País das Maravilhas do Amor (2023)

a well combined drama

The drama was well combined with matters of politics, romance , history, comedy, friendship and so on. I am an anti fantasy drama lover. I am so glad this drama was fantastic partially but it was not a typical fantasy drama actually. The female lead's statement ' once I get pregnant I will kill you and let my son ascend to the throne,,,' This apparently confused him first but he later became so happy remembering the romantic night. Her statement is quite unique and unforgettable for me. Also his confusing look was so lovable. The two characters in the sketchbook were really cute. The fighting scene of the first night of their marriage was quite stunning. The male lead usually star in a fantasy drama but I wish he could star in more decent and realistic dramas in the future because he is so versatile. I'd rather love him in traditional costumes.

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I have no patience for the bad plot and the ML didn't do a good job (imo)

"Wonderland of Love" is a historical Rom-Com by Xu Kai and Jing Tian. The kung fu is awesome in this drama, and Jing Tian did a good job playing the army lieutenant. However, I dislike Xu Kai's character and acting ability.

Xu Kai can't act, in my opinion, especially in historical dramas. I dropped every historical drama he was in, like Snow Eagle Lord, Lost in the Kunlun Mountains, Court Lady, etc.

I have a higher tolerance for his modern dramas like Falling Into Your Smile and She and Her Perfect Husband, where I finished the dramas but not historical ones. He is very handsome but a one-dimensional actor with the same facial expression for every emotional scene.

I gave it a 6.5 rating because I didn't like the plot and could not continue after watching 8 episodes.

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Story is good, actors are good but this is the first drama I have watched so far wherein the female lead has a petty character and does not show that she loves the male lead as much as the male lead loves her. He has always helped her, saves her always, doing things for her even at the cost of his life. She always takes advantage of his love for her & knows that he will always let her have her way, she has not shown any acts to show that she loves him as much as he does, and very inconsistent. At first she wants him to be the crown prince & will not marry him if he is not citing that the court will make things difficult for him and he will not be able to save himself and his loved ones if he is not the crown prince but when he became the crown and with the knowledge that he will be put in different difficulties, she will not support him and even told him she will not marry him when he is doing it to protect her & her father. In one of the scenes, she and her father talked about their army eventually being dissolved as they expect since the court is wary about their military power so she should have understood his decision to give in to the condition of disbanding their army in order to save her & her father but she was petty to even blame it on him and was angry/hateful to him, always saying things like "just kill me" like when Chengfeng was supposedly killled, she was also being petty blaming it all on him when before that Chengfeng betrayed his army and caused the death of many of his men and she had the gall to be angry at him when he has the right to be angry at her. She cannot blame him of he did not believe her at first because she had been tricking from the start even with their bets, she is kind of cunning and sly and she even put at risk the life of the young imperial grandson and did not regret her action.
The worst female lead character ever!

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Meeting your match

Wonderland of Love (WoL) is a surprising enjoyable ride, following the love story of Li Ni and Cui Lin.

For the review, I will mainly use Cui Lin’s nickname, Ah Ying, when referring to her since this is what Li Ni likes to call her by.

Li Ni’s and Ah Ying’s meet cute began with a fight for food supply and reclaiming of the cities to save the “king” that was being held hostage at capital.

What was intriguing from the get go was the battle of wits between the two of them, who held different armies. Smart and capable as they were, we couldn’t tell who had the upper hand nor who to root for as they competed for the same resources and gain the upper hand.

Li Ni and Ah Ying quickly turned allies when they unwittingly figured they worked more effectively together. The interactions remained fun to follow as they maintained the playful friendly flirtatious rivalry between them. … until the dynamics started to change by episode 16-ish when it seemed like Li Ni became the stronger one, be it from moral code, family power, or affection shown to other.

For the record, I still like Ah Ying a lot. She is one of the cunning, decisive, and likeable female leads that’s hard to come by in an idol drama. The slightly disappointed part to me was the troupe-y plot devices used to create the necessary tension between female and male leads to move the story along.

There were instances I felt that she overused Li Ni’s affection for her and / or she got turned into a weaker party. Was her hidden weapons only used for Li Ni? Where’s the independent cunning female lead we were introduced to at the start? It wasn’t that Ah Ying had the obligations to return Li Ni’s affection the exact same way he was doting her biasedly (on some level) or troupes like obsessive SML cannot be used in stories. It would’ve been nice to see a little more layers in Ah Ying and her development that’s present on Li Ni’s side through their love journey …or maybe I fast forwarded too much to see that side of Ah Ying.

On the other hand though, I recognised that a lot of conflicts they had were realistic and consistent with their characters setup. Li Ni may be loyal, upright and capable - but he is also impulsive and idealistic. Cui Lin is indeed cunning, pragmatic and overbearing - but she is also caring to her loved ones, willing to make the necessary sacrifices for the bigger goal and is resourceful. I guess this made them perfect for each other.

The real pity is the one dimensional supporting characters and slightly draggy plots. With weaker supporting cast, WoL’s story plot were less engaging and felt cliche-ish at some parts. They could’ve totally cut the story to 24 - 26 episodes and it likely would’ve made no difference to the enjoyment of Li Ni’s and Ah Ying’s love story.

Acting wise, I like both Xu Kai’s and Jing Tian’s portrayal of the characters and their chemistry. Believable enough for me to invest in Shi Qi Lang’s and Ah Ying’s romance in WoL. Lovely enough for me to swoon for those romantic moments and ignore the cliche-ness way of showing them on screen.

All in all, WoL is the typical idol drama that has a strong start, which somewhat feel draggy troupey halfpoint, and finishes off with an okay-ish, predictable climax. It’s still an enjoyable drama when one has the right expectations for it.

With both capable leads who are complement to each other in terms of wits and great chemistry, WoL is overall a fun and enjoyable flirtatious idol romance story.

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Excellent acting & engaging story.

Excellent, can definitely recommend it. A good mix of political maneuvres, romance, battle, comedy with excellent acting by most of the main cast. The plot is clever, often coming up with something unexpected, akeeps you engaged, and gradually unfolds a few mysteries as it goes along.
It starts just after a rebelling general, Sun Jing, killed the Emperor and the Crown Prince to take the throne. The protagonist, Li Ni is the outcast son of the Emperor's brother and lives on the border as a soldier in charge of repelling invasions. When he hears about Sun Jng's uprising, he decides to fight his way to the capital and restore the throne to the Crown Prince's missing young son, Li Xuanze. The story follows this journey and the aftermatch, and pits several adversaries against each other in shifting alliances - Li Ni's West-Pacifying army, Sun Jing's supporters, the Cui army protecting Yingzhou from Jieshuo invaders, and Jieshuo invaders themselves. Through it is woven encounters with the "Commandant" of the Cui's army, a feisty, beautiful, very skillful fighter. She is the strategist, with Liu Chanfeng at the head of the army. Their relationship and the involvement of Li Ni is the driving motif behind the plot.

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