Shadow Magic

Sumptuous, warm, continually amazing, it's a completely enjoyable couple of hours at the flickers.

It's a film about culture clash, the generation gap and the loss of tradition that inevitably accompanies the arrival of anything new.

Shadow Magic isn't interested in psychology or character study. It's a series of tableaux and on that level succeeds admirably.

Evokes the dawn of cinema in China with much charm, humor and subtlety.

The story doesn't exactly startle with surprises and has a tendency to hammer and rehammer its points.

The movie is more concerned with the story line (premiere-fire-threat-rescue) than with painting the time and place.

Unfortunately, Hu and her army of co-writers saddle the story with a tired romantic subplot and fail to develop meaningful characters.