Xixia lu tiaotiao

This movie has very, very impressive scenery. It's of Western China, I believe. In many ways, I think this movie was intended as a sort of tourist advertisement for the area.

The story about the small band of barbarians kidnapping small male children to train as future warriors is Ok, but was drawn out way too long. The events and drama of the story could have easily been told in 60 minutes, but instead the film makers dragged it out to a stupefying 110!

The acting and directing were kind of half-baked as well. It seemed like a shoe string production.

One of the major irritations of this film is the behavior of the principal actor, the chief of the barbarians. He is in practically every scene and the camera really dotes and lingers on him. He's a handsome guy, for sure, but his constant mugging and showboating really got irksome after about 30 minutes into the film.

It was difficult to take this movie seriously. At one point, right after the birth of one of the children, the new child's mother is abandoned in the middle of nowhere by the barbarians. All I could think of was "Oh! How barbaric!" It just seemed nonsensical and only done for effect.

The little costumes that the children wore were all adorable, too.

All in all, worth seeing, but not for the usual reasons.