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The Best Handsome Siblings Ever!
I am a true Gu Long fan, especially after watching The Legendary Siblings in 1999. It was a great drama and I ended up reading his novels. But I discovered that the novel was way better than the 1999 drama. In the novel, Xiao Yu Er is really smart, but in the drama he is constantly being saved by other people. The 2020 version is perfect. It stays true to the novel and depicts Xiao Yu Er the way he should be. Chen Zhe Yuan's portrayal of Xiao Yu Er makes the drama even more enjoyable. We see him grow from believing he is the smartest man on Earth to actually becoming the smartest man on Earth. The interactions between Hu Yi Tian and Chen Zhe Yuan make you want to rewatch it again and again as you notice how they both change and grow from being enemies to the best of friends.Was this review helpful to you?
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I enjoy this drama overall. In the beginning I watch this drama because of Hu Yitian. The plot and acting were good not bad.I don’t understand why a lot of people are saying that Tie Xinlan is not a likable character, okay you can have your own opinion. But Tie Xinlan’s material art was never good before. In the beginning she can beat Jiang Xiaoyu is because Jiang Xiaoyu never really practiced material arts. Instead he use to play trick. First of all, in the beginning Tie xinlan also asked Taohua if a girl that wears a red dress was there. When taohua said no she immediately calmed down. That’s because she knew that she can’t beat Zhang Jing. Overall, if you watch this drama multiple times you will understand why I said Tie xinlan is actually a likable character.
Moving on with Xiaoyuer, honestly for me. Xiaoyuer is not a likable character at all. He played with the woman’s feelings like I can name a lot of them. Even though he didn’t liked them he used Duan San to find out more about the murder mystery that happened in Shuang shi biao ju. He knew that Duan San liked him so he is using her. Of course, xiaoyuer know he liked Xinlan but just wouldn’t admit it. So they are not supposed to be together anyways.
I really hated the character su ying. Just because she likes Jiang xiaoyu doesn’t give her the chance to set people as their enemy. For example, she said Xinlan would be her enemy if she likes hua wuque and she will still be her enemy if she likes Jiang xiaoyu. She also made Tie pinggu stayed away from Jiang xiaoyu. She also decided to poisoned hua wuque at the end so Jiang xiaoyu can win the race which is UNFAIR. The fight is against Jiang Xiaoyu and Hua wuque not Su Ying and Wuque. This also made me feel bad for Hua wu que because every one he know all wanted Jiang xiaoyu to win the battle between him. They all begged Wuque to not killed Jiang xiaoyu but why nobody begged Jiang xiaoyu to not killed wuque? Overall, I just find suying this character useless.
For Hua wuque played by Hu yitian, I really liked the character that was played by him. A lot of people said his acting are not good but I think it’s okay. He is a new actor at that time. Since this movie was filmed in 2018 and his first cdrama was released in 2017 which is (a love so beautiful). Yes, I know he needs more practice on his acting skills, but hey it isn’t that bad.
Overall this is a great drama. I recommend you to watch it if you like wuxia.
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It had an interesting start, but a little confusion around the betrayal was quickly cleared up and had me hoping for a positive ending for the couple. But then tragedy ... and that hard hit was well played out. Was hoping for the same raw but compelling drive after the main couple but came across some parts of this series that was a bit rough around the edge. I saw it all by watching it on/off and boy is Chen Zhe Yuan adorable!! Look at that smile! When brothers find out the truth between them...the best moment throughout! They did good! Hu Yi Tian good job sweetheart! If I did rewatch this series, it would be likely for the parts I loved most. Was this review helpful to you?
I thought the story of this was really interesting, and love a historical drama, so I thought it was really cute! - a few things I did find a little annoyed was the character Vicky Liang, who was Tie Xinlan. She was a little annoying for me, She seemed a little needy in this, but I think she's a really pretty actor though!
I loved the bond between the two brothers, and how they were just there for each other! And I thought the plot was so interesting and just keep be wanting to watch more and more as I continued it!
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A fine adaptation of a classic
Story:Twins separated at birth due to a conspiracy, and their journey of discovery and growth will unfold towards a devastating end.
Characters:
The main characters’ arcs, relationships and trajectories of growth were written very well, in my opinion. Whether one will prefer or like a character more is a matter of preference, as I think writing and arc wise, none of the characters were shortchanged too much. Having a solid base of the original novel to derive from, and willing to be faithful to it had been beneficial.
Performance:
Performances by the veterans were solid. A bit of a mixed bag when it came to the younger actors. Personally, I thought some of the casts performed better than others. Still, in terms of character portrayals, nothing much was amiss, and each was executed brilliantly.
Pacing and subplots:
Pacing and action did pick up as the show progressed, but don’t expect this to be an action flick full of mind-numbing thrills. It is not. Expect dialogues and lots of expositions, as well as detours into other subplots and mini-stories, though all will be tied up with a neat bow by the end. The hallmark of a great WuXia-cum-mystery.
Cinematography:
Beauty and prettiness permeated the whole show, and it’s an entertaining romp amongst lofty architectures and sceneries (aided by copious amount of CGI), one worthy of our imaginary JiangHu. I also found the imageries to be more realistic and seamless than the ones I saw in Legend of the Condor Heroes (2017).
Choreography:
Quite blown away by the seamless action and elegance displayed in the martial art moves in this show. Most action scenes were amazing.
The main plot of this show was one already familiar to me, and I was finally willing to give it a try because I love Hua Wu Que as a character, and was highly interested in how they will develop him and his relationships, especially with Tie Xin Lan. The knowledge that this adaptation was relatively faithful to the source material was also a major factor. Even more of a HWQ and TXL fan now than before I started.
Jiang Xiao Yu, as in all adaptations, stood out.
This was a classic tale of “heroes vs villain”, less so a “good vs evil”, as both the heroes and villains exhibited various good and bad traits. What made one a villain and hero are also ideas one needs to ponder on. Spiritual lessons, if one is receptive, also abounded. What I love about WuXia has always been the fact that at its best, it adds to that debate and understanding. This adaptation, I think, is a worthy addition to the genre. I am just glad I loved it too.
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Too long
I really found this series to have to much unnecessary drama and was way to long.The basic storyline was there twins that got separated and had different up bringing in two different sectors.
I tend to lead more to Second ML just because he seemed to experience more once he was let out, basically survival skills or street smart. The first ML for me was too proper and just didn't get it.
Even though they eventually found each other it wasn't the whole brotherhood love.
This series could have been simple and to point, but that wasn't the case.
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This is the story of two brothers separated at birth. The series shows us the evolution of the two young men and how, despite their fundamentally different upbringings, they come together at all cost.
A bit of romance, humor, action and satire here and there, and a bit of a plot hole despite the absurdity of certain situations.
It's a good serie, like you're watchin a theater play but on a screen, and with cute main lead.
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How to avoid the obvious for 43 episodes
I will start off by saying, I was pleasantly surprised by this drama. The reviews were not bad, but I had expected to find it difficult for me to watch based off previous attempts to watch the first episode.I loved the acting by Chen Zheyuan, Hu Yitian and Vicky Liang. I really enjoyed the dynamics and chemistry the three shared despite circumstances pulling them apart. I liked how feelings came and left and that they did not automatically abandon their aims for each other. Whether for right or wrong, you could really see how their different upbringings drove their decisions and priorities, and why they could or could not accept certain sacrifices.
I also really enjoyed how a 'righteous' upbringing did not make the characters more feeling or make better/more morally correct decisions.
It has also been a while since I have sat on the edge of my seat screaming in desperation for a character to be killed.
But this is where we get to the but. I did not enjoy Su Ying's character (likely due to her vicious nature) and could not bring myself to like her relationship with Xiao Yu'er (he had more chemistry with almost every other female character imo).
Also, I don't understand how they could drag the rivalry out for that many episodes without them finding out the main secret... I began to get sick of the diversions... I also felt that all the villains (except for one) got off too lightly... but maybe that is my craving for revenge, and I can accept the brother's decisions.
Honestly, with the dragging out, if it had not been for Hei Zhi Zhu and Muroung Jiu, I'm not sure I could have gotten through this drama.
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Terribly forced unwatchable love triangle that ruins story
So I’m really enjoying this show for like the first 10 episodes, then they start trying to force it towards a direction that it just didn’t make sense to go. The MC builds a strong relationship with the female MC like they put a lot of effort to making their romance really bloom and it worked, I was fully engrossed in how they would grow together with the martial arts aspect of the story. It was VERY INTERESTING! Then they introduce his brother whose mission is to kill him even though he doesn’t know why and he doesn’t know that he’s his brother. This is where it gets IRRITATING! For some reason they pluck the main female MC from the main MCs side and has her continue the journey with his brother. So we never see the romance really bloom again because plot separated them, then they’re trying to make her and his brother have some romance by literally just having her with him the whole time and having the MC go on a solo adventure with really dumb shit happening along the way. Like what? They would tease us by having the MC run into her again every few episodes for a “coincidental” run-in, then there’s a slow motion emotional memory scene, he runs away and they don’t see each other again. I literally could not focus on the rest of the plot because the romance was so goddamn annoying until I had enough. I couldn’t even make it halfway through. What a waste of a good 1st 10 episodes. Instead of 44 they should shorten it to 16 episodes like Korean dramas so they don’t try to squeeze in too much CAP.Was this review helpful to you?
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The Siblings Are The Only Thing That's Handsome
Going into this drama, I thought the title was cheesy and gimmicky, but the summary made it sound very interesting. If only it had lived up to its potential. This was honestly one of the hardest Chinese dramas I've ever watched, as in it took me months because I would get so fed up with it I would stop watching it for weeks at a time. For all that the title is Handsome Siblings, there's really not all that much time devoted to the siblings together and is far more focused on their individual adventures and such which is massively disappointing because when the two of them were together, they absolutely stole the show.- The story had such potential: two brothers torn apart at birth and raised to be enemies and kill each other. It sounds so good, but the delivery just wasn't there. The brothers don't even meet until almost ten episodes in and after that their scenes together are few and far between. While the first part focuses on Wuque searching for Xaoyu and Xaoyu subsequently seeking to evade Wuque, the latter part of the drama has them making a pact to meet up in three months and then splitting up. Rather than waiting until quite literally the very end to reveal that they're brothers, I would have liked them to have found out sooner and seen them build their relationship as brothers. As it is, we get none of that, just repeated comments that they're best friends and it sucks they have to kill each other. Knowing that they were brothers would have put a lot more at stake and would have made the knowledge that they're being set up to kill each other far more conflicting and devastating. There's also just a lot of repetition, the same thing happening several times but with slightly different circumstances. I've found that most Chinese dramas struggle with this. They honestly could have cut the length down by ten or so episodes and nothing would have been lost. The pacing also left a lot to be desired. There'd be several episodes where things were really happening and then there'd be a slump of just filler episodes and then several more interesting ones and then more filler. It just never felt consistent, never found its groove, so to speak.
-The casting was, for the most part, absolutely spot on. Chen Ze Yuan and Hu Yi Tian both gave solid performances as Jiang Xaoyu and Hua Wuque. They felt a little bit rocky starting out but quickly ironed out the flaws and were fantastic for the rest of the drama. They both devoted themselves to their roles and the few instances when they were together, they played off of each other very well. They were also solid on their own and frankly their relationship and the build up to the big reveal that they're siblings was the only thing that kept me watching. The supporting characters were, for the most part, great but I especially enjoyed Liang Jie's performance as Su Ying. Frankly, I'm disappointed they didn't bring her in earlier because she was just so fantastic. She and Xauyu were made for each other. Their interactions were always fun to watch and she's just so darn cute but also an absolute badass. I adore her. Mao Lin Lin and Meng Li were also delightful to watch as Yaoyue and Lianxing. I honestly wish there had been more of them because they were just so good and so interesting to watch. More insight into their relationship would have been helpful, I think. The only actor I wasn't overly thrilled with was Vicky Liang as Tie Xinlan. She was very one note with all of her expressions and she made the character boring.
- The characters themselves were overall good, if not overly developed. Most of them were interesting and nuanced. With such a massive cast, backgrounds for the characters were obviously going to be thin, but for the most part it worked. I really enjoyed Hua Wuque's character development from the cold, naïve, perfect puppet to a genuinely good and kind man. I appreciated though that his naivety wasn't completely done away with as I felt it made him more realistic. I really wish more of the story had been devoted to him because I found him so much more interesting than Xaoyu. He was a bit more of an enigma and I would have liked more screen time focused on his character development. Xaoyu is a mix of good and bad. Like I said, I wish more time had been devoted to Wuque and less to him. It felt like he had far more screen time. Overall, I liked Xaoyu, he was funny and interesting and certainly clever, but I felt like his character development was a little more all over the place and less coherent than Wuque's. I also felt like his storyline was a lot more repetitive which got old fast. Honestly, I was rolling my eyes the fourth or fifth time he used going to the bathroom as an excuse to get away from someone, it just got to be increasingly annoying. The fact that characters who had experience with his tricks repeatedly fell for them was equally frustrating. He did grow as a character which I appreciated seeing and he did add a lightheartedness that was needed at times. I also have to admire his bravery and his kindness and sincerity. He could be a brat, but he was a good-hearted brat. As I said before, I adored Su Ying and wish she'd been brought in far earlier. She was the perfect foil for Xaoyu and I loved that she could hold her own against him. She was clever and resourceful and I liked the fact that they didn't give her any martial arts skills, it was kind of refreshing. I do have to give this show a shoutout for, with one notable exception, featuring strong, badass women. It was so nice to see that when, a lot of the time, women in these kinds of dramas are just downright useless. It was nice to see strong women who were equally capable at kicking ass and using their brains.
Another character that stood out to me was Murong Jui. I went from hating her to actually getting quite invested in her story and where she ended up. It was not what I was expecting at all and I really enjoyed seeing her growth and development and I'm glad they didn't do away with that when she got her memory back. Her relationship with Hei Zhi Zhu was also quite adorable. Of the Ten Great Villains Xuanyuan Sanguang was my favorite. He was just so entertaining to watch and he had such a good heart, he always made me smile. Speaking of the Ten Great Villains, I found them to be interesting but not particularly villainous until the end. There's a bit of twist with them that I did not fully see coming and which, while it pissed me off on the one hand, I also really appreciated because it gave their characters more depth. They way things ended for them though felt sloppy and rushed. I was not impressed.
In terms of villains, I found the sisters to be far more interesting and threatening than Jiang Biehe. While the actor was certainly striking in appearance, his reasoning for why he did what he did just seemed thin and generic. And then a full explanation for why he did what he did wasn't given until one of the final episodes and even then, it just seemed kind of meh. Honestly, if they had delved more into his past and why he had such conviction to become a hero, I think it could have been pretty great and a more solid story. But, per the usual, all the big reveals were left to the end and it just didn't have the punch it needed. Yulang was frankly just an ass. I get his father was evil, but I didn't get a good feeling as to why he was such a horrible person other than like father like son. I felt like a lot more could have been done with him and he could have been more interesting and developed, but he wasn't. I did find his ending extremely satisfying though. I really would have liked to have seen more of the sisters as they were a more compelling and nuanced threat. Yaoyue was clearly just unhinged though incredibly smart and dangerous because of that and it made the reasoning for why she pit Xaoyu and Wuque against each other more palatable. She also had a fitting ending. Lainxing was even more interesting because she always seemed so conflicted about what they were doing, even though it was her idea. I was sad things ended the way they did for her, because I think she could have been a genuinely good person away from the influence of her sister. As a pair, I would have liked more of their history and the conflicts that shaped their relationship.
The only character that I really did not like was Tie Xinlan. I liked her in the beginning although the whole thing with her pretending to be a man was, per usual, extraordinarily lame. I'm assuming this is a cultural thing though I honestly don't know, but I always want to bang my head against the wall because it is so obvious its a woman. Anyway, I thought she was going to be a far more interesting and useful character than she turned out to be. For all that she was trained in martial arts and had supposedly mastered the berserk thousands fists or whatever and carried around a sword, she was completely useless. She was constantly having to be rescued, never seemed capable of defending herself and there just wasn't much to her other than essentially stalking Wuque and forcing him to constantly save her. She got boring real fast. And her relationship with Wuque didn't feel organic. I honestly couldn't figure out what he saw in her aside from a pretty face. The fact that basically every other woman in the show was awesome, does help make up for everything she lacks.
- The cinematography was gorgeous. Honestly if it wasn't for the scary government, I would happily move to China and live in some of those mountains. Absolutely stunning.
- The OST was overall quite good. The opening and closing songs were fitting and worked well with the overall theme. The rest of the music for the most part fit with what was going on in certain scenes and fit the mood. There were a couple times where it just didn't quite work and felt off, pulling me out of the drama instead of pulling me in, but those instances were few and far between. For the most part, I quite enjoyed it.
- The visuals were a mix. The CGI was terrible, per the usual. For some scenes, why they didn't actually use rats who are very intelligent and trainable, I don't understand. Costuming was amazing as always. I enjoyed seeing each character's style and the various ways that style was expressed. Xaoyu's costumes were the most interesting to me just because they were so much more colorful and flamboyant that everyone else's. It very much fit his personality and character.
Is this a drama I am ever going to watch again? Absolutely not. As I said before, I literally slogged through this drama, it was hard and painful to get through. What's so disappointing is that it could have been great. They had a good cast, they had an interesting story idea and it just flopped because they failed to utilize any of it properly. There were moments that were really interesting and gripping and then it fell back into repetition and tedium that just dragged it down. The last ten or so episodes when things actually start happening and explanations are given were the strongest, the rest was just such a hit or miss. I really wanted to like this drama but in the end, it just didn't live up to its potential.
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Incredibly Fun and Entertaining Wuxia Drama with Impressive Fighting Scenes~!!
Wow! I'm truly impressed. I never thought this drama's going to be this good and entertaining to watch. It reminded me why you shouldn't judge a drama merely out of peoples opinions and feedbacks.Well, First thing first, SCRATCH all those negative feedbacks I've red about this drama even before I decided to watch this. People do really have different tastes and expectations to almost every single thing however I felt like this production didn't deserve any of those at all. In fact, this drama served and exceeded so much of my pre-set expectations; thank god I trusted my instinct and chose this one among many others.
There are really so much good things about this drama and this review might become 20+ pharagraph long (Hahaha) so let me just enumerate most of them.
× The smooth, Fun and entertaining story that got me hooked up from the very start till the end. I swear to god there's no dull moments in this drama.
× Fighting Skills are mostly impressive and detailed. You can definitely see that they took their time to practice those stunts to make it look pleasing and cool in the camera.
× Characters are well coordinated and for some reason they found a way to make them look interesting that you got no choice but to remember them even when they only appear 1-2 times for a short period of time.
× Cinematography, Color scheme and overall representation of the drama look pleasant in the eye. Nothing extra and bizarre going on and the costume are well matched and fits each individual characters.
Oh well... A drama can never be perfect and I admit to have creased my forehead several times due to some repetitive and ridiculous story plots and twists so let me mention some of those stuff as well.
× Let's start with the 6 member of Top 10 Villain who're supposedly strong and wicked but are just a bunch of tricky, gullible and weak individuals. I expected them to have atleast intermediate Kung Fu skills but they just don't. Bunch of disappointments on that area honestly + they lack an actual sense in the story and was killed as if they don't have anything better planned for them.
× Overly gullible Female Characters... I'm just so sick of people making women look strong and tough only to make them highly deceiveable and emotionally weak. Come on! Y'all can do better than that.
× Last but definitely not the least is the somehow predictable and bland ending. Like, How do I even start with how cringy and plain their actings are at the final episode? It felt forced and awkward. Did they shoot that scene at the very beginning? cause I never had any problem with their acting eversince aside from the final episode. That realy made me go "Ehhh! what was that? Lol".
Anyways, A drama that everyone can enjoy specially to those who are looking for nice, smooth and light Wuxia drama.
Story - 9.5, I contemplated a lot and ended up with this score after considering everything. Don't get me wrong, story is real good and have good ending. It's just that most of the scenes during the last episode felt so ordinary and plain. It felt like their creative juices was squeezed and drained so much throughout the entire run of the drama that they just throw what's the most obvious and simple at the end.
Acting/Cast - 9.5, This drama got the most irritating antagonists there is but that's actually why I love this story even more. I was very amazed on the way they personified and executed their characters to the point where I hated them so much too. What a love-hate relarionship Hahaha + The only thing that made me disappointed about it is the Final Episode. That's just so underwhelming in every single way. /sighs/
Music - 10, I love the choice of BGMs and I'm really impressed on how they inserted those sounds in the most comfortable way. They were all smoothly placed and Ballad is everything. <3
Rewatch Value - 10, This drama is high-praise-worthy and is one of the drama that made me binge-watch continuously this year. It is so exciting and made me look forward to each and every coming episodes without a miss. Will definitely rewatch it 100%.
Overall - 9.5, It should've been Perfect 10 but the continuous display of women manipulation + lack of actual character sense and value made me frustrated.
Not to mention the ever-plain-ending that made it even worse which led me to this conclusion after so much contemplation.
If you find my review helpful please let me know
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Very enjoyable if you have a high tolerance for bullshit
Handsome siblings tells the story of twin brothers separated from birth. Hua Wuchue grew up to be the young master of a famous clan, who was told by his aunts that he is destined to kill Jiang Xiaoyu. Meanwhile, Jiang Xiaoyu was brought up by a bunch of villains but still managed to become an overall good person with a lot of tricks up his sleeve. Neither of them knows they have a twin brother. When they turn 18, they venture out into the world with very different goals: one to kill the other; the other to discover the truth behind his origin. And while the duel seems to be inevitable between the twins, they still become somewhat good friends along the journey.SPOILERS FROM HERE ON!
This is my first review here and not an overwhelmingly positive one, so please don't take it as an offense. I really enjoyed the show, but I also had a lot of problems with it.
Starting with the positive, I loved the leads. The performance of the siblings was great. Jiang Xiaoyu is charmingly smart and funny, tricks everyone he meets, and talks himself out of every crisis. Hua Wuchue is reserved but kind. I loved to see his character development.
However, other than those two, almost every aspect of the story has "flaws." (In parenthesis, because it depends on what you're looking for in a good drama).
First of all, the story is really silly, which itself is not a problem. But because of the silliness, it also fails to deliver genuine emotions at times. The design of the 12 zodiac signs or the 10 villains makes it hard to take them seriously. It's just so... children's movie-like. But it is not a children's movie. It's a wuxia with the mandatory massacres included.
There are 3 "final bosses" (the aunts, the rat, and Jiang Qin), but the only really scary and interesting villain is Jiang Qin. The others' motivations are petty at best and crazy at worst. I don't have a problem with crazy, but I have a problem with illogical. So the aunts' are angry that the boys' father was not in love with them. They take revenge by murdering the man and his wife. Then they steal one of the children, bring him up, teach him and pamper him, just to order him 18 years later to murder his own brother. Is it just me, or is this awfully stupid? They are also very static characters. (There are a lot of static characters in this story. I was hoping for them to change, but they remained the same all the way to the end.)
I also have a problem with the girls. Like, all of them, really. I rarely like female characters anyways, and this story has a lot of girls; almost all of them madly in love with one sibling or the other (or both). Tie-whatshername starts out as an interesting character but somehow becomes a constant damsel in distress. Also, there's a love triangle between her and the boys with a lot of angst on her part. The other girl, the rat's step-daughter, is just not a likable person. She is intelligent, but she doesn't have the moral character of Jiang Xiaoyu. She misleads people out of petty jealously, attempts to murder Wuchue by tricking him, even though she knows that Xiaoyu'er wouldn't want that... and so on. I probably could have warmed up to her if I had the time to do so, but she rarely had any screentime, and there really wasn't any space for the chemistry to develop between her and Xiaoyu. Also... I saw little to no development in her character either. The murder attempt happened in the last episode. So yeah, I couldn't get to like her.
In conclusion, this show is not bad. It has a silly plot, a lot of funny interactions, mediocre music, decent filmography, okay fight choreographies, and two very likable leads. It also has a lot of flaws. But it certainly is a fun ride if you want to watch something lighthearted and sweet with a happy ending.
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