Ne-beu-en-ding-seu-to-ri (2012) Online

The acting in "Never Ending Story" (aka "Ne-beu-en-ding-seu-to-ri") was quite good, and I will say that both leads Tae-woong Eom and Ryeowon Jung were doing good jobs in carrying the movie with their performances, both individually and also together. And there was also a nice, albeit short, cameo appearance by Dong-seok Ma.

The characters in the movie were quite detailed and fleshed out, and they stood out as rather interesting characters with good stories and lots of flavor.

The storyline, however, was a bit too generic and predictable. I had initially thought that the movie would be a sappy one, given the premise of the story and its synopsis, but luckily director Yong-joo Jung opted for a less traditional approach to the movie, and didn't allow it to be a sappy and mushy movie that leech on cheap tricks to evoke sympathy and emotions for the characters in the story. Instead, director Yong-joo Jung, managed to create a movie where you find the characters realistic and can easily put yourself into the situation.

Visually, then "Never Ending Story" was rather interesting, because it utilized the type of visuals that are very common in sad-romantic dramas like this, but at the same time there was a sense of refreshment and new-thinking to the story and the presentation of the characters and events portrayed.

One of the more subtle, but fulfilling, aspects of the movie was the music score, because the music was very fitting to the storyline and to the mood and atmosphere of the movie. The music was subtle enough to function as background music, and when the music was brought out in full force, it was done very nicely with some very well-chosen songs that had lots of emotion to add to the movie.

The movie is listed as a romantic comedy, however there isn't much comedy in the movie, so don't expect it to be one of those standard romantic comedies that are seen in abundance.

Now, I mentioned that the movie does not resort to using cheap tricks for bringing out emotions and tears, but you might actually want to have a tissue ready at hand during the scene where Dong-Joo and Song-Kyung reunite at the train tracks.

The biggest drawback there is to be said for "Never Ending Story" is the predictability that permeates the storyline. You essentially know the story, how it will progress and evolve, and exactly how it will end from the very beginning, because it does follow a very strict how-to-make-a-sad-romance-movie guidebook.

My rating for "Never Ending Story" is a six out of ten stars, because it is not just another romantic comedy that are found by the dozen at every corner you turn to. This wasn't an outstanding movie if you compare it to other South Korean movies of the same kind. But it surely is well-worth watching.

So this is a romantic comedies revolving to people that find out they have cancer and is dying. One is a slacker named Kang Dong-Joo(Uhm Tae-Woong) that doesn't really have a goal except winning the lottery. Uhm Tae-Woong seems to be taking these romantic comedy roles a lot these days. And and the female lead is someone that uses statistic and percentage for all circumstances and has her future all mapped out and planned out. Her name is Oh Song-Kyung and is played by Jung Ryeo-Won an actress I was kinda impressed with in the movie "Two Faces of my Girlfriend". Anyways because of certain circumstances and because they have a thing is common which is the fact that they have cancer, they decide to date each other. The two lead characters doesn't start out all that likable at first but they keep getting more and more likable as the movie progresses, especially Kang Dong-Joo. What I would have liked to see is the progression of there change but it comes off drastic. And used a bit of their starting out traits like how Oh Song-Kyung being a woman that has everything planned out in her life and give sharp and direct answers for everything. The whole premise reminded me of "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World" except instead of the two lovers facing the end of the world they are both facing cancer. This isn't as depressing but still a sad and yet cute flick. It's kinda unique how the two couples in this date and enjoy the little things in life, although they are told by the doctor that they only have few months to live. And instead of doing crazy stuff they enjoy casual dating and fall head over heels for each other. Knowing how to enjoy the small things even when facing death, the ending is sad and yet happy at the same time. The dating parts seems kinda redundant at times though and doesn't add much to the focus of the story. This is a cute romantic comedy worth checking out at least once. Especially if you like to see couples dating in a cute manner.

6.8/10