Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Tweekums The early part of this film takes place five hundred years ago when the 'Flute of Prophecy' has been acquired by evil goblins. Three Taoist gods are trying to retrieve it along with two powerful wizards and student wizard Woochi. They are initially successful and the flute is divided into two part so it can't be used for evil again. Shortly afterwards Woochi is framed for the murder of his master so, along with Chorangyi, his dog in human form, he is banished into a picture. Five hundred years later, in modern day South Korea, the Goblins are back so the gods return Woochi, and later Chorangyi from their banishment and together they set off to defeat the goblins and ultimately the person responsible for their release.If you are expecting a serious film then you are likely to be disappointed; yes there is plenty of action but above all it is a comedy. The story is a bit confusing at times, occasionally deliberately so, but ultimately proves to be solid enough. The action scenes are fun in a fantastical way rather than the sort of bone-crunching action that has the viewer wincing. The gags had me chuckling with the sort of humour that is universal rather than requiring the viewer to be steeped in Korean culture. There is a lot of fairly obvious CGI but thankfully it is of a high standard and fitted in with the magical nature of the story. The cast does a solid job; most notably Dong-won Gang and Hae-jin Yoo as Woochi and Chorangyi. Overall this isn't a classic but it is still fun enough if you want a film with a good amount of action and a similar amount of comedy with little in the way of offensive material.These comments are based on watching the film in Korean with English subtitles.

Barry Cooper A film with time travelling Goblin Rabbits trying to steal a pipe that will….I don't know what. This is Asian cinema at its best. A story built on eastern story telling. Young buck, wise old master, humorous sidekick (who may or may not be a dog of indeterminate gender) and a love interest with guts and gumption when needed most.Following the apprentice Wizard Woochi (Don Wong-Kan) and his shape shifting Dogberry-esque friend Chorangyi and their hunt for the magic that will make Woochi's name and Chorangyi human.Fight scenes of inventiveness that take the stylistic quirks of the later Matrix films and make them great, comedic timing and watch out for the reality of magic in the second act (21st century) as we find out what would really happen if you had to seek out a magic painting at two in the morning in downtown Pyongyang.Betrayal, magic, drunken Taoist gods who can't seem to get anything right and a downbeat upbeat ending that wraps the film up in the brilliance of the eponymous hero's own imagination.This is a film for teenagers, lovers of story and people who don't take themselves seriously.Big bag of popcorn.

DaliParton (spoiler free) I've watched a lot of Korean movies over the years - from the silly (Sex is Zero) to the sublime (Oasis) and enjoyed most of them, even some of the more marginal titles like Spygirl and A.F.R.I.K.A. But for me, and the group of people watching it with me, Jeon Woochi was a big bust.The biggest problem I had with this movie was the terrible pacing, especially in the first 30 minutes of the movie where the timeline was not linear and the director did practically nothing to inform the audience that he had made a jump in time until wrapping up the scene and rejoining the main timeline. Other problems included a major lack of funny - there was so much opportunity for "fish out of water" jokes, but the writers barely even tried. And it wasn't like the comedy was too subtle either, much of the humor in the movie was just too ham-fisted to laugh at.There were also way too many fast cuts during action sequences - it made it difficult to enjoy the biggest feature of the movie: the excellent CGI. The director barely gives the audience a chance to focus on the contents of a shot before cutting to a new camera angle. I recognize these fast cuts are a modern Hollywood style, but it is still a terrible one to emulate.The story itself was, as expected, fairly simple. But even then, the telling of it was too convoluted - due mainly to the confusing timeline.I haven't given any examples to illustrate my criticism because I wanted to avoid spoilers as much as possible but still provide a counter-point to the misleadingly high rating (7.0 as I write this) and the other 5 or so reviews which all gave the movie exceptional scores. It was on the basis of that rating and the other reviews that I purchased the korean blu-ray and would strongly recommend that no one else waste their time or money the way I did. I suggest watching the older Arahan which has a similar "wizardry in the modern city" plot. I had a lot more fun watching Arahan despite its flaws.Also, watch out for the korean blu-ray. It is poorly mastered - the black levels are elevated making the picture look washed out and hazy unless you have a fancy display that can correct the problem.

aaronrourke Combining fantasy, adventure, action and humour to maximum effect, this lively Korean film deserves to be seen by as big an audience as possible. Writer/director Dong-hun Choi, best-known for his excellent con-artist films THE BIG SWINDLE (2004) and TAZZA : THE HIGH ROLLERS (2006), takes an unexpected turn into fantasy/action territory, but again shows why he is such a highly-regarded film-maker. Using the time-travel premise that was well-used in films such as ICEMAN COMETH (from Hong Kong) and of course HIGHLANDER, WOO-CHI makes the most of the material, helped along by a strong cast and superior technical crew. Dong-won Kang (from SECRET REUNION, DUELIST, VOICE OF A MURDERER, and the very funny TOO BEAUTIFUL TOO LIE)is excellent as the title character, making a flawed, at-times quite vein person likable. The great Yun-seok Kim, who impressed audiences in RUNNING TURTLE and inparticular in the brilliant THE CHASER, is perfectly cast as Woo-chi's main nemesis. Su-jeong Lim (from Park Chan-wook's under-rated I'M A CYBORG, BUT THAT'S OK and the outstanding A TALE OF TWO SISTERS)is perfect as the object of Woo-chi's affections. It's also great to see Dong-hun regular Yun-shik Baek (TAZZA / THE BIG SWINDLE / THE ART OF FIGHTING / SAVE THE GREEN PLANET) make a very welcome appearance. With $200 million Hollywood productions failing to make the grade, it is wonderful to see a film like WOO-CHI deliver such high-class entertainment on a fraction of the budget. Fast-paced, exciting, very funny, and full of vibrant, involving characters, JEON WOO-CHI : THE TAOIST WIZARD will certainly be one of my best films of the year. One hopes it will get a proper international release (unfortunately the director's other films have yet to achieve a deserving release outside of South Korea).