A full blown epic. Unique and beautifully done.

Where else can you find all of the following elements:

• Heart-wrenching romantic love drama, with good acting chemistry.
• Medieval politicking to the max
• Inline music videos(!) (I suppose it might be called a musical, except the songs only happen in a few places, and the way they're done is much more akin to a well-done video than the "movie musical" format.)
• Fancy sword fight matches.
• Big battle scenes, with horses, elephants, and lots of mayhem.
• Charm and humor. I loved the ongoing story Asoka told to the cute little 7-year old prince, and the bits where he used clever wit to outmatch the tough-guy fighter.
• A story that keeps you guessing almost all the way to the end.
• A good dose of Buddhist philosophy in the narrative.

I won't say it doesn't have a few little flaws, the most prominent of which was some sloppily synced ADR, but that's easily overlooked. Also, this isn't a problem with the film itself, but I was annoyed that the disc I got has a spot that freezes up in the middle of the movie, and washing it did not help. (It was ordered new from Amazon many moons ago (/me dons flamesuit), and I didn't get around to watching it until now, so it's probably too late to exchange it.)

I'm sensing a trend here: Over the past few years, the best big-scale movies keep getting made in places other than America. Hmmmm...

Well, this is one I definitely plan to bring to the next fest for nomination in the wacky voting system. I suspect the festing crowd would enjoy it.