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Based on the true story of George Hogg (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), an Englishman living in China during the Japanese invasion of the 1930s, who becomes the unlikely caretaker of 60 orphaned boys and ultimately leads them to safety in a remote area.

Big question: With significant media attention on China due to the tragic recent earthquakes and controversial upcoming summer Olympics is the timing right for a drama set against one of the country's greatest tragedies?

Skip it: Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh have key supporting roles but this is historical drama as clichéd as they come, making it no surprise that white actors Rhys Meyers and Radha Mitchell are expected to carry the drama. There's more dramatic tension constructed for Hogg's ultimate fate than any one of the millions of massacred Chinese. “Children of Huang Shi” is misguided and unoriginal! How’s that for a resistible combination?

Catch it: To gain a greater appreciation of last year’s so-so documentary “Nanking,” which shared this film’s focus on European bystanders but also fleshed out the victims in interviews with Chinese survivors.

Bottom line: It's not necessary to invoke the obvious "Schindler's List" comparison to make this torpid period epic look bad--the hackneyed dialogue, spotty performances and plodding chase sequences handle that just fine. Beyond capturing some of China's most stunning countryside locales, there's little that director Roger Spottiswoode gets right. "Huang Shi" is such an old school bore that you'll be tempted to wonder if it's actually satire played inexplicably straight.

Bonus: Just one example of the quotably bad dialogue: "Maybe these boys don't need me, but I need them. Oh yes, I do need them."

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