I think it is safe to say that the audience expects certain things from a Zhang Yimou film; masterful direction of gorgeous visuals and deep characters who endure and survive, their struggles evoking the audience's empathy. With such a high standard set by himself, sadly this particular offering doesn't satisfy and is in fact rather disappointing. The characters, despite their troubles, remain vacant and unlikeable, their plight and the story seeming to come second to the aesthetics of the film. This film is certainly worth watching for the costume design alone, and although some elements were not period correct, artistic license is well permitted in this kind of feature. Unfortunately the glorious costume designs are somewhat overshadowed by the almost assailing barrage of colour throughout the picture, which would feel more like a carefully considered element were the whole picture not marred by moments of very poor CGI. Furthermore, the pacing of the film felt unbalanced, the result being that by the end of film you felt like not much altogether had occurred, and what had happened was made irrelevant by the lack of compassion for the main characters and what happened to them. Still, I'd say it's worth a watch, particularly for designers and fans of the cast, but I wouldn't give my time to watch it again.