Movie v. Drama: Who did it better? Case #1 — Love O2O

Love O2O (Online 2 Offline) or One Smile is Very Alluring (Chinese name: 微微一笑很倾城) was originally a book written by famous Chinese internet novelist Gu Man (顾漫). It was made into a drama series starring Zheng Shuang and Yang Yang and a movie starring Angelababy and Jing Boran.

So which one is better? I’ve watched both (the movie and most of the drama) and I have lots of thoughts about it.

Presenting to you my virgin blog post — Movie vs. Drama Case #1: Love O2O, an attempt at an “objective” breakdown of the respective virtues and flaws of the movie and drama adaptation.

1. Visuals: Cinematography and CGI 

Oh my god the CGI in the movie oh my god. The movie combined impeccable CGI with good cinematography to create wonderful visuals, that for me, far outstripped those of the drama.

Just look at how cute the beginning credits are.

The RPG game in the movie is freaking gorgeous and so detailed. You see that huge shadowy structure in the background? It appears later in the story.

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The game visuals for the drama (below) aren’t as impressive as the movie’s (above). But the lower-quality makes it look more like a real-life RPG game.

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Still, look at how badass Wei Wei’s character looks in the movie.

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Besides the gorgeous CGI, I also enjoyed the cinematography in the movie. I was blown away by how well thought-out many of the scenes were. The director incorporated the CGI in very creative ways to push forward the plot in such a short time. In particular, the film did a great job of blending the online and offline worlds. See the pictures below.

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One of my favourite scenes. The fight sequence is so badass. Watching Yixiao Naihe (一笑奈何) give Zhenshui WuXiang (真水无香) a smackdown was very satisfying.

In contrast, I felt that drama had rather generic cinematography that served its purpose but never truly wowed me.

Final Verdict: Movie wins hands down for visuals.

2. Sets

Before I watched the movie, I thought the sets for the drama were adequate. But now that I’ve watched the movie, I can’t get over how artificial the sets for the drama look.

Movie Verse: The girls’ dorm room…

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Drama Verse: The girls’ dorm room…

The movie sets look more realistic than the drama sets. In the movie, every inch of the dorm room is crammed with stuff — the clothes hanging at the window, the photos pasted on the cupboards, the desks teeming with books and knick-knacks. These tiny details make the room looks cosy and lived in. It looks like a real college dorm.

Whereas the dorm room in the drama looks straight out of a furniture catalogue. It’s too spacious , too neat, too sanitised. Where is the mess that is endemic to college life? Also, who gives college kids white furniture? The white lighting used in the scenes (as opposed to the warm yellow lighting in the movie) also adds to the sanitised and impersonal feeling.

Drama Verse: The boys’ office…

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Is again unrealistically spacious and modern. But my main complaint is that it looks cold and impersonal. Like I said earlier, straight out of a furniture catalogue — the interior design company that sponsored this drama must be really into white furniture.

Also, Xiao Nai is the only one to have his own office; the rest work in the common space. This detail might just be to show how awesome he is but it always irritated me. This means that he and his friends are not on an equal footing — he is on a level above them. This goes against what a lot of tech start-ups believe in — equality. Also, flawed humans as we are, the strongest friendships are those based on equality. Inequality and subsequent jealousy is the surest way to ruin a friendship. For me, him having his own office doesn’t bode well for his friendships. Then I remember that this drama is about as realistic as a moon made out of blue cheese…

Movie Verse: The boys’s office…

Still unrealistically spacious but hey, at least, it looks lived in. Also, I’m glad they chose to invest their money in getting multiple computers instead of getting Xiao Nai a fancy (but frankly hideous-looking) post-modern cuboid desk.

Final Verdict: I am highly in favour of the movie’s sets — they look cosier and more realistic. Also, I adore all the little props in the movie such as Wei Wei’s gamer keyboard and the little gamer figurines all over her desk. Also, unlike in the drama, in the movie, the characters have invested in PCs in their dorm rooms. Helllo, no avid gamer worth her salt is going to settle with a simple laptop.

3. Acting and Characterisation

This is a hard one because Yang Yang’s perfect face is just fiddling with my objectivity. With much pain, I have to admit that I felt that the acting in the movie was better than the acting in the drama for both the male — Yang Yang 大神 sorry to betray you sobs — female leads. At least for me, the actors in the movies were more expressive and animated than the drama actors.

Jing Boran’s Xiao Nai V. Yang Yang’s Xiao Nai

Looks wise, Yang Yang as Xiao Nai wins hands down at first glance. But Jing Boran grows on you. At least he did for me and now I can’t unseen him as Xiao Nai. The devil is in the details. Jing Boran’s micro-expressions and body language brought life to character of Xiao Nai in a way that Yang Yang didn’t. Yang Yang was too stiff and for his really pretty face — brings out my inner bitch — he has limited facial expressions. There I said it. Most of the time, he has a — 冰块儿脸 — ice-cube face.

Case in point, when Xiao Nai searches for Wei Wei in the basketball match.

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Jing Boran’s crooked little smile just kills me. Okay, Yang Yang’s smiling yet not smiling face kills me too. But he almost always has that expression. Jing Boran has a wider range of quality hot face. A crooked secret smile for when he and Wei Wei are the only ones in the know about their relationship. A different smug satisfied smile for when he has completely demolished the pest that is his wifey’s ex-husband.

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And body language. In the movie, before Xiao Nai goes up to meet Wei Wei, we see him straighten up his coat. It’s a small action but it adds depth to his character. We see that he wants to look good in front of Wei Wei. Maybe he even feels a little nervous? This extra detail just makes him so much more fleshed out and human. And the more real he seems, the easier it is to delude ourselves into thinking he could exist IRL, am I right?

Which is why I didn’t mind that the movie portrayed Xiao Nai as an actually believable human-being instead of a perfect god (even if it deviated from the original storyline). Instead of being ahead of seasoned businessmen who know their shit all the freaking time like in the drama, Xiao Nai and his team’s ideas are stolen by the big gaming company in the movie. (Random side note: the evil GM of the gaming company looks like the frog villain in the beginning of the show.)

It really captures the fears of college students, of being bright and idealistic, ready to step into the adult world and make a difference, only to have your dreams crushed by the real adults. Xiao Nai’s slow-mo angsty music walk through Shanghai was a bit over-the-top melodramatic and heavy-handed but it works. The plot point was also resolved way too quickly but they only had 1h and 45 minutes so I will forgive them.

Still, Wei Wei going the extra mile — or whatever the distance between her home and the university is — to go to Xiao Nai so he won’t be alone is what that really gets me to buy into their love.

And his face when he sees her outside his office’s window with his friends, waving sparklers. Jing Boran plays this moment wonderfully, his micro-expressions shifting from disbelief that she is here to disbelief that she would go so far —literally — for him to touched. Add in the background music, their theme song that has played during each of their important moments, and it is beautiful.

Those scenes (and especially the kiss afterwards) made be believe that what they had was genuine even though due to the limited screentime, their courtship was so fast-game heh. Basically, the chemistry was cute and adorable.

Angelababy’s Wei Wei V. Zheng Shuang’s Wei Wei  

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Angelababy’s Bei Wei Wei is animated, intelligent and dorky. Her expressions are golden — especially when she’s having an internal monologue after having embarrassed herself. Also, her voice is rather low here which makes it sort of tomboyish and adds to her believability as a gaming nerd. So I found myself really buying into her character. I could believe that she was a strong, independent smart girl who loves gaming.

Again, it was the little details that made it work. Like when she described to her friends how she put down Cao Guang, the guy who started the rumour that she had a sugar daddy, she went into total gaming mode — “So I used the move ‘Black Tiger Digging out Heart’ and KO’d him.” So dorky. I love it.

I mentioned this earlier but the gaming figurines all over her desk? When you love something, it seeps into every part of your life. I felt that the movie showed Wei Wei’s character and love for gaming more effectively than the drama ever did in the first 12 episodes that I watched seriously (I skimmed the rest of the drama).

In fact, I found Zheng Shuang’s Wei Wei rather bland which is quite surprising because gamer girls are a rare breed even in real life. How could such a unique character be so boring? A combination of meh writing and meh acting probably. I suppose Wei Wei is a very elegant and quiet girl but passionate people have strong emotions and I never really saw strong emotions from Zheng Shuang’s Wei Wei.

Also, I found Wei Wei’s smackdown of Cao Guang in the movie way more satisfying than the drama’s. It might not be as true to the book but I’ll take a badass female over gentle elegant one anytime.

Also, she was more useful in the movie than in the drama. In the movie, she actively helped with developing a new game while in the drama, she was pretty useless. I have very little patience for useless characters.

Last point, Angelababy looks more normal-sized. Zheng Shuang is stick-thin and I snorted when the drama hinted that her cup size was 34C — imagine her back problems?

His Friends and Her Friends

Again, for some reason, I preferred the actors and actresses in the movie. They felt more animated. At times, I felt that the actors in the drama were simply standing around and reciting lines. In addition, the blocking in the drama was weird. For instance, sometimes, when Xiao Lai and his friends are talking, the three friends would stand in a line and Xiao Nai would stand opposite. It looked stiff, like bad acting, not like a natural conversation.

Cao Guang was played by the same actor in both the movie and the drama so no comment.

Final Verdict: Acting in the movie was better than in the drama. Feel free to dispute me on this.

4. Last but not least, THE KISS

Movie: Hot damn.

But seriously though, that determined look in his eyes before he pulls her back into the elevator. The way they intertwined their hands as they were kissing. The way he brought her hand to wrap around his waist. Eeee.

Drama: Pretty people making out is always aesthetically appealing if nothing else.

I’m too shy to post the pictures, go watch the show again yourself.

Overall Thoughts

I enjoyed the movie a lot more than the drama. I watched it thrice within three days while I fast-forwarded through the drama after episode 5 and stopped paying attention after episode 12. The movie wasn’t perfect—the plot was rushed and the editing a bit choppy due to the short duration)—so I totally get why many people prefer the drama version. Still, I preferred the visuals and acting in the movie. The music was evocative and mostly well-placed; the music in the drama was not too bad but hearing the same two songs gets boring. And I think the actors dressed better in the movie. Like no offence but Wei Wei’s red dress in the drama was so hideously country-bumpkin I had to fast-forward through the entire scene to the hug.

So what are your thoughts?