Aryael
Twenty steps away from the toilet and just around the corner from the stairs.
When the story of finding your body parts gets old...
Story: I will start my review by saying that I love the novel "Heart Protection" of which this drama claims to be adapted from. Keyword - "claim". The drama started of well with around 70% similarity to the novel. But somewhere from Ep 5-6 onwards, things start to skew and the drama ended up being an entirely different product. I do not mind changes from novel to drama - provided they are done well. In this drama's case, the changes actually weaken the story and slowed down its pace, because they mostly ended up being fillers to drag the drama into 40 eps. And after so much fillers to keep the timer rolling, we are then treated to a rushed and brief ending in the last 3 mins of Ep 40.
Although the introduction of a new character played by Riley in this drama was a nice touch, the dilution of the FL's character reduced the enjoyment somewhat for me. It is rare that we get a xuanhuan novel with a woman as the main character. Yan Hui in the novel is one such character. The dragon is merely her love interest. The story is about her. She's the main character with genius abilities and OP powers from start to end. She's the one who rescued and helped the dragon and others. Basically, the novel's hero. But in the drama, Yan Hui needed rescuing. She's slow with cultivation. In the drama, the dragon becomes the main character and she becomes his love interest. With a male-focused main character, this story has turned into one that is similar with 90% of the xuanhuan novels out there. Why they decided NOT to portray Yan Hui as a strong and independent character who is the main protagonist of the story? Your guess is as good as mine. But the main weakness of the drama is not the weakening of Yan Hui's character per se - it's the use of fillers upon fillers which ended abruptly with a short ending that left viewers feeling cheated and wanting their money (and time) back. Many have defended the changes by saying the author herself is part of the screenwriting team, but I would argue that there are limits to what a novel author can do when she has already sold her rights to the novel plus a good novel author does not equate to a good screenwriter because book to screen adaptations is a whole different ballgame altogether. So, at the end of the day, the novel author being part of the screenwriting team has more marketing value than actual practical value.
Acting/Cast: Casting is done mostly well; from a visual point of view. Both the ML and FL have good looks and this drama has definitely garnered them a stronger fanbase. However, acting of the leads left much to be desired. They started out quite stiff, though they do slowly warm up towards the end, but it is still obvious that they lacked acting experience. The second male lead, Riley, actually acted better - mostly because Riley is a more seasoned actor. Chemistry between ML and FL is so-so. They gave off a "little girl and her best friend dragon" feeling. Minimal skinship and kissing. The "kisses" are polite pecks. Even the hugs are pretty stiff. Very chaste. So if you are after more deeper kissing, more skinship and off-the-charts type chemistry, this is not the drama for you.
Music: Nice OSTs that reflect the mood of the story. No complains in this department.
Rewatch value: Despite the butchering of the story with unwarranted fillers and unsatisfying ending, this drama has a pretty good rewatch value. Why? Because of the "magic" fast-forward button. There are episodes and scenes in this drama that are worth rewatching. If we can cut and paste them together, they probably form around half the length of this entire drama, but they are scenes that are the essence of the story without any fillers.
Overall: It's a pretty decent drama with eye candies to keep you going. The story-telling is a let down due to the many fillers but if you are after a drama that does not require much brain cells and only require your eye cells to ogle at good looking people, then this is the drama for you. But if you are after a more solid product with excellent story and acting, turn around; this is not the drama for you. You are better off reading the novel - which by the way, I highly recommend. Therefore, I rate this drama an overall of 7.5/10.
Although the introduction of a new character played by Riley in this drama was a nice touch, the dilution of the FL's character reduced the enjoyment somewhat for me. It is rare that we get a xuanhuan novel with a woman as the main character. Yan Hui in the novel is one such character. The dragon is merely her love interest. The story is about her. She's the main character with genius abilities and OP powers from start to end. She's the one who rescued and helped the dragon and others. Basically, the novel's hero. But in the drama, Yan Hui needed rescuing. She's slow with cultivation. In the drama, the dragon becomes the main character and she becomes his love interest. With a male-focused main character, this story has turned into one that is similar with 90% of the xuanhuan novels out there. Why they decided NOT to portray Yan Hui as a strong and independent character who is the main protagonist of the story? Your guess is as good as mine. But the main weakness of the drama is not the weakening of Yan Hui's character per se - it's the use of fillers upon fillers which ended abruptly with a short ending that left viewers feeling cheated and wanting their money (and time) back. Many have defended the changes by saying the author herself is part of the screenwriting team, but I would argue that there are limits to what a novel author can do when she has already sold her rights to the novel plus a good novel author does not equate to a good screenwriter because book to screen adaptations is a whole different ballgame altogether. So, at the end of the day, the novel author being part of the screenwriting team has more marketing value than actual practical value.
Acting/Cast: Casting is done mostly well; from a visual point of view. Both the ML and FL have good looks and this drama has definitely garnered them a stronger fanbase. However, acting of the leads left much to be desired. They started out quite stiff, though they do slowly warm up towards the end, but it is still obvious that they lacked acting experience. The second male lead, Riley, actually acted better - mostly because Riley is a more seasoned actor. Chemistry between ML and FL is so-so. They gave off a "little girl and her best friend dragon" feeling. Minimal skinship and kissing. The "kisses" are polite pecks. Even the hugs are pretty stiff. Very chaste. So if you are after more deeper kissing, more skinship and off-the-charts type chemistry, this is not the drama for you.
Music: Nice OSTs that reflect the mood of the story. No complains in this department.
Rewatch value: Despite the butchering of the story with unwarranted fillers and unsatisfying ending, this drama has a pretty good rewatch value. Why? Because of the "magic" fast-forward button. There are episodes and scenes in this drama that are worth rewatching. If we can cut and paste them together, they probably form around half the length of this entire drama, but they are scenes that are the essence of the story without any fillers.
Overall: It's a pretty decent drama with eye candies to keep you going. The story-telling is a let down due to the many fillers but if you are after a drama that does not require much brain cells and only require your eye cells to ogle at good looking people, then this is the drama for you. But if you are after a more solid product with excellent story and acting, turn around; this is not the drama for you. You are better off reading the novel - which by the way, I highly recommend. Therefore, I rate this drama an overall of 7.5/10.
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