The Sorcerer and the White Snake / It's Love / Madame White Snake (2011)

[AnimeMania]

I watched the movie "The Sorcerer and the White Snake" on Prime Video because it had Jet Li (a person I am not particularly fond of) in it. I thought it might be a high-end "kung fu" fantasy movie. Although the special effects could have been much better, they are passable, since this is an older movie.

It is based on the Chinese legend, "Legend of the White Snake" which I learned about, only after watching the movie. This means that the characters and their actions are slightly set to configure to the original legend.

Abbot Fahai (Jet Li) and his comic relief assistant Neng Ren (Wen Zhang) go around trapping demons, most of whom are portrayed as very sexy women, with one, or possibly two exceptions. Vivian Hsu plays the Ice Harpy demon in the beginning. Qingqing (Charlene Choi), the Green Snake and Susu (Eva Huang), the White Snake live high in the mountains and have almost no contact with humans. Susu meets Xu Xian (Raymond Lam), an herbalist collecting ingredients, and falls in love with him. The Snake demons visit the town where the Xu Xian lives that just happens to have quite a few demons there causing mischief, which attracts the attention of Abbot Fahai and Neng Ren.  

I think everybody should watch this movie. I really felt immersed in the story, it was interesting and thought provoking. I really thought it was going somewhere until I got to the ending, which I hated, not so much hated as felt betrayed by what happened. It was a good movie that left me with a bad feeling after it was over. And so I went to sleep and when I woke up, I felt I could have written a better ending to the movie, so I did.

Here is what I feel is wrong with the movie and how I would have fixed it.

This was said at the beginning of the movie:

Master wouldn't have trapped you if you were really scary. (Meaning Master would have destroyed the really bad demons?) We're giving you another chance-- a chance to reflect and improve. If you make real progress in mediation, you'll be released. You too! Study to improve yourself!

Spoiler

This suggests some positives like prison reform, "let the punishment fit the crime", not all demons are the same.

In the movie we see Abbot Fahai trap some demons (all the sexy female ones) and destroy a demon, the male Bat demon.

This is what bothered me most, Abbot Fahai, attacked the White Snake demon just because it was a demon, even though it was harming itself to help regular people. 

This goes against what was said in the beginning and what was shown at the end of the movie when Abbot Fahai befriends the Neng Ren demon.

I think the movie could have had a better ending if this had happened instead.

When Susu summons the giant wall of water, Buddha sends Susu, Qingqing, Abbot Fahai and Xu Xian back in time (a thousand years or however long it takes for a demon to repent) and the water lands in the spot where Jin Shan Temple and the Lei Feng Pagoda are to be built (in the future), clearing away the trees and debris, maybe even putting into place the large stone that will eventually be carved into the Buddha statue. The fight continues, Susu never harms any monks. Lei Feng Pagoda miraculously exists and Susu and Qingqing are placed inside to repent. Susu gives Qingqing some of the power she got from the Spirit Root to heal her and when doing so a small sliver of the Spirit Root falls through a crack in the floor and takes root. We see a time lapse of Jin Shan Temple being built as Abbot Fahai and Xu Xian are sent back to present time, where Susu, Qingqing are ready to exit their Lei Feng Pagoda prison and a new Spirit Root has grown. Cut Scene. We see the Neng Ren demon wearing the Green Snake demon like a belt, Xu Xian and the White Snake demon making a potion that Abbot Fahai drinks which greatly increases his powers, allowing him "Super Sense" to see where demons are located. Abbot Fahai points in the direction of the demons, Susu wraps around Abbot Fahai's arm and and all four, Susu, Qingqing, Abbot Fahai and Neng Ren demon head off to protect humans from bad demons.