The Legend of Gobi (2018) User Reviews

Interesting fantasy movie but with animal cruelty

[euroasiangenetic · 7/10 · 2 October 2019]

At first this movie was going to be a 9/10 because of interesting story but after some harsh scenes of animal cruelty the point went lower.

A beautiful princess is forced to marry the king who killed her family, one day she take a chance a kill the king but he is still alive. Because he gave half of his life span to a fiddler musician. When the princess get to know the king and The fiddler she starts to fall in love but that is not settling for the queen.

It's a very unique fantasy story and never seen before, of course in mongol movies the sets are the cold desert and cgi castle and some camera angles with a drone. But it's well done and interesting movie but the brutal kill of animals feels uncomfortable for this kind of movie and doesn't suit a fantasy movie.

But despite that I give this movie a 7/10.

Mixed review for western audiences.

[jonfmac · 6/10 · 14 March 2024]

Average fair for western audiences from what is an apparently fledgling Mongolian movie industry. In many respects this offering is very similar to Italian or North American westerns.

The scenery of Mongolian Steppes and the Gobi Desert presents a very different landscape from most films although the filming was of average quality; the fight scenes a little less so.

For the most part, this film will not appeal to western audiences due to the originating cultural differences. In short, the tyrant wins but learns an important moral lesson. The good guys die.

Several people have complained about cruelty to animals in the reviews. I guess they've never seen a western. I can only say 'grow up' in response.

This film is likely at the current pinnacle of Mongolian film making. Although I have rated this at a very average 6, I am very sure this film establishes a firm foundation for much better fair in the near future.

Wonderful Costumes, Beautiful Scenery, Excellent Camera work...But A Dull And Poor Film!

[silicontourist · 2/10 · 27 September 2021]

The last Mongolian film I watched was a film length documentary from 2016 called, "The Eagle Huntress"; it was excellent. This film I have literally just finished viewing on YouTube 30 so minutes ago but, alas I cannot say the same (yet every YT review of the film was full of praises for it except for 1 who put just one word to describe it, "BORING"). It was also a dubbed English sound track from a bunch of emotionless uninterested non talent amateurs who, made a complete hash of it! So its 1 star for costumes and 1 star for camerawork scenery!

The scenery is fabulous and well shot with great camerawork throughout the film and, with 2 leading ladies who are very easy on the eyes and who have fantastic costumes. But all that is of no help towards saving what is a dreary, boring production (of the 459 films I have seen this year to date - 2021/September/27 - this has been the utmost boring one). If you do watch this film you will also find there are scene inclusions which are just totally unnecessary for the films story-line i.e. The badly done, and pointless, animal slaughter scenes and the badly filmed/implied nude love scene; that ended up showing nipple shots twice...oops!

I suppose the saving grace factor of this film is its not another savagery showboat for the Borjigin family (who were the royal family of the Mongol Empire, dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries) specifically Genghis and Kublai Khan. They still couldn't drag themselves away from the Barbarian savage ruler theme though :)

Animal killing and animal torture

[the_doofy · 1/10 · 28 May 2023]

Horrible.

Many foreign movies, but not all, would rather do this to animals then spend the money for CGI

When I see CGI animals instead of actual animals being killed for whatever reason, I am grateful. It makes me mad when someone says 'it looks fake'. I say, thank god for that

The stuff in this movie was pretty awful, I did not finish it.

Many people are ignorant of the fact that animals have the SAME EXACT nervous system as people. This means they feel the same exact pain we do under the same circumstances

I do know that many people do not realize this, some actually believe that animals don't feel stuff the way we do.

I love melodramatic films! Would love to re-watch it.

[johndavidntorres · 9/10 · 10 February 2022]

I love how this film was nicely done (my first time to watch Mongol film). The cinematography is good and interesting. The vast Mongolian landscape is interesting, with their effort on using their wide array of colorful clothing. I have nothing against the scene where the young princess' horse (which was her buddy since her childhood) was eaten by the desert tribes. Its expected that anyone can possibly be treated unkindly (during Khan's reign) in the wilderness. What I love the most is the idea of a king who used to ruin his country's people who appreciated music much like its something mystical and then turned out to be someone who unites the people. The melodramatic turn of events and is no surprise to me, yet I loved how they plotted it. One thing to improve more though is the dubbing. But all in all its a great film imo.