is it really that bad

I thought it was okay, actually. It wasn't that bad.

Well, it depends... you must not think about it much. My friend, who actually loves this movie, told me that I don't like fairy tales (which isn't true). As I said, leave your brain before you are going to watch it, then you might find amusing.
Nonetheless, when I read your post again... if you're on the horse of dilemma then go and see it. Make your own opinion, it is the best you can do.

Not that bad at ALL. Welcome to the Chinese Critics world ( You can imagine how come a hundred year of Chinese cinema, only a few were able to make it well known to the world while American films are everywhere). I think one of the biggest reasons is that Most of the Chinese are very critical. (You can hardly find a chinese having a sense of humor saying " I am not that smart. I don't know..". A lot if Chinese think they know everything...they know how to make better movies than the director .Although this can be same as in America, but Gee. Go figure Crouching Tiger was rated so badly by the Chinese and Hong Kong people before it comes to America TOO!!!

This film is not regular movies it has a lot of implicit messages such as the steam bun, the lies, the promise, the freedom. In the film it tell you how all these affect individuals. It is a serious film enough for people to easily make fun of.
But if you really let go of your Realistic mind and think of this film as a piece of art that leave you much imagination. This would be a film for you!

Hope this help.
Cliff

I have to say, when I wathced this movie, I was really impressed. It really isn't bad. In fact, i think it is very good. Here's what you have to understand. This movie was made for the audiences in China/Korea/Japan and all the other Asian-driven cultured countries. Of course, their way of doing things, their concepts, and their thoeries are quite different from that of the Western society. I think overall storyline was good, so was graphics...and if you understand Chinese language itself, then your understanding of the whole plot would be much deeper. You have to understand that stories like this was written thousands of years ago by famous authors. They didn't just write a story. They usually write these things using complex literatures that even modern Chinese people won't understand without further studying in that field. With that said, I think this is a movie definitely worth watching. The three main characters (including the bad guy) are each from China, Korea, and Japan. These actors are one of the best, if not the best in their own countries. So, I recommend watching it when it comes out on theater...I myself have the DVD already :) bought and shipped from Asia.

I wouldnt take the review of the page very serious. The person who reviewed it gave D.E.B.S. a 10 out of 10 stars........

I absolutely loved the movie because it was so atrociously stupid that it made me laugh so hard my stomach felt like bursting. In all honesty, I went into the theatre (I watched the Taiwanese release of the movie in the theatre in Taiwan) expecting some sort of dramatic movie with great, bright colors but instead, Wu Ji has become one of my favorite movies because it's so funny.

I'd reccomend watching it, but don't expect a brilliant, touching film is my opinion. That and mainland China's Chinese is a little awkward, a part of the movie that made me laugh that will likely be lost in translation.

I believe it's only possible to derive pleasure from viewing Wu Ji if you don't take it seriously. It's so bad it's laughable. I was hoping maybe people were being too harsh without reason but it was truly worse than expected.
I think the creators became so fixated on creating a fantastic world that they sucked any trace of potential realism out of the finished product. It's not just the painfully bad cartoonish/video game visual effects and colors, the awful writing, bad pacing etc. It's just not possible to believe any of the characters, their motivations and emotions included. I just could not connect with what was going on in the film and the point of a love story is to make you empathize with the main players, right? You would be better off playing a Final Fantasy video game if you're looking for an epic romance set in a fantasy setting than watching this film.

I have to say it's definitely not a good movie. Initially I was impressed by the trailer and the casts as well. But it was such a dissapointment when I watched it. Even though some people may have made some overly harsh comments it does not neccessarily deserve, this movie does feel like a joke to me. The problem with this movie, after all, is that though it's a chinese movie, there is nothing chinese about it. On the other hand, since it's got so many asia actors in it, it could not quite be westernized either. So, the elements of east and west are just so clumsily mixed up together producing a strange and ridiculous lump of scenes.
Of course, I guess that the arrogant attitude of the filmmaker also helped trigger such a massive criticism of this film.
Anyway, after I saw this movie, I realized by comparison Hero actually wasn't that bad.