this movie start off promisingly enough and but it get a little to convolute and catch up in it stylistic charm . the set design and costume and and music be wonderful a close to perfect a one can get . but the more i get into the movie and the more i felt like all this effort be for the director entertainment and not the audience . although and i love look at it and except for a few brief musical scene and i can not say i enjoy it . the director show enormous imagination and but if he have fun with this film and he fail to share that with the audience and or at least with me . i do not get a sense of whimsy and i do not get suck into this universe . a big cause of this be ( surprisingly ) zhang ziyi . you can tell she try very hard and but she seem to have be so miscast that she come off almost amateurish . she a capable actress but she have her limitation . i have notice in her acting and that she have yet to truly react to her fellow co star and a flaw that create a void of chemistry . the language barrier in this film seem to have only exacerbate matter . she and odagiri act a if theyre on separate planet . she also not a very good singer which make me cringe every time she sing and but thankfully there weren not too many scene of that . odagiri be ok but doesn not make much of an impression . i do not even care for the character separately . there really be a sore lack of characterization . the only reason to care about them seem to be that theyre good look royalty . without the compelling love story at the center of the film though and it hard to care what happen . the film also take detour into minor scene that add nothing to the story and be actually distract . i have to rewind because after go into a subplot i couldn not remember what the heck they be do in the main storyline . there be also scenes where it be hard to tell what the action occurring be because it be so stylized . mostly i be just disappointed because i really like the concept behind this and there be a lot of thing i do like . the music and dance choreography be really great . the supporting performance be uniformly excellent and fantastic in both the acting aspect and the singing . it just too bad the lead actor be so bland .