李安《臥虎藏龍》所描繪的是他自小想像中唯美的中國山水人文，也是他離散電影的家鄉之夢，其中鑲嵌了愛情、武藝和東方哲學的奇遇冒險，具現了他理想的中國圖像。《臥虎藏龍》除了電影鏡頭的靈活運用使平凡的城郭街樓竹林大漠等地景呈現魔幻寫實的趣味，也融合了中國武術與好萊塢敘述模式、兼具東方哲學與西方人文價值。它批判了枯燥的禮教、利益交換的婚約和虛偽官場文化的灰色北京，歌頌的是新疆荒漠的熱情與自然。李安摒棄了原作者王度廬積極入世的儒家觀點，彰顯了道家「勘破生死、離形去知」與禪宗「直指人心，見性成佛」的東方哲學。

Ang Lee is well known for his spectacular renditions of natural scenes and landscapes in his films. His ”Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, in particular, captures the mystery and the majesty of exotic settings in the world of Chinese martial arts and creates his own fantasy about old China.By using shifting camera angles and employing modern techniques, Lee grafts a dramatic sense of magical realism onto otherwise mundane and quotidian geographical space. Although ”Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” is a product of China's unique setting, culture, history, and tradition, the film is not understood in terms of national singularity. Adopting a popular ”Hollywoodesque” theme of geographical contrast between East and West in the genre of western movies, Lee highlights the cross-cultural romance in the Chinese wild west and criticizes the civilized hypocrisy in the city of Beijing. Based on Wang Du-lu's novel of the same name, Lee has altered the original plot by embracing Taoism and Zen mysticism thus creating a new brand of fantasy movie.