If you're looking for action / adventure, this movie has it. Don't go in expecting much more. The plot is thin, the storyline consists of run run hide run some more stab run shoot a bow and never run out of arrows run run run hide run hide run more jump... well, that's the story.

The ending is especially disappointing as it just hangs the audience in mid air and leaves them there, as if we're supposed to magically know what the director is thinking. Is this a cliff hanger to a third movie? Did they succeed or fail in their quest? The writers never clue the audience in on what's going on.

The CGI in this was superb. The sets, the monsters, etc, are all up to snuff-- as one would expect in any 2018 movie worth its salt. However the characters are 2-D, the plot resolution non-existent, the movie ultimately disappointing. I'm being generous in giving it a mediocre 5 stars... and that's based on CGI alone (as well as some pleasant music in a few places).

There's just no excuse for sloppy, lazy writing. If ya don't have a good script, don't make the movie. If you don't have a good ending, get a real job.

Hu Bayi (Hang Cai) is the Indian Jones of Chinese films. But alas, he has the mark of an ancient curse which means he won't live past 40. In order to remove the curse, he needs the Dragon Bone Celestial Tome which only has 8 lines and the Mu Chen Orb who's location is described in the Tome. With the help of a crazy blind man, they get help to find the location. Hu Bayi doesn't go alone but has a small entourage which includes Shirley Yang (Xuan Gu) who is China's Katniss with the three-point stance and never-ending quiver.

They must battle all kinds of creatures along the way. I felt like this was a journey to the center of the Earth type of film with something around every corner. I thought they missed their calling when they didn't include a dead man along the way with a fedora and a whip. The film was mostly PG except for the few F-words at the beginning. They did manage to muster a kiss, a rarity for Chinese films. Shirley wore a cross and I don't know if it was personal or something she wore for the film. The Chinese women strip down to go swimming showing off their boxer briefs.

I enjoyed it.

I enjoyed the 2016 "Mojin: The Lost Legend", so of course I sat down to watch the 2018 movie "Mojin: Valley of the Worms" here in 2021 when I was presented with the opportunity to do so.

However, I must say that this 2018 movie is a step back for the franchise. Whereas the 2016 movie was driven by a proper story and felt like a thrilling adventure, this 2018 movie is just an empty shall of a movie presented by pretty CGI visuals.

The storyline in "Yun nan chong gu" (aka "Mojin: Valley of the Worms") felt like it was written on a short flight somewhere. There was little contents to the storyline, except for a constant outrunning and battling CGI creatures. So if you sit down to watch "Mojin: Valley of the Worms" hoping you're in for a thrilling adventure, you might want to skip on this movie.

As for the characters in the movie, well they felt like cardboard cut-outs really, as they did little more than either try to outrun or fight CGI creatures. So you are not in for a whole lot of character development or interactions here.

Director Xing Fei just didn't really manage to deliver a movie that felt up to par with the 2016 movie in any ways. Sure, "Mojin: Valley of the Worms" was watchable, but this is essentially just a movie where you lean back in the chair, turn off your brain, munch on the popcorn and just enjoy the pretty CGI effects.

"Mojin: Valley of the Worms" was a disappointment, and it is hardly a movie that I will ever watch again, as there was just too little contents to the storyline to support more than a single viewing.

My rating of the 2018 movie "Mojin: Valley of the Worms" lands on a very lukewarm and mediocre five out of ten stars.