But readers approved of the "humanization" of the Li Mu Bai character, and, in his day, Wang Du Lu was one of the best-known writers of the genre. Ang Lee says the reason he chose to adapt the Crouching Tiger story to film was that he felt sympathy for Li Mu Bai's difficulties, whereas he can't work up any enthusiasm for the knights-errant of most chivalric novels.
甚至導演李安也說，在許多武俠小說中，他談不上喜歡或欣賞哪位大俠，但自己選擇改編《臥虎藏龍》，則是一定程度認同李慕白的人生困境。