The Return of the Condor Heroes
Return of the Condor Heroes 2006 (Shen Diao Xia Lu 神雕侠侣)
Casting:
Huang Xiao Ming as Yang Guo 黄晓明 饰 杨过(3/5)
As the young Yang Guo, Huang Xiao Ming was unnatural in the role and overacted the immature, playful Yang Guo. As the older, more mature Yang Guo, Huang Xiao Ming did a pretty decent job though. One of the things that made his performance less enjoyable was the fact that he was the only main actor to have dubbed his own voice. The quality and expression was visibly different to that of the other characters in the series. He also managed to somehow scream his way through all emotional scenes, although I'm not quite sure how that worked- possibly because it didn't. One thing that should definitely be mentioned was the effort he put into the series. He spent much time practising sword moves with his left arm to ensure that the descriptions in the book were accurate, something most actors would tend to bypass and ignore. I was still quite disappointed with his performance though, as I have seen him in other series and his acting has been quite commendable. Huang Xiao Ming is rather charismatic, however most female viewers will still prefer Louis Koo's Yang Guo.
Liu Yi Fei as Xiao Long Nu 刘亦菲 饰 小龙女(3/5)
As someone who strongly opposed this casting after seeing her performance in Tian Long Ba Bu/Demi Gods Semi Devils, I was reasonably pleased with her performance, but mainly because the artist who dubbed her voice certainly enhanced her performance, unlike the case with Huang Xiao Ming. From lacking any ability but that of whining (in Chinese Paladin), Liu Yi Fei portrayed a relatively sweet, if somewhat lacking substance, Xiao Long Nu. Liu Yi Fei's dancing skills paid off in this series and she did a great job with the fight scenes and made use of the seemingly unlimited time donated to watching her sleeves fly around. Though her expressions were bland at times and exaggerated beyond reasonable Xiao Long Nu emotions at others, it is a general consensus that her acting has improved in this series, although her performance was still quite lacking. There is one point on which I would like to defend her*. Many criticised the way she smiled during the rape scene, however I felt it was fitting because, after all, she believed that it was Yang Guo, whom she loved.
* No, I am not a closet Liu Yi Fei fan
When I look back at it, individually, the two main characters probably both deserve scores slightly higher than what I've given them, however looking at them collectively, there is not much to praise them for. Perhaps the greatest reason as to why Huang Xiao Ming fell flat in this series was the lack of chemistry between his Yang Guo and Liu Yi Fei's Xiao Long Nu. In real life, their age differs by about 10 years and this was clearly evident while watching the series. Yang Guo and Xiao Long Nu did not look like "lovers". Though both are good-looking, they do not make a good-looking couple, and the romance between them may have been spoken in speech, but it was not felt in the atmosphere of the series.
Chen Zi Han as Guo Fu 陈紫涵 饰 郭芙 (4/5)
People seem to dislike Chen Zi Han as Guo Fu, but if that is the case, then obviously she has done a good job. She is one of the most unlikable characters, probably the most unlikable Guo Fu, but that I give credit to the script and the interpretation of the scriptwriters and director. In other versions, there has been a tendency to overuse the attraction between Yang Guo and Guo Fu, something that I felt existed much less strongly in the novel than any adaptation tends to make out. She was also a very beautiful Guo Fu, which was nice since this fact is sometimes overlooked.
Yang Mi as Guo Xiang 杨幂 饰 郭襄 (4.5/5)
This is the first time I've seen Yang Mi on screen, and she has left a very good impression. I have liked most of the Guo Xiangs in ROCH adaptations, so she had a lot to compete with. The role is a fairly easy and bland one, but Yang Mi did a very good job. She became the highlight of the last few episodes.
Wang Luo Yong as Guo Jing 王洛勇 饰 郭靖(4.5/5) and Kong Lin as Huang Rong 孔琳 饰 黄容(2.5/5)
As Guo Jing, I think he did a very good job in this series and was quite convincing as Guo Jing. He might not be the most stupid looking, but his acting was great. On the other hand, Kong Lin managed to look fairly stupid - perhaps she thought she was playing Guo Jing instead? Her expression was often one of confusion and cluelessness, which I thought was a pity since she had looked good in the role, thus the actress in the '83 version remains the most successful Huang Rong to date.
Yang Rui as Lu Wu Shuang 杨蕊 饰 陆无双(4.5/5) and Wang Jia as Cheng Ying 王嘉 饰 程英 (3/5)
Lu Wu Shuang had very little screen time in this series, but Yang Rui was absolutely adorable for every moment of it and she was the highlight through some of the early parts of the series. There was no moment where I got bored watching her, and only wished we could have seen more of her. Cheng Ying on the other hand was a miscast. The actress appeared evil instead of gentle and her looks got on my nerves for the majority of the short time that she had on screen. Perhaps had I not seen Maggie Cheung's portrayal in ROCH 95...
Ba Yin as Jin Lun Guo Shi 巴音 饰 金轮国师 (4/5)
Probably my favourite of them in all the adaptations I've seen, Ba Yin did a great job with this character. He really looked the part and played the part well, and I was very impressed with his performance overall. He was possibly more likable in this version since it follows the 3rd edition and he saves Guo Xiang at the Xiang Yang battle.
Meng Guang Mei as Li Mo Chou 孟广美 饰 李莫愁 (4/5)
After the initial shock of seeing her in purple and black, she did a good job with this character. The actress is beautiful in a mature way and fits the description of "xian zi" unlike that of some past adaptations. Similarly, her disciple was also very pretty, once again displaying the director's fondness for eye candy.
Fu Miao as Gong Sun Lu E 傅淼 饰 公孙绿萼 (3.5/5) and Zhong Zhen Tao as Gong Sun Zhi 钟镇涛 饰 公孙止 (4/5)
Another beautiful actress, she was not nearly as naturally cute as some of the others that have taken this role, but she did a commendable job in the series. Kenny Bee did a great job as Gong Sun Zhi, which I certainly expected for an actor like him. He managed to pull off this role of a villain very well despite many people having a "good" impression having seen him play such roles before.
Sun Li Hua as Wan Yan Ping 孙锂华 饰 完颜萍 (4.5/5)
Although her part is so small that there's not much need to mention her, I thought she was an excessively good Wan Yan Ping, certainly the best I've seen and the most gorgeous-looking. Had I not known the ending, I would have been absolutely devastated that she did not get together with Ye Lv Qi.
Music (2.5/5)
If you like "Harry Potter" background music to the romantic love scenes of Yang Guo and his Gugu, this is the series for you! As one Chinese critic said, "all I could think of while they were lamenting over 'Gugu' and 'Guo er' was the first quidditch match that Harry Potter played!" The music from ROCH was mainly recycled, including that of "Harry Potter", "Pearl Harbour" and "Demi Gods Semi Devils". The opening theme was much too piercing for my liking, though it formed a formidable pairing with Huang Xiao Ming's later screaming. The end theme was all right. Though not exactly music, the images of the opening theme also deserve some comment. It was extremely poorly made, and with the right quality and selection of clips, I honestly think that even I could have done a much better job. It did not draw much attention and focused entirely too much on Yang Guo and even more so, Xiao Long Nu. Extremely sorry to burst your bubble, Mr. Zhang Ji Zhong, but Xiao Long Nu is not the only character of the series, and flaunting her beauty endlessness does at some point become slightly less than interesting.
Special Effects (3.5/5)
The special effects were mostly aesthetically pleasing if somewhat too unrealistic, fantasy-like and DragonballZ-like. With the enhanced fighting skills of most characters, I can now dub Lu Wu Shuang and Li Mo Chou's disciple to be great-level fighters, if not the new Sweeper Nuns. Thoroughly exaggerated, though much of the choreography was well done and there was certainly more time dedicated to fighting scenes in this series than past adaptations. On the fighting, the biggest disappointment had to be Yang Guo's “An Ran Xiao Hun Zhang” or Melancholy/Sad Palms. I'll set you a trivia question now, just to be random. What kind of fighting does the word "palm" imply? If you answered funky sleeve flipping, you are correct!*
* By this adaptation only
Go ahead, what would you like? Your very own flying condor that is too heavy to fly? Sure thing. The conclusion, need I even bother saying it? Atrocious. The end was absolutely horrifying, with the couple flying away with the condor. And I almost forgot to mention the "Yu Nv Xin Jing" Jade Maiden Swordplay. It's all very well to try some new things, but there are certain things that are bound to turn out badly. Did I mention that this happened to be one of them?
Scenery (4.5/5)
The setting and scenery was generally very beautiful in this series, to match with the vast amounts of eye candy in this series. There's not much to say here apart from fervently wishing that they did not use CGI flower fields - three words: they - don't - work.
Costumes (3/5)
There were a few decent costumes, but in general they were badly done. Yang Guo looked like he was wearing patches of cloth sewn together in "bad boy" style, which frankly just looked stupid. Xiao Long Nu's costumes were pretty but incredibly overdone and started to annoy me partway into the series. A plainer outfit would have done no harm. Guo Xiang's outfit was horrible, but luckily did not distract us from her good performance and good looks. You might have mistaken Gong Sun Lu E for a leaf or tree and I, for one, would not think any less of you.
Overall (3/5)
Newcomers to Wuxia may enjoy this one, but personally, I feel that the series falls flat for those that are regulars of Wuxia serials, and even those that are looking for romantic series. The supporting cast is overall very good, making it a series worth watching, if only to form your own opinion since there have been so many of others' floating around. There is re-watch value in most segments that don't involve Yang Guo and Xiao Long Nu's romance, but those sections are a suggested fast forward- really, they're not worth the pain. Plenty of eye candy for male viewers, but for the ladies, it's hard to drool over Huang Xiao Ming's performance as Yang Guo - I suggest you rent out the 1995 version with Louis Koo or the 1983 version with Andy Lau.
"Return of the Condor Heroes" 2006 was one of the biggest disappointments for me because there was so much about the series that was good, or could have been good, and it had the potential with its enormous budget to be one of the best Wuxia adaptations. Instead of capitalising on the amazing cast, budget and special effects, the focus was on the beauty of Xiao Long Nu, leaving the remaining cast in some of the worst costumes and resulting in the cutting down of parts for characters that the audience would have dearly liked to see more of.
Unfortunately, I was left wishing that I could throw Louis Koo/Carmen Lee or Andy Lau/Idy Chan into this production amongst some of the greatest supporting actors and actresses and watch their amazing love story unfold in front of a billion dollar production*.
* Exact amount spent is unclear - this may be an exaggeration.
