Made on a mere $15 million budget, with dialogue in Mandarin, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon became an international success. It grossed $128 million in the United States alone, where foreign-language films are very rarely embraced by the public. The critically-acclaimed movie was nominated for numerous awards around the world including the Academy Awards' Best Picture. It won four Academy Awards, including Best Foreign Language Film. The score by composer Tan Dun also received much acclaim. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon received the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in 2001.
Although a fiction, the story is set in the Qing Dynasty in China, likely during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor (circa 1680). Support for this is found in the props, the hair and clothing styles, and the appearance of a telescope.
The story follows two experienced martial arts warriors, Li Mu Bai (李慕白; pinyin: Lǐ Mùbái) (played by Chow Yun-Fat) and Yu Shu Lien (余秀蓮; pinyin: Yú Xiùlián) (played by Michelle Yeoh). Both are in love but feel they cannot act on their feelings because of Shu Lien's marital commitment years ago. Shu Lien was bethrothed to Mu Bai's "Brother in Oath". Although he is dead, the two's relationship is still constrained by commonplace propriety.
Meanwhile Jen (玉嬌龍; pinyin: Yù Jiāolóng) (played by Zhang Ziyi), a Manchu aristocrat's daughter, yearns for adventure, not life as a court wife. Jen is a secret apprentice to the evil warrior woman Jade Fox (played by veteran Cheng Pei-pei), whom Mu Bai has sworn to kill for murdering his master.
At the start of the film Mu Bai leaves his legendary sword Green Destiny to Sir Te for safekeeping. The sword, however, is stolen by Jen. To retrieve it Mu Bai fights with Jen on several occasions, but he refuses to kill her because he sees her potential and wants to train her as his apprentice. Jen also fights with Shu Lien, who spares her out of feelings of love and friendship.
Jen, headstrong in her powers and emboldened by her forbidden love to the desert bandit Lo (played by Chang Chen), consequently does not accept Mu Bai as master nor Shu Lien as a friend. She faces the dilemma of choosing between Lo's love, a mundane life as a court official's wife, an outlaw existence with Jade Fox, or Li Mu Bai as a teacher.
The title Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (臥虎藏龍) is attributed to a Chinese saying which teaches one to conceal one's strengths from others in order to preserve the element of surprise. It also references two of the characters: Jen's Mandarin name (Jiāo lóng) means "pampered dragon", and Lo's (Xiào Hǔ) means "little tiger".
UK DVD cover
The fantasy aspect of the film comes into play whenever the three protagonists fight. They possess seemingly magical powers, literally flying through the air as they vault across roofs, running up walls, and moving with superhuman ease. These powers are never clearly explained in the movie but the implication is it comes from the protagonists' training and secret knowledge from the Wudang school of martial arts. This aspect of the film, which is a common characteristic in the wuxia film genre, also lends itself to occasional parody.
In anticipation of the film's hidden ending, the dialog hints that through the Wudang arts, under the right conditions, one might acquire immense hidden power and skill in aerial movement.
Despite its international fame, the movie was not as well received in China and Hong Kong as the rest of the world. It was perceived by many as another wuxia movie among countless in the past four decades. Lee's unique directing style in handling subtle emotions was well-perceived by the western world but not appreciated by some Chinese, since it was thought not to fit well into the traditional wuxia style. Also, there was the accent issue, which bothers some native Chinese speakers. Although neither Chow (a native Cantonese speaker) nor Yeoh (an overseas Chinese born and raised in Malaysia) speaks Mandarin as a native language, Lee insisted that the actors and actresses should speak themselves, and not have their voices dubbed. Yeoh speaks with a Malaysian accent, Chow a Cantonese accent, Zhang Ziyi a Mainland Chinese accent, and Chang Chen a Taiwanese accent. Members of the Mandarin-speaking audience complained that they had to read the Chinese subtitles because the actors' accents were hard to understand. In addition, the accents of the actors did not always match the roles in the story, which disturbed Chinese audience's perception since they know well about the intricate differences of dialects and cultural setting.
Golden Horse Film Festival (Taiwan): Best Picture (Ang Lee), Best Action Direction (Woo-ping Yuen), Best Editing (Tim Squyres), Best Sound Effects (Eugene Gearty), Best Visual Effects (Leo Lo and Rob Hodgson)
Golden Trailer Awards: Best Art and Commerce (for the trailer), Best Romance (for the trailer)
Best Score Soundtrack Album For A Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media (Dun Tan)
Hong Kong Film Awards: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Pei-pei Cheng), Best Director (Ang Lee), Best Cinematography (Peter Pau), Best Original Film Score (Dun Tan), Best Original Film Song (CoCo Lee [performer]), Best Action Choreography (Woo-ping Yuen), Best Sound Design (Eugene Gearty)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Hui-Ling Wang, James Schamus and Kuo Jung Tsai)
Best Costume Design (Timmy Yip)
Best Editing (Tim Squyres)
Best Original Song (Jorge Calandrelli, Dun Tan [composers] and James Schamus [lyricist]) - for the song "A Love Before Time"
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films ("Saturn Award"): Best Actor (Yun-Fat Chow), Best Actress (Michelle Yeoh), Best Supporting Actress (Ziyi Zhang), Best Director (Ang Lee), Best Writing (Hui-Ling Wang, James Schamus and Kuo Jung Tsai), Best Music (Dun Tan and Yo-Yo Ma), Best Costumes (Timmy Yip)
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Wo hu cang long (2000) 
Wo hu cang long (2000)
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Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) 
