A sometimes entertaining, but otherwise forgettable two hours, The Great Wall sounds cool on paper, but feels more like a business deal than a complete film.

The Great Wall gives one of the world's great visual filmmakers $150 million and an army of extras at his disposal, and he turns a monument into a playground.

Zhang's moments of visual splendor-a battalion of hot-air balloonists, the queen-monster and her royal guard of fan-frilled monstrosities-are weighed down by a script and performances almost dutiful in their dullness.

Visually splendid from top to bottom, this epic adventure squeaks by on its looks and spares no expense to make sure of that.