Pang shen feng (1976)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Chih Hui Chang

Writer:

Chiang Shen (writer)

Release Date:

1976 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Animation | Action | Comedy | Fantasy

Plot Keywords:

Evil | Shaolin | Heaven | Master | Paranoia

Also Known As:

Chinese Gods (USA) (DVD box title)
The Story of Chinese Gods (Hong Kong: English title)

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:M | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG | USA:PG-13

Movie Connections:

Version of "Feng shen bang 2" (2009)

Exotic, elaborate, and totally confusing.

I was expecting a really low budget movie with crappy animation, but the animation was really quite good in this. The story lacks clarity, but it's so full of exotic creatures and ridiculous fight scenes that I enjoyed it anyway. As far as I can tell, there's an emperor who has become very evil, and the gods plan on defeating him, or something... hard to tell really. The whole movie consists almost exclusively of long fight scenes between a bunch of weird looking "Chinese gods." Later in the story Bruce Lee appears, easily recognizable, with a third eye on his forehead. His high pitched yips and yelps certainly sound like the real Bruce Lee, but I don't know if it was actually him doing the voice acting or not. I really enjoyed the soundtrack, which consisted of lots of spooky sounding organ and eerie sounds. The elaborate fight scenes are often in slow motion, and are actually very similar to what you see in live action Chinese Kung Fu films. However, the fight scenes are so long and ridiculous, that you never really know whats going on. All the characters are constantly transforming into other creatures, and I don't even know the name of a single character in the entire movie, except for Shen, who I think was Bruce Lee's character.

In my opinion, this film is fine for children, but it is kind of gory considering the time period it was made in. There's blood, disembodiment, a little profanity I think, and a half naked 'child' who I think was supposed to be a god. The small article of clothing that this child wears transforms into some sort of flying weapon. Everything in this movie seems to have the ability to transform, to the point that nothing really makes any sense anymore. But nevertheless, I did kind of enjoy it. It has that retro animation feel to it, and I think it makes good viewing for when you are going to sleep, and just want something to occupy the TV screen.