Fantasy Westward Journey (2021)

For younger audiences

Simple story -- good vs evil. Great graphics. Good looking actors, all around. Basic plot involves a group of friends who can't quite decide whether they're battling as a group, or depending on themselves.

Flat characters with very scripted (stereotypical) words and behavior. The hair-flouncing or finger-pointing anger. Temper tantrums (literally) when things didn't go perfectly. The loyal boyfriend. the Dad (aka Buddhist monk), the PhD psychiatrist, the shy smart kid, the schizophrenic girl, the best-friend-turned-evil... all there. Three couples with very flat predictable relationships. All the girls get pulled in by evil-guy, and the good-guys have to save them. The orphan meme that Disney loves to make sure viewers have enough sympathy.

Acting of the schizophrenic girl is pretty good -- the actress plays three characters, and does each quite well.

Rating scores are clearly a function of age: under 18 rates near 10.0, while ages 50+ rate closer to 2.0. The stereotypes become too simplistic to maintain interest.

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Silly and entertaining

I’ve seen it twice by now.
I really enjoy Gong Jun’s older dramas (anything made before Flaming Heart), when he was allowed to emote and his characters weren’t reduced to “hot and stoic armrests for Female Leads”.

The Player is a short drama about a group of gamers who become friends due to circumstances. They have to stop the bad guy, who is also the ex best friend of the ML, Gong Jun’s character Ren Yixia. The drama has a very shonen vibe to it and it’s entertaining when you don’t take it too seriously. We have an eager protagonist who wants to save his friends at all cost. We have all the supporting characters who become his best friends. We have friends who turn evil and so on.
It might be aimed at younger viewers, but I think older ones can appreciate it too. It has some very funny scenes and it reverses some of the terrible cdrama tropes (like the awful awfuuul falling on your lips trope).

Likes:
- cast and the video game/shonen vibe
- the characters actually have chemistry with each other. You can feel they are friends
- Ren Yixia, Xiao Hanlin and Yan Yunfei
- characters that team plays in the game have their own personalities and things going on when Ren Yixia and co aren’t logged in
- ironically this cdrama has one of the most tight up plot and ending that makes sense - which is rare
- cgi and music
- the last in-game fight with the big baddie and the emotional pay off

Dislikes:
- Hu Miaomiao character and her plot line
- we will never get season 2

Thank you Word of Honor for being a success and making Mango TV try and cash out on GJ’s sudden fame by releasing this drama. Even though I might be one of very few people who appreciate it haha
I really wish we’ve gotten a season 2 at some point, but I fear GJ and the rest of the cast would shot me down at the proposal.

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