Credited cast: | |||
Pak-Cheung Chan | ... | Chi | |
Jing Chen | ... | Lecherous Comrade | |
Szu-Ying Chien | ... | Old Lady with Baby | |
Tat-Wah Cho | ... | Master Koo | |
Andy Lau | ... | Charles | |
Chi-Wing Lau | ... | Cop with Megaphone | |
Shun Lau | ... | Yim Chun | |
Siu-Wai Mui | ... | Mandy | |
Fui-On Shing | ... | Motorcycle Cop | |
Joey Wang | ... | Princess Wendy | |
Wah Yuen | ... | Tin |
An update of the 1960s Chinese martial arts story, Buddha's Palm, friends Charles and Chi (Andy Lau, Pak-Cheung Chan) visit Mainland China and discover an ancient cave that houses what is supposed to be the makeshift tomb of the legendary martial artist Lung Gim-Fei. The friends find an old spell book and practice some magic, which unintentionally breaks open a wall and releases a dormant princess (Joey Wang) and her handmaiden (Siu-Wai Mui). Charles and Chi take the Princess and her Handmaiden back to Hong Kong with them, unaware that they were followed by the just-awaken evil warlord, Tien Chien (Wah Yuen). Written by Oliver Chu
There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments in this Chinese fantasy comedy. Two friends discover an old cave (not unlike in the first Indiana Jones movie) where they trigger a mechanism which revives a princess, her handmaiden and an evil kung fu master who have been asleep there for 250 years.
Lots of wacky fun ensues as these characters have to adapt to all the technical conveniences of modern-day Hong Kong (in fact, some of the situations are so similar to the 1993 French time-traveling comedy Les Visiteurs that one almost suspects the writer of that movie to have been inspired by this one). The evil kung fu master pursues the princess, but becomes distracted by TV commercials for everything from chips and Coca-Cola to hamburgers (where the actors use kung fu moves and dances) which he then believes are the food of champions! The movie also has many comical references to other movies, like for instance Rambo III...
The story gets rather nonsensical towards the end of the movie, particularly with the animated turtle, which has no reason whatsoever for being there. Overall, the movie is good fun nonetheless.
6 out of 10. (A "6" may seem a low grade, but I'm rather strict in my ratings philosophy. A "6" means "above average" and "fairly entertaining" and "probably worth watching again sometime".)