Hugely flawed, at least one good idea

This film is pretty badly made on a pretty basic level. Several times the visual narrative was confused because things weren't shown. The alien family don't fit very well in a mythologically-based movie, aren't funny, and worst, don't actually do anything. They provide a hook for Yobi to get involved with the humans, but that could easily have been done other ways and they're of no other importance.

Heck, they even undercut or prevent a loneliness theme for Yobi. That's kind of cliche (the last specimen of a mythological creature reaches out to a human in loneliness) but it's better than what we've got here; that's she entering puberty and is interested in boys.

On top of all that, they simply disappear from the film at some point (I can't even remember when it was). They don't even show up after Yobi dies to mourn her. Why are they in this film? They just take up space that could be better spent on what eventually turns out to be the core of the film; the love story.

It's a minor shame as the film manged to turn in a fairly effective climax. Yobi giving her soul in exchange for Geum-ie's is kind of predictable, but its depiction of how painful it was for her was moving, and especially the fact that her sacrifice was for keeps; she doesn't get rewarded for her altruism (like in a Disney film) and just dies. Geum-ie never sees her again and their young love is over. Yobi eventually getting to reincarnate as a human lightens it somewhat, but it doesn't back down by even implying she has a chance to meet Geum-ie again.