This review may contain spoilers
Predictable story but entertaining and super cute main lead
The legendary siblings (1999) was one of my first Chinese dramas as well as favorite dramas back when I was little. I was quite excited when I heard about this remake especially after bromance dramas getting better and more popular nowadays.
I was a bit disappointed watching the first episodes as I found Chen Zhe Yuan a bit too baby faced for playing Xiao Yu Er and Hu Yi Tian’s acting too stiff. Even story-wise the first mini-arc felt really unrealistic that I almost dropped it.
But then the story became better and I really enjoyed the drama until episodes 30ish.
There are two longer acts in the story: the hidden treasure mystery and the tender to transport a pile of silver. Both have their own twists and mysteries. The arcs connect themselves to an overarching plot, though I knew about the overarching plot I was not able to foresee (at least not as quick) the resolution of those acts which made them suspenseful. There are also some small emotional climaxes where Xiao Yu Er falls into a slump or the villain gets to pay for some of their evil doings.
As in many Wu Xia dramas, there are many idealistic occurrences and unrealistic coincidences; e.g. Love is always, at first sight, strong women never want to continue living when their lovers die, 100% survival after falling from cliffs, finding your friend quickly in the big vast nature without any idea where he might be, etc... Just watch them with one eye closed and you are fine.
To my opinion, the last arc, ~10 episodes before the finalee, could have been cut. The story becomes repetitive and does not add value to the overarching story: someone becomes a hostage and is saved later; someone else is deceived and gets caught again... Since I did not read the source material so I don’t know whether this is from the book itself but it felt like the screenwriter wanted to introduce more characters from to this drama but had not a good idea how to. Luckily, the ending was really well-executed (though expected) with a satisfactory happy ending.
As for the cast and the acting, I was very impressed with Chen Zhe Yuan’s acing as Xiao Yu Er. Some might find him overacting but this did not bother me. He is very cute and extremely fun to watch. I just could not get enough of his jokes and saw myself looking forward to seeing how he times and times tricks himself out of danger. I really fell in love with Chen Zhe Yuan (he is only 23!) - he will for sure become a great actor and I cannot wait to see more of his works.
I was not a fan of Hua Wu Que but slowly got a liking at him too as he slightly let his emotions peeks through here and there. XYE and HWQ are a great couple whose character traits and relationship development strongly remind me of Wei Wu Xian and Lan Zhan from Untamed. And there were 1-2 heart-racing scenes which actively target BL fans like me (e.g. XYE falls from a tree and was caught by HWQ the sweetest way while there was no need at all to put XYE on a freaking tree!!)
Also, most supporting characters are fairly interesting and three-dimensional. And the villains, esp. Jiang Yu Lang, have done a marvelous job. I heard that this adaption is one with the most complete cast set based on the main novel, that seems to be indeed the case.
The only part I was not very happy with is the female leads. Vicky Liang’s acting is pretty average; though she had great chemistry with XYE, she and HWQ were not a good fit at all. Liang Jie playing Su Ying did a good job in terms of acting but her character is not at all likable, in fact rather egoistic and deceiving. Even though this might be true to the source materials it would have been more realistic to have the womanizer but extremely kind XYE to stay single rather than for him to end up with Su Ying (Where is my cute little Xiao La Jiao (little chili pepper) from the 99 edition?!). Murong Jiu would have been even a better fit.
Luckily, the romance is not key in the drama. From the production point of view, the costumes are beautiful, sceneries are beautiful and the Wu Xia fights are visually satisfactory. It took them two years to produce this!! Small CG elements were spotted but overall the production value is great and sets well crafted.
The title and ending songs are really nice - I just wish they would use them more in the drama rather than the sad Er Hu BGMs that they kept playing towards the end...
Overall, I had a good time with the drama but you might want to fast forward the last arc to save some time. I would recommend it to those who love Untamed, bromance and any adaption of handsome siblings.
I was a bit disappointed watching the first episodes as I found Chen Zhe Yuan a bit too baby faced for playing Xiao Yu Er and Hu Yi Tian’s acting too stiff. Even story-wise the first mini-arc felt really unrealistic that I almost dropped it.
But then the story became better and I really enjoyed the drama until episodes 30ish.
There are two longer acts in the story: the hidden treasure mystery and the tender to transport a pile of silver. Both have their own twists and mysteries. The arcs connect themselves to an overarching plot, though I knew about the overarching plot I was not able to foresee (at least not as quick) the resolution of those acts which made them suspenseful. There are also some small emotional climaxes where Xiao Yu Er falls into a slump or the villain gets to pay for some of their evil doings.
As in many Wu Xia dramas, there are many idealistic occurrences and unrealistic coincidences; e.g. Love is always, at first sight, strong women never want to continue living when their lovers die, 100% survival after falling from cliffs, finding your friend quickly in the big vast nature without any idea where he might be, etc... Just watch them with one eye closed and you are fine.
To my opinion, the last arc, ~10 episodes before the finalee, could have been cut. The story becomes repetitive and does not add value to the overarching story: someone becomes a hostage and is saved later; someone else is deceived and gets caught again... Since I did not read the source material so I don’t know whether this is from the book itself but it felt like the screenwriter wanted to introduce more characters from to this drama but had not a good idea how to. Luckily, the ending was really well-executed (though expected) with a satisfactory happy ending.
As for the cast and the acting, I was very impressed with Chen Zhe Yuan’s acing as Xiao Yu Er. Some might find him overacting but this did not bother me. He is very cute and extremely fun to watch. I just could not get enough of his jokes and saw myself looking forward to seeing how he times and times tricks himself out of danger. I really fell in love with Chen Zhe Yuan (he is only 23!) - he will for sure become a great actor and I cannot wait to see more of his works.
I was not a fan of Hua Wu Que but slowly got a liking at him too as he slightly let his emotions peeks through here and there. XYE and HWQ are a great couple whose character traits and relationship development strongly remind me of Wei Wu Xian and Lan Zhan from Untamed. And there were 1-2 heart-racing scenes which actively target BL fans like me (e.g. XYE falls from a tree and was caught by HWQ the sweetest way while there was no need at all to put XYE on a freaking tree!!)
Also, most supporting characters are fairly interesting and three-dimensional. And the villains, esp. Jiang Yu Lang, have done a marvelous job. I heard that this adaption is one with the most complete cast set based on the main novel, that seems to be indeed the case.
The only part I was not very happy with is the female leads. Vicky Liang’s acting is pretty average; though she had great chemistry with XYE, she and HWQ were not a good fit at all. Liang Jie playing Su Ying did a good job in terms of acting but her character is not at all likable, in fact rather egoistic and deceiving. Even though this might be true to the source materials it would have been more realistic to have the womanizer but extremely kind XYE to stay single rather than for him to end up with Su Ying (Where is my cute little Xiao La Jiao (little chili pepper) from the 99 edition?!). Murong Jiu would have been even a better fit.
Luckily, the romance is not key in the drama. From the production point of view, the costumes are beautiful, sceneries are beautiful and the Wu Xia fights are visually satisfactory. It took them two years to produce this!! Small CG elements were spotted but overall the production value is great and sets well crafted.
The title and ending songs are really nice - I just wish they would use them more in the drama rather than the sad Er Hu BGMs that they kept playing towards the end...
Overall, I had a good time with the drama but you might want to fast forward the last arc to save some time. I would recommend it to those who love Untamed, bromance and any adaption of handsome siblings.
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