized.
For a guy like me, who used to rank stuff like "Encino Man" and "The Karate Kid" as his two favorite movies of all time. to like a movie like this is a bit beyond comprehension. But I didn't like it...I LOVED IT. And it now resides atop my list of my all time favorite movies. And if you can fly in an adult-oriented, chinese "Peter Pan" fairy tale, you too will be absolutely won over.
On My 1 to 5 scale......CTHD gets a 5+! A definate DVD keeper! It will get a TON of use in my house when it comes out!