Set during the Joseon Dynasty, the movie follows King Yejong and his archivist as they search for the truth behind a crime that threatens the stability of the kingdom.
This Korean period spectacle is enlivened by the presence of a new kind of dynamic duo-a crime-fighting detective king and his genius, if clumsy, secret weapon.
The adventure seldom gets sufficiently up to speed, and on the occasions it threatens to come to life, the pedestrian action sequences fail to compensate for that lethargic pace.
Beginning brightly with goofy slapstick, irreverent humor and a dastardly plot to overthrow the monarch, the film squanders its early success in a second half marred by pedestrian pacing and ho-hum action scenes.