The Little Fairy aka: Fairy From The Wonderland (Ep.1-30) (End) (English Subtitled) (US Version) DVD Region All

Stretching a whopping 39 episodes, The Little Fairy adds more than a few tweaks, elaborations, and characters to pad the original story. One of the interesting (and frustrating) things about the drama is the way the story continuously re-sets itself, approaching the same encounter with a new possibility. Dong Yong and Little Seven serendipitously meet and cruelly separate on multiple occasions, and their romance in itself echoes a previous mortal-heaven pairing whose ill fate they must transcend. The drama also liberally integrates elements from other folk stories. Little Seven disguises as a male and attends school with Dong Yong, a clear reference to Butterfly Lovers, and the fox spirit sub-plot recalls Tales of Liaozhai.

All of these additional strands inevitably make the story more convoluted and long-winded than necessary, and The Little Fairy has its share of pluses and minuses. Some of the CGI is almost laughably unfortunate, but the art direction for the drama is overall attractive and appealing, laden in bright fairy tale colors. A big plus is Tse Kwan Ho as Dong Yong and Little Seven's quirky graying teacher, giving a performance that, even dubbed, hits all the emotional notes. An equally big minus though comes in the form of a blank Bobby Dou and much of his sub-plot, which acts as an example of how too much creativity is a common weakness in fusion period dramas.

Even with the stray ends though, the drama succeeds because the core story, the central relationship between Dong Yong and Little Seven, is genuinely moving and well developed. The Little Fairy is about a love that defies the heavens: it either makes you believe or it makes you roll your eyes - there's little middle ground to be had. And fortunately, Ariel Lin and Hu Ge make you believe. The two young stars are perfectly cast as the impish Little Seven and stubbornly upright Dong Yong. Their lively screen presence helps lighten the story for a modern audience, and their natural chemistry unassumingly brings alive the classic romance of Dong Yong and the Seventh Princess.