Fairy From Wonderland (Tien Wai Fei Xian)

Cast:
Hu Ge - Dong Din
Bobby Dou- Ha Cao
TAE - Din Bao
Ariel Lin - Thieu Tat
Cecilia Han Xue- Linh Miu
Lu Yi - Chay Khiem
Tse Kwan Ho - Lao Phu Tu

Plot:
This is a typical story of a fairy, Thieu Tat,who fell in love with a mortal man name Dong Din. Unfortunately, the rules of Heaven forbids her to love him. Thieu Tat went down to earth twice. The first time was to find a way to save her sister. That's the first time she met, and fell in love with, Dong Din. The second time was when she was sent by her father as punishment for going to Earth the first time. She must complete 100 good deeds to return to Heaven and she will be placed under the care of Dong Din. She forgot him because her love root was plucked so she won't fall in love while on earth. But slowly, as Dong Din and Thieu Tat stay together, her memories came back and her love for him returned. Of course her parents can't let her be with Dong Din and she was taken back to heaven. That part was not pretty. Dong Din was hurt really bad and as a result, he forgot all about Thieu Tat. Since then, his life went downhill. He was accused of false crimes and became poor. His parents died when things were looking up and he was in debt from borrowing money for his parents' funeral.
The main reason to all of Dong Din's misfortune is because of Thieu Tat, so she escaped from heaven, with the help of her sisters and mother, and descended down to earth for a third time. Her goal was to make sure Dong Din's life was better and then she will leave. Dong Din slowly remembers Thieu Tat and that makes it harder for her to leave him. Together they decided to rebel against heaven again but this time, if they fail, death might be the punishment.
Another part to the plot is about Ha Cao. He is one of Dong Din's buddies and his life turned bad at the same time Dong Din's did. His father and grandfather had helped a heavenly creature, Linh Miu, when she was trying to escape heaven. As a consequence Ha Cao's family, including himself, can never receive good fortune. The reason Linh Miu tried escaping Heaven was because she wants to become a human and fall in love. Recently, she had succeeded in escaping heaven and she made a deal with an evil tree so she can be human. She fell in love with Ha Cao and saved his life. He helped her complete her side of that deal even though it might ruin him if he gets caught.
Basically, the storyline revolves around Dong Din's and Ha Cao's rebellion against heaven, each for their own reasons, but both have the same consequences.

Performances:

Hu Ge - Dong Din: Dong Din is a good, kindhearted guy and Hu Ge expressed him well. Hu Ge has this kind face and that's basically what Dong Din is all about. Hu Ge is a good actor and it shows. His tears came out well. There was a scene where he had one tear come out of his eye when his eyes are closed. That looked really nice. That was when Thieu Tat left Dong Din for the third time and through closed eyes, you can still see the pain.

Bobby Dou- Ha Cao: Ha Cao is a quiet solemn guy and maybe because of that, Bobby Dou's performance seems kind of stiff. I don't know if it's because of the character but Bobby have the same expression on all the time and he doesn't move around a lot. He just sits and stands there. There were times when he expressed anger but there's just a lot of solemn expressions and stiffness.

TAE - Din Bao: Din Bao is a comedic relief for this series but at times it seems like TAE is over acting. The comedy seems fake and overdone but maybe that's what makes Din Bao funny, he is portrayed as a bad actor in the beginning of the movie. The crying scene was horrible too. It seemed so fake, like TAE was trying to squeeze out tears and when none came, he covered his face to hide the lack of tears. Every time he uncovers it, there's no wetness. He does look depress, but not a lot of tears.

Ariel Lin -Thieu Tat: I was surprised to see Ariel Lin as Theiu Tat. Thieu Tat is a spoilt but kindhearted girl and not to mention smart. Ariel had a totally opposite character in It Started With A Kiss so there were some doubts. But Ariel did a good job. She had devilish expressions perfect for a person like Thieu Tat and Ariel didn't overdo the cuteness. The crying scenes were excellent. She didn't try to make the tears fall down all pretty and stuff, she just cried like a normal girl. Tears came down and her face is what a person look like when crying. It looked so sad to see her crying and reaching for Dong Din or her baby (whoops, spoiler), you can see the pain all over her face. I think Ariel did an excellent job.

Cecilia Han Xue- Linh Miu: Linh Miu seems like a characterless person, no personality. All that can be seen is that she is naive and innocent. Cecilia Han Xue did a good job portraying her because she didn't have much to work with. There's always a look of urgentness and determination. A few happy and sad ones, but that's pretty much it. But Cecilia is very pretty.

Lu Yi - Chay Khiem: Chay Khiem is a shy, quiet girl so I guess there's nothing great to show. Lu Yi's performance isn't brilliant but it isn't bad either. She just played the part of a girl who doesn't need a lot of emotions. She just needed a dreamy expression and good crying skills. Lu Yi's face is perfect for Chay Khiem, her eyes is small and goes down a bit so she looks dreamy. Not to mention her hair makes her look super innocent. She did good on the crying scenes, there were some tears. I have to say, she looks weird in this scene where she's power walking when the scene calls for a running. Ha Cao just rejected Chay Khiem and in the scene, she was just walking really fast, that looks kind of weird to me, but maybe it's the pants.

Tse Kwan Ho - Lao Phu Tu: I love this character, maybe that's why I love the actor. He can do diverse characters. I have seen Tse Kwan Ho in three series and they are all different types of personalities. Lao Phu Tu is a smart, brilliant man who is head over heels with a fairy for fifty years. Phu Tu has experience and you can see that in Kwan Ho. Kwan Ho is a veteran actor and he has this presence of a middle age man among youngsters but with great advice and he has been through a lot. That is what is portrayed in Phu Tu. I especially love it when he slapped these three dudes in the face, he had this funny look on his face. And the scene where he met the fairy he loves again through a wall was brilliant. I think Kwan Ho did an excellent job as Phu Tu.

Comments:

Storyline- The storyline was pretty good, very funny and witty and has no stupid surprises. Those usually ruin a good series. I just don't like how there was so many tragedies after Thieu Tat left earth, but I guess those were necessary to move the story forward. One thing I love is how in the past, Thieu Tat's older sister had loved a mortal man also. The two sisters' stories are compared and the ending is pretty contrasting. I also love how the older sister's lover was Lao Phu Tu. That gives the plot a little twist.

Music - The music are pretty good. The two theme songs by SHE and Tank sounded very nice. The pop music went along with the scenery well. You don't see a lot of pop music in ancient series but putting different types of music in ancient series aren't a bad thing. I really like how the theme song (or is it preview?) has a picture of each character in cartoon form. They show a real life picture of the characters but on the side there are beautiful drawings portraying each person. That's really refreshing to see in a set of theme song.

Setting - The setting was nice although the computer work was obvious in the flying and fighting scenes. Since this series has similar companies as Chinese Paladin, I guess the setting looks a lot like Chinese Paladin.

Conclusion:
Overall, Tien Wai Fei Xian is pretty good. If you liked Chinese Paladin, then you should watch this. There's just less fighting. The ending is kind of weird and does not seem to be plausible, but it's better than some.