Xuan Zang

The film has truly wonderful visuals. Amazing landscapes, but also the filming makes the best of them.

But I was immensely irritated by the slow incomplete English subtitles. Cheap little fantasy or kung-fu movies do a much better job.

Much of the time, there was a subtitle in Chinese ideograms, but no clue to the context for an English-speaker. And more than half the world does not no Chinese or Indian languages. An amazing failing.

When there was something in English, it often seemed to pop up well after the events it related to.

A silly waste for a high-budget film with some noted actors.

If anyone decides to re-do it and have a proper version that might be popular outside of China and India, it would be good to give more context. We do get the bad translations explained, but people would wonder why Tang China is not letting people travel.

They also need to be told that this was before the rise of Islam, so a mix of Buddhism and Hinduism was the norm on the path the man followed.

Looking more widely, I noticed that when the man gets a follower, he has this servant carry his pack. Buddhism when institutionalised tends to be as bad as Christianity at rendering practical service to oppression.

Likewise I was unimpressed by an admired guru sitting well above everyone else, assembled to admire them. Not what I'd see as holiness.

I did see it as an excellent rendering of some interesting cultures. Which is why the sloppy English subtitles. And why I still give it a decent mark.

Imagery, music, and quest are all seamlessly synthesised to produce an immersive experience. Let yourself go ...

Produced by Wong Kar-wai and directed by sixth generation Chinese director Huo Jianqi (who previously directed Postmen in the Mountains (1999) and Naan(2003), "Xuan Zang" is the first Indo-Chinese co- production by the state-owned China Film Corporation and Eros International.

The story depicts the 17 years long legendary seventh century spiritual journey of Buddhist monk Xuan Zang (Hsüan-tsang), who dissatisfied with the translations of Buddhist texts available in china and wanted to collect originals from Nalanda, from China to India during the Tang dynasty and whose famous journey served as an inspiration for Chinese fantasy classic "Journey to The West."

Eyes are not enough to see the splendor of this masterpiece. Those picturesque and unseen Chinese landscapes are breath-taking. This lavish and high budget spiritual adventure epic is memorable and rare kind. A film must not miss.

This film was selected as the Chinese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards but it was not nominated.

This is a masterpiece for knowledge people, from the script, acting, music, photography. For those lovers of package movie, "no brains needed", this movie will be too deep, complex, and boring. I strongly belive that once US. People start liking english doubled movies, they will adquire the taste for foreing movies with content, good scripts, and quality. Meanwhile, keep tasting boring remakes of movies that you can watch the original for free in the internet.

The story is straightforward and lack of a sense of rhythm from beginning to the end. The leading actor Xiaoming Huang made me feel sleepy when he said the lines. Jin Luo and Kai Tan is the only two roles that can make me believe in, the other supporting roles were set as props, neither vitality nor personality. Therefore, the biggest drawback of this film is that the characters are shaped by very dull way.

Of course, the advantage of this film is the original music and photography technology.If you want to appreciate Buddhism scenic spot in India, if you like Tang dynasty costumes, and visit beautiful scenery of the silk road, all of these has been put in the movie.