Today’s quick review: Great Conquest: The Romance of Three Kingdoms. In 184 AD, the Yellow Turban Rebellion throws China into chaos as the violent rebels clash with Imperial troops. Seeing the bloodshed around them, Liu Bei (Doug Stone) and his friends Chang Fei (Michael McConnohie) and Kwang Yu (Gregory Snegoff) swear an oath to restore peace to the land. But to do so, they must overcome mighty armies, political intrigue, and years of hardship.
Great Conquest: The Romance of Three Kingdoms is a Japanese animated historical war drama based on the Chinese epic Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Great Conquest tells the true story of a pivotal period in Chinese history, when the waning power of the Han Dynasty led to the outbreak of rebellion and civil war. The movie follows a sprawling cast of warlords, generals, and commoners as they fight to determine the future for their country.
Great Conquest is notable for its scope. The movie manages to condense years worth of power struggles, shifting alliances, and pivotal battles into two hours of run time, all while telling a comprehensible story. The subject matter is compelling, with nuanced characters to follow and a story that’s hard to predict. Finally, the art style, although a little stiff, does a good job of capturing the look of the time period and the scale of the battles.
Great Conquest has a handful of flaws, though, most of them related to its ambitious subject matter. Even in its condensed form, the story is complex and hard to follow. The need to cover so many significant events in so little time means that some of them are cut short, summarized by the narration rather than given full dramatic weight. The result is a movie that sometimes feels more like a history lesson than one continuous story.
The movie is also missing the personal touch that many war stories and historical dramas have. Liu Bei is the closest the story has to a protagonist, but even his personal desires come second to the ebb and flow of war. The script and presentation style are not geared toward getting an emotional response from the audience. Most of the movie’s impact comes from the raw facts of its story rather than their presentation.
Great Conquest: The Romance of Three Kingdoms requires a hefty investment from its viewers, especially ones who are unfamiliar with its source material. Those willing to keep track of its many characters and their ever-changing alliances will be rewarded with tales of bravery, cunning, honor, and betrayal. Those looking for a lighter or more personal story may want to look elsewhere.
For a live-action movie about political drama in historical China, try Curse of the Golden Flower, Shadow, or Hero. For a Chinese war drama with touches of comedy, try Little Big Soldier. For a lighter and more romantic animated movie set during another period of tumult in Chinese history, try Like the Clouds, Like the Wind. For a fantasy epic featuring battle on a similar scale, try The Lord of the Rings.
[6.9 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0295583/). I give it a 7.0 for a credible adaptation of impressive source material.