Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Celia A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

george walter Many actors from the Ip Man sequels starring Donnie Yen are cast in this Yip Man film. That is everything they have in common. Acting : the main actor is no Donnie Yen. His fighting was OK, but he was inexpressive. His face and body language were that of an inexperienced actor. The other actors did a better job and were more believable.Storyline : two useless love stories are included, but they bring nothing to the table. They don't help build up Yip Man's character at all. The child actors were probably the worst I've seen. Literally reciting line after line. Action scenes : the fighting was very unequal. Some scenes packed a punch, while others felt very unreal. For a movie on Yip Man's Wing Chun, seeing roundhouse kicks and acrobatics was very out of place. Even on the characters voiced his concerns about high kicks not being appropriate!3/10, Donnie Yen's movies were MUCH better

jmtreker The fighting is great like all good Hong Kong Kung Fu movies but the actor that plays Ip Man's brother is better than the star. I really don't buy the girl mooning over Ip Man the for years while he's away at school. Not so much high flying tight rope walking fight scenes as many other movies in the Ip Man genre which I appreciate. I would rather just see some really good kung fu action rather than guys who can fly. The fight between Ip man and his brother at the end of the movie is one of the best I've seen in these types of movies. Not so much high flying wire flips, just plain old mixed style martial arts action. Whoever choreographed that fight is awesome.

mrrockey The Legend is Born: Ip Man is a lame, uninspired, cheap knockoff of the Wilson Yip Ip Man movies. It has absolutely no heart, soul, or emotion whatsoever. Why is it so bad? Let's take a look and rip it apart!Firstly, let's take a look at our protagonist, Ip Man played by Dennis To. In the first two films, Donnie Yen played Ip Man with a charm and sincerity with him that makes us like him and root for him throughout the film. In contrast, Dennis To's Ip Man is awkward, stiff, and stoic throughout. He lacks charisma and only seems to have one expression on his face the entire time. It's obvious they only picked him just because he resembled Donnie Yen a lot. He's pretty much the Brandon Routh of Ip Man. I'll give him credit for doing some decent kung-fu here but throughout the film, I just wanted Donnie Yen back.Secondly, the story is GOD-AWFUL in this film. The first half of this film is pretty much just a summary of Ip Man's early life where he learns Wing Chun, meets Leung Bik, falls in love etc. The second half has a lame evil Japanese plot again. The first half features WAY too many unnecessary fight scenes. Every character Ip Man meets, is a violent douchebag who wants to fight him for no good reason! The second half is just racist and boring! I'm honestly quite sick of this " evil Japanese " trope in kung-fu movies. It comes off a lot of the times as overly patriotic and racist. All in all, the story of this movie was terrible and it's obvious the writers did not give a sh!t while writing this film.Are there any good things about this movie? Sure. The fight choreography is a refreshing change of pace from the Wilson Yip films. In those movies, Ip Man is nearly superhuman in his speed and reflexes but here, the fights are a little more grounded in reality. And Yuen Biao does a good job here. That's it for the positive, I think.Overall, The Legend is Born: Ip Man is just a product meant to make a sh!t ton of money and nothing more. I'm gonna give it a 3/10.

Harry T. Yung This prequel is better than the sequel. Martial arts world champion YO Yu-Hang in no way suffers in comparison with Donny Yan in skill, and is more authentic. Yan's Wing Chun is serviceable at a distant shot but falls apart in close-ups. A close-up in the first Ip Man showing his wife treating his bruised fist reveals all too clearly how completely ignorant (or inattentive) the movie makers are to the glaring fact that Wing Chun and karate use entirely different parts of the fist to strike opponents.The screenplay is penned by Erica Lee, prolific romance author, best utilizing her forte in handling that department of the script. The story is very much fictionalized which actually works to its advantage, making the script more self-contained than the previous two movies.Participation of 86-year-old IP Chun, the Masters own son further brightens up the movie, in both the role he plays and the way he delivers it. Despite the turn-of-20th-century setting, female lead HUANG Yi is pretty in a very contemporary way and great to watch. The familiar support cast is good, particularly FAN Siu-wong, veteran martial art actor playing Ip Man's adopted brother.Ip Man fan are no doubt eagerly awaiting WONG Kar-wai's rendering of the Master's legend starring LEUNG Chiu-wai, scheduled for release in December 2010.