Puppet Prince (2019)

Steampunk, historical romance that packs a lot into the story

On my continuous quest to find Chinese fantasy movies with happy endings (one of my favorite genres but unfortunately not quite popular compared to sad/open/ambiguous openings), I found Puppet Prince.
Thanks to the translator Productive Procrastination for the great translations (you can watch it subbed on their site)!

PROS
❀ Likable main leads and supporting characters | I don't know any of these actors but they were pretty solid! I was hesitant towards the FL at first - she gets saved by the ML in one of the first scenes (like yes I guess it's necessary but is it really??) and her dubbed voice was a bit annoying. BUT she gets so much better! Throughout the story you can see she's a good soul and knows enough kung fu to stand up for herself and help other people. She's determined to get to the bottom of what happened three years ago and find her senior brother, even if it means going against the governor. I liked how capable she was.
On the other hand, the 'governor' aka our ML aka a powerful puppet is a literal puppet being used by the bad guys. When he meets the FL, he sees color and a potential future past being just a heartless puppet. It's really adorable how innocent he is about emotions and the world outside the government. (Of course, he just needs a spunky heroine to show him the good stuff!!)
The senior brother and FL's master are great characters that I also enjoyed - they definitely added color to the script!
❀ Creative settings | I loved the steampunk foundation of this movie. We got to see the illegal puppet market, an underground palace/prison place, and other cool background settings. While the plot wasn't anything new, I enjoyed this puppet-centric historical (I guess it would technically be a xuanhuan?) romance.
❀ There's an OST I really like | It's the second track in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9_Mp97iPY8. In general I thought the music was well-placed and added to the overall atmosphere.

CONS
✕ Honestly the beginning was rough for me | But hold on tight - the movie gets better!! Like I mentioned before, the FL wasn't the best at first and the first scene's CGI was... omg, it was so bad. There's a reason why Chinese movies have a special place in my heart with their questionable CGI (Bollywood movies are also up there, lmao). But after that over-the-top puppet scene in the beginning, everything else that follows is is pretty solid.
✕ Romance is kind of rushed since the movie tries to fit a bunch of things | My rule for going into these types of movies is not expecting much from the romantic storyline. The main leads get around 3-5 scenes (maybe 20 min in total?) to develop feelings and then they get pushed to the rest of the plot. While they're falling in love, there's an evil commander, random evil woman who wants to get with the puppet governor (which is never explained why), missing senior brother, mysterious events 3 years past, and a secret plot in the background. We get usual Cdrama tropes from hidden identities to "I can only see color near her" to asking the age-old question on what it means to be human. Anyway, I stan.
✕ Kind of forced the ending | I think this story could have been completed in one movie, but a random move by an unimportant character added angst which led to the need for a second movie. Was it satisfying? Not at all, and we could have saved screen time by instead getting the main couple to see rainbows or something as promised. Was I okay with it? Yeah, I'll bite because there's another movie... but still. The execution left a lot to be desired.
✕ Misunderstanding level: 3/10 | Happens once towards the end of the movie with your typical noble sacrifice move. Doesn't happen for a long time, but I have to note that it's another trope the movie utilizes.

OVERALL
If you're looking for a quick movie with steampunk/historical Chinese vibes and a sweet romance, I recommend this series (should watch both of them to get that happy ending). It's not a must-see, but I'm a fan of romance movies with happy endings in general and it's good enough to pass the time. Just a warning, this one has a bittersweet ending (low key cliffhanger) but the next movie completes the couple's story. Happy watching!

(Note: My rewatch value is set to 5.0 always as a default as I'm not the type to rewatch dramas EVER. Thus, I do not take it into account when calculating overall score.)

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