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The Children of Huang Shi

Play trailer Poster for The Children of Huang Shi R Released May 23, 2008 2h 5m History Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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30% Tomatometer 77 Reviews 66% Popcornmeter 50,000+ Ratings
In 1930s China, British journalist George Hogg (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), an American nurse named Lee (Radha Mitchell) and a Chinese partisan leader named Chen (Chow Yun Fat) join together to rescue 60 orphans. Together, they lead the children on an amazing but dangerous journey over snow-covered mountains and harsh desert terrain in search of a safe haven.
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The Children of Huang Shi

The Children of Huang Shi

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Critics Consensus

This beautifully photographed but dramatically flat war drama recounts an important chapter in history with little cinematic freshness.

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Critics Reviews

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David Fear Time Out Rated: 2/5 Nov 18, 2011 Full Review Hank Sartin Time Out Rated: 2/5 Nov 17, 2011 Full Review Nigel Floyd Time Out Rated: 4/5 Nov 16, 2011 Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy The ability to mount staggering epics that seize both the heart and the head has apparently become a lost art in the 21st century. Rated: 2.5/4 Jun 16, 2021 Full Review Kelly Jane Torrance Washington Times More insight into each character's motivation would have made for a deeper film. Yet the excellent cast does a good job with what they are given. Rated: 2.5/4 Dec 13, 2018 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com A disappointingly detached and tame film for such a subject matter. Rated: C Aug 10, 2011 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (729) audience reviews
Morbeus f I think it's easy to be critical of a movie but in the case of this one I have to give it the maximum latitude because of the story. It's too bad that the world isn't full of more people like George Hogg and his love for the children in a country that wasn't even his own. Whenever I feel down I watch this movie and it restores mine faith in humanity. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 09/08/24 Full Review Cees T True story, except Wikipeda says the original author of this movie, James MacManus, said "His entry to China was February 1938. He did not go to Nanjing. The movie has been dramatized. It's not the fact." Rated 4 out of 5 stars 12/28/23 Full Review Audience Member I went with 3 1/2 stars for this movie beautiful views and it's based on a true story. One of me and my bf's movies we like I also own this movie I have seen this movie many times and I would watch this movie again. Sad at times but a good movie in my opinion it is worth at least one watch. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Audience Member Review: I really enjoyed this emotional drama, and the fact that it's based on a true story, made the whole journey truly amazing. Its another one of those films were it needed some big names to play the main roles, because it needed someone who could have brought the intensity and emotion of the 1,000 kilometre track to the edge of the Mongolian desert. The little kids played there roles extremely well and the authenticity seemed extremely real and it was great to see Chow Yun-Fat (Jack) and Michelle Yeoh (Mrs. Wang) in the same film, even though they didn't have any scenes together. Jonathan Rhyl Meyers (George Hogg), put in a decent performance, alongside Radha Mitchell (Lee Pearson) but for a movie of this scale, it really needed someone who could push the boundaries, so you could feel how hard there journey really was. I did feel quite emotional when I saw the real kids, as grown ups, at the end but it did finish quite abruptly, which was slightly disappointing after watching these orphans travel so far. With that aside, I was still amazed with the story and the fact that these young children all pulled together to get to there destination. I'm glad that the director didn't delve into the whole love story element of the film because it would have taken away how important there journey really was. Anyway, I found this movie very entertaining, and it's part of Chinese history which needed to be brought out, into the open. Enjoyable! Round-Up: This movie really did make a massive lose at the box office, which is a shame because it really didn't deserve it. I personally didn't know anything about the film when it was released, so the studio didn't really push the distribution, even though they invested so much money into the project. Although Jonathan Rhys Meyers, 38, has starred in some decent films like Michael Collins, Misson Impossible III and Alexander, I still think that this movie was a bit too big for him at this stage of his career. He's not one that usually takes the lead in big budget movies so I personally would have chosen a more established actor. The movie was directed by Roger Spottiswoode, 71, who has made a range of movies like the Best of Times, Deadly Pursuit, Turner & Hooch, Air America, the terrible Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot and Tomorrow Never Dies, and with 5 more movies in the pipeline, he's still going strong. I doubt that this film would damage his reputation, even though it made a heavy lose but I still think that this amazing story could be told with a A class cast and huge distribution. Budget: $40million Worldwide Gross: $8million I recommend this movie to people who are into their drama/war movie starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Radha Mitchell, Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh and David Wenham. 7/10 Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Audience Member Basada en una historia real, nos cuenta la historia de George Hogg (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), un joven británico dedicado al periodismo que empezará a hacerse cargo de un grupo de 60 niños chinos huérfanos. Tendrá que asegurar, en plenos tiempos de guerra entre chinos y japoneses, de llevar a los niños a un lugar seguro, mientras se vuelve un verdadero maestro de la vida para los pequeños. Con las actuaciones de Radha Mitchell (Lee Pearson) y Yun Fat Chow (Jack Chen Hansheng) Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review Audience Member I'm not sure why the rating was so low on this movie. I certainly felt it was worth 5 stars. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Children of Huang Shi

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis In 1930s China, British journalist George Hogg (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), an American nurse named Lee (Radha Mitchell) and a Chinese partisan leader named Chen (Chow Yun Fat) join together to rescue 60 orphans. Together, they lead the children on an amazing but dangerous journey over snow-covered mountains and harsh desert terrain in search of a safe haven.
Director
Roger Spottiswoode
Producer
Arthur Cohn, Weiland Schulz-Keil, Peter Loehr, Jonathan Shteinman, Martin Hagemann
Screenwriter
James MacManus, Jane Hawksley
Distributor
Sony Pictures Classics
Production Co
Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Australian Film Finance Corporation, Australian Film Commission, Zero Fiction Film
Rating
R (Some Violent Content|Some Disturbing Content)
Genre
History, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
May 23, 2008, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 1, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA)
$110.8K
Runtime
2h 5m
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