I’m watching this in fits and starts. I’m about 1/3rd of the way through.
I like the opening when she was chasing after the frog with that huge cleaver of hers. Considering that in Western fairy tales, the frog is associated with The Frog Prince, or that tale of a frog who was waiting for a princess to kiss it so it’d would transform back to its princely human form, I thought the scene was funny because Weiwei was chasing the frog to KILL it, not to kiss it. She was definitely no damsel in distress. Instead, she was the warrior in the dress.
I also like this scene.
But please can somebody spoil this for me. Couldn’t he really see her inside? I know it was a privacy window. But even with one-way glass, if the indoor light was brighter than the outside light, he could detect her.
You can write your comments here about the movie. I don’t mind spoilers.
Btw, is this Yang Yang? I found this while looking for get-well-soon gifs. I don’t know why I found it hilarious. He almost flew across the room with one push.
If I was the artistic director, after he was pushed, I would have played the song “~~~The lion sleeps tonight~~~ A-we-mo-yeh. A-we-mo-yeh. A-we-mo-yeh. ~~ Hush my darling. Don’t fear my darling. The lion sleeps tonight. ~~~”
He’s such a plush toy.
I’ve to add this gif to Episode 15.
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Edited 3/5/2019 to add a comment I wrote on 2/17/2019 in soompi. The original post was modified for this blog.
Sometimes I just want to watch straight-up, no-nonsense, no-brainer happy endings, @angelangie.
In real life, I would have no use for a guy like Xiao Nai because I adhere to the theory that there can only be one sun and one moon in the sky. I’m too much of a diva and a bitch to want to share the same celestial sphere with another sun for a lifetime. lol. But in my dreamscape (dream + escape world), sure why not?
It’s a good thing that Weiwei is in the same business as Nai. They have something in common. But if she’s in a different but equally demanding profession, say, the medical or legal field, which has its own track and hierarchy, then it’ll be ridiculously exhausting to build a happy and and long-lasting marriage without one of them yielding to the other. The heroine in Love O2O is willing to have her career take a backseat because they are both working towards the same goal: designing a game. However, a resident in the hospital or a clerk at the Supreme Court won’t have the same luxury of putting her career on hold.
Weiwei thinks that they’ll make a “power I.T. couple” and I agree. Because they prioritize each other (i.e., the individual) and NOT the job nor the demands of the job, they’re able to support, assist, and push each other. They can compromise and take turns to shine in their pursuits, rather than compete against each other. They’re a united front.
I’m not going to comment about the actors’ acting skills or physical beauty because that’s entirely up to viewers’ taste. Each reviewer will have his/her preferences. Moreover, I’m not Asian and this is only my … hmmm… second? third? Chinese drama. I don’t want to be accused of being racist. 😆
One of my complaints about the story, however, is the diminished financial literacy of the heroine. I like that Weiwei asserts her financial independence in the beginning of the story, but towards the end, when she joins his company as an unpaid intern and later, as his life partner, she seems to regress and to allow him to make the financial decisions for them as a couple.
While I understand that this story is pure romance, and it’s definitely not the intent of this writer and this director to lecture the audience on business management, I’m concerned that this kind of work arrangement sends a wrong message to young women to assume the traditional and dependent role. That is, let the man deal with the money matters, and the woman shouldn’t worry her head about it. :crazy:
Again, this mindset is fine and dandy because we’re watching a romance, and not a how-to documentary on building a business from the ground-up. But in real life, this way of thinking isn’t optimal especially with this generation of working women. Women have to be financially savvy on their own.
Thus, in the real world, I would add have added a caveat or a warning to this rom-com. In my opinion, if Weiwei is going to help out significantly and take a daily role in the company after their marriage, then she should also have a voice in the business decisions (instead of just being a sounding board) and specific shares in the business profits.
I’m not denigrating her role, okay? I think, even before she was an intern, she already provided valuable input in the company’s mission statement (i.e., her spiel on Nai’s computer design not objectifying and sexualizing women to sell the product) and purpose (i.e., her recitation during the archaeology class on how ancient knowledge can be applied and transferred to contemporary issues).
True, it is Nai’s company but perhaps a limited liability company (LLC) will work after their marriage, so they can protect their large personal assets from any potential liabilities, like business debts. Moreover, if something happens to him, she should be able to step in and make decisions on his behalf for the company.
But then, all this is my VERY unromantic side talking, so feel free to ignore my unsolicited advice. 😀
How dare she push him like that?! 😠 😠 😠 I think he was trying hard to be a cutey pie that he wasn’t prepared for her push. My poor Yang Yang!
Hmm not sure about that window but he can see his full reflection on the outside when he was writing. But you’re gif at 12:28 looked like he was looking straight at her. She was good at reading back to front? or front to back? from the other side. LOL!
Yes please add that gif to add more to my Yang Yang fever. hehehe
I don’t like this other Xiao Nai. Period. I found the actor didn’t have that mysterious yet capable aura that Yang Yang exuded in the drama. The hero in the movie was just not charismatic enough for me.
I can discuss other non-XN aspects of the movie😛. I like the in-game special effects in the movie better than in the drama, though the game portion of the movie was too short. The heroine’s character in the movie is very different – the one in the movie isn’t shy (in fact, she is quite talkative) and has a lot more spunk than WW’s character in the drama. WW in the movie is also more actively participative in XN’s gaming company. As I haven’t read the novel, I don’t know which characterisation is nearer to the original.
I never liked the side romance in the drama (I found WW’s roommate too ditzy and that foreign language student too stiff). In the movie, WW’s former in-game husband is the same as the foreign language student. He still has a crush on WW but there’s no secondary romance angle between him and WW’s friend.
The thing I disliked most about the movie was the lack of simmering build-up romance between the leads – it was just over too soon. Was there a limitation on the duration of the movie that they had to fast-track everything? It’s like they met in real life, then immediately they start building the game together! I didn’t like that at all😑
I haven’t picked up the movie again.
In my judgment, the movie version of Weiwei wouldn’t be a match for the TV version of Nai. She can come on too strong (or headstrong) for Yang Yang’s interpretation of Nai and steamroll Nai’s character.
I think angelababy works for the movie Nai precisely because that actor looks drab and unexciting.
And yes, it’s the limitation of the movie. Stymied by the 90 minutes showing time, the writers couldn’t have a “meaningful” conversation and else the “meaningful” conversation had to be condensed into short intervals.
But as I said, it’s really not just the “looks” of Yang Yang that made the tv version appealing. It was more their interaction, especially the dialogues and the getting-to-know-you moments, that made the tv version special. Since the movie trimmed those scenes off, the movie ended up becoming another romcom to me: fun but not memorable.
So it IS Yang Yang??!! lol. I’m sorry but I’m laughing at the way he just took off after she pushed him.
For some reason, I have this vision of somebody singing, “A-we-mo-weh. A-we-mo-weh. A-we-mo-weh. The lion sleeps tonight~~~~” after his lift off…errr… his fall.
He’s a cutie.
I better add the video on the blog post, so you’ll know what I mean.
Yes it’s our Yang Yang. I think he tried very hard not to fall over 😂
Yes please add it so I can connect it to the lion king. 😂
My minds a bit blank this morning 😂
He is handsome, charming, sexy and a cutie! 😍😍😍
I’ll just repeat my film impressions here again: I really liked the movie! Of course at 2 hours it was not as detailed as the series 30 hours length, but I think they did a nice job. We lost the side character stories in this movie version. One thing I really liked was how movie Weiwei was always a full partner in the team when they decided to make the new game. She was never an intern. Surprisingly, I think Angelababy did a great job as Weiwei and I have to say I liked the movie Weiwei character better than Drama Weiwei character. Movie Weiwei was just more spunky to me. Jing Boran was fine as Xiao Nai, and Movie Xiao Nai character was just as dreamy as drama Xiao Nai character. I think the chemistry between the main couple was good and the kiss scene in the movie was much better than in the drama (I really don’t like the 1st kiss scene in the drama). Added bonus is that Angelababy is much more skilled actress in lovescenes compared to Zhen Shuang. It was really funny to see Bai Yu playing Cao Guang role in both movie and drama. Although it was the same role, CG movie version and CG drama version were a bit different since movie CG character was a combo of both Cao Guang and Zhen Xiaoshang.
So, who did it better? For Weiwei character I like the movie version and I like Angelababy’s performance over drama version and Zheng Shuang.
For Xiao Nai character I like drama version and Yang Yang performance over movie version and Jing Boran.
Overall, I like drama version of story over movie version but that is because drama version length allows for more story depth with all of the side characters, etc. We can get more immersed in that world.
For the one way glass, no, he wouldn’t have been able to see inside enogh to distinguish faces, I think. Maybe shadows.
To answer @Phoenix, I have heard in other forums that the spunky Movie Weiwei is better match for Book Weiwei character, but I can’t really confirm. There was also mention that Angelababy was a better physical match to Book Weiwei charater description of ” she’s got curves” than Zheng Shuang as a lot of the book readers felt ZS was too skinny and didn’t “have curves or a chest”.
Wait a second. Let me just quickly post this before we get to more serious discussion on the movie….
I know you probably don’t mean anything by this, Table122000, but let me just clarify something, ok?
When I think of couples who are “full-partners,” I don’t mean an even 50-50 split. There are lots of variations. It could be 70-30 or 65-35 or even 90-10. But as long as both of them TOGETHER make up a whole 100%, then I consider them to be FULL-partners.
The reason I’m stressing this is that there’s a misconception among my generation of feminists that if the women are not pulling in the equal share of 50%, then they’re viewed as “less” than their partners. We don’t properly see the importance and value of the contributions of the homemakers, nurses, teachers’ aides, assistants, sidekicks, flight attendants, waitresses, interns, law clerks, etc. because as far as division of labor goes, they’re NOT the “better” half in the relationship but the “lesser” half. They don’t get top billing, because they aren’t the principal contributors but the supporting cast.
I say that’s wrong.
Even if a housewife’s “contribution” in a family business is nil because she’s focused on raising children, her contribution to the stability of the marriage and the peace of mind of her spouse in invaluable to the smooth running of the family business.
I also think that’s the point being made in this tv version of Love O2O. For instance, the TV Weiwei is “only” an intern but her presence at his side (and her patience) when he was stuck in their software problem was instrumental in him developing the solution. She’s a sounding board, too, and for many geniuses like Nai that’s all they really need. Let’s not underestimate the critical merits of a helpmate. 🙂
I’m pointing this out because I’m a career woman. But the unsung heroes in my life are my children’s nannies. I was… still am… so grateful for their presence in our lives that I promised myself that I was going to be more sensitive to how nannies, babysitters, and caretakers are regarded in society. Even if their contribution to the smooth running of my household is capped at, say, 30%, with me doing the lion’s share of 70%, that’s still an indispensable 30%, I’ll never be able to fill in. They’ve colored my understanding of equality and parity in labor. 🙂
Just a thought….
Let’s continue discussing the movie and tv versions. lol.
@packmule, I see your point on recognizing the importance of the work of those in support staff positions (clerks, interns) as well as the domestic sphere (homemakers, housekeepers, nannies, etc) and I will agree with you that the work they provide is important and meaningful. But yeah, the status of support staff within an organizational power structure is usually at the bottom.
Perhaps a better way for me to express my thought is that one thing I really liked in the movie version is that Movie Weiwei was a founding member of the team/business when they decided to make the new game. So her status within the power structure of the organization was always at equal level with the rest of the guys from the beginning. She didn’t have to prove herself to anyone unlike in the TV version where she faced obstacles, one of which was that she started at the bottom of the power structure as an intern.
Like you, I noted my major criticism about the TV Weiwei in a post I made somewhere and it pertained to the business side of the company that you mentioned.
Let me post it as an edit on this blog post so it’s easier for people to read.
Give me a second. I’ll look for it.