suite92 The Three Acts:The initial tableaux: Sequel to Painted Skin (2008). Five hundred years have passed since the fox demon Xiaowei was imprisoned in the original film. The bird demon Quer helped Xiaowei escape, and travels with her. Xiaowei has a habit of eating the hearts of human men whom she had seduced. She does this to regenerate the pleasing side of her visible form.Xiaowei rather disliked the time in the frost prison, and looks for a change to her life. She encounters Princess Jing and Huo Xin, the warrior who was entrusted to guard Jing. However, Jing's face was disfigured on Huo Xin's watch. He blames himself for this; Jing had a golden mask made to cover it.Delineation of conflicts: Xiawei comes to like Jing and Xin. She sees a process to become mortal, but it involves bringing harm to Jing and Xin. Jing would like her own beauty restored, but the cost might be steep indeed. The Tian Lang state would like to make inroads in Jing's kingdom; Jing and company would rather that not happen. Tian Lang's true motives are darker.Resolution: One might guess how the film's climax comes to pass, but difficult choices are involved. Are the principal characters up to it?

welshnew50 After the stimulating first of this series , production-cost-time-spent-wise , and the attracted-to because of, but absurd special-effect driven looks of it, much of the audience while potentially just as easily satisfied with this one, probably didn't notice its ruining feature - a scene very unrealistic for one of the main characters , the inheritor-Princess main character.While the first had more incapability , this is too theatrical and pointless , there being no reason to have the in-a-different-life souls in such positions of power ... i was momentarily reminded of the female rogue from Kokkorro or however you spell it from the first painted skin , but the male & female leads in this were with less of their own emotions, and instead , the difficulties of portraying 2nd-life/reincarnation parallels/similarities has been avoided somewhat by their reasons not needing to be their own - their decisions can be ones of EXPECTATION, of their positions ... yawwwwn ... somebody extract the Daishi from the writer/editor's A** Reno 911 style please !Yet another vain continuum of over-confidence of the effect/s of demon art / mythology/whatever. Japanaese-Demon-fear guff Sorry, Urban-princesses out there , but as far as this prince is concerned , if you'd really think the princess character would abandon what she did in this movie just for the sake of dramatic-sentimentality and emotional excercise , i wont say what , then you're not the kind of princess for this puppy !Emotions are for feeling about things in the REAL world , not inflated floating-dreams already popped and rotting.Just ask a abandoned Polynesian who's BOAT , not ROOF-hat, didn't get the latest upgrade. Swish Swish Swish, miss miss miss , Chinese? production team ... aim a bit better when aiming for their Houses-your-enemy.LEARN, from that episode of Reno.Different reason for having one up there , but it needs to be extracted nevertheless...mmmm, Corn dog!

Derek Childs (totalovrdose) Zhou Xun returns as the illustriously desirable fox spirit Xiao Wei in Painted Skin The Resurrection. 500 years have passed since the conclusion of the original feature, and for the entirety of that time, Xaio Wei has been condemned to an icy grave, for saving the life of the man she loved, and that of his paramour. According to demon lore, there can be no greater heresy. Que'er (Mi Yang), a cute bird demon, finds herself captivated by Xiao Wei's beauty, and releases her from the prison, remaining by her side as a loyal and faithful accomplice.This freedom though is only temporary, for wherever Xiao Wei goes, the frozen grave accompanies her, ready to swallow her whole once more. By sheer coincidence, both demons happen upon Princess Jing (Zhao Wei), who has fled the palace in order to escape the marriage that has been arranged between her and the Tianlang prince, a man she can never love.Wearing a golden mask across half her face, which was once disfigured during an attack, Princess Jing intends to ride for the White City, in order to meet General Huo Xin (Chen Kun), the man who once protected her. Unable to escape her feelings for him, she wishes to discover if the romantic connection is mutually shared. Princess Jing's heart, although belonging to the General, becomes Xiao Wei's prize, its power been able to stopper the icy prison from ever containing her again.With an approaching eclipse, it is during this time that demons can swap bodies with humans, but only if a heart is offered willingly, and Xiao Wei, who desperately wishes to become human, will do almost anything to win it. But is she really as cold as the prison pursuing her, or has she herself softened? The prison however is not the only threat, for a demon hunter, Pang Lang (Feng Shaofeng) is present in the city, and though incompetent, he is certainly no fool to the magic that she wields.Visually, Painted Skin The Resurrection is perfect. The costumes are gorgeously decorated, while the effects are reminiscent of a dream sequence, as are the fights, which are epically choreographed. You can't help but gasp in awe at many of the scenes, which serenade the eyes with their outstanding execution.Occasionally however, the sheer potency, not to mention the frequency of the effects, feel unnecessary in contrast with the original, and though live action and computer generated scenes are bound together over the duration of the film, sometimes the story could have been conveyed just as passionately, without the continuous use of these features.Moreover, the accompanying musical score continuously sets the mood, regardless of whether it is a sweeping romantic melody played beside a scene of desirous passion, or brazen percussion during a fight sequence. The acting is superb, and provides a deep emotional connection between both characters and the viewer, the emotion, whether it be pain or happiness, been flawlessly presented, while the script, much like the original, is beautifully poetic.Over the course of the feature, a potential complaint could be that the movie runs for too long. Perhaps, but by the time the beautiful conclusion makes its way across the screen, you will more than likely be glad that you took the time to watch this magnificent gem. Neither better nor worse than the original, Painted Skin The Resurrection is as equally magnificent as the first, and fabulously concludes, what has to be, two of the best films made this century.

J_Charles I wasn't expecting much from this movie. But it surprised me. The story (already well documented on this site) was not overly complex yet it did have some deeper themes about sacrifice, being enraptured by physical beauty and yet being hollow inside. The hardest thing for me was that Princess Ying (Vicky Zhao) was supposed to be depressed about her facial scars - hidden by her golden mask. But I find her to be extremely attractive so to imagine her as some horrible ugly thing was hard to swallow. Even when she reveals her mask the scars don't look all that bad. Actually all three main actresses were very attractive and did very well in their respective roles. The only minor complaint would be the wooden performance by the actor portraying the general. He livens up towards the end so I guess I'll give him a pass.8/10