A Chinese Odyssey Part One: Pandora's Box (1995)

Stephen Chow Sing Chi's take on the Monkey King tale (A Journey West) is insanely confusing in parts, but strangely all makes sense at the same time.Maybe it's because there is so much going on, maybe it's because it's thick with Chinese fantasy and myths, or possibly it's because you are left p*ssing yourself laughing at the entire cast you just give up trying to concentrate!Bottom line, this is one of the best Monkey King tales I've ever seen.When have you never laughed hard at Chow Sing Chi and Ng Man Tat? I wouldn't say ACO is a great cross-over movie to introduce new fans to Chow, but it does need to be seen for anyone interested in the famous tale of the Monkey King.Not just because of its stars, but because of the epic-like quality of (both) movies, which are huge in scale, production values, story, and fantastical action, with Chow Sing Chi as the Monkey King, Ng Man Tat as Pigsy, Law Kar Ying as Prince Tripitaka, giant Spider Women, the Bull King, and much more including the beautiful Anthea Chu and Karen Mok as Chow's love interests.This film rocks!

This is one crazy movie, with martial arts monkeys, ladies who become giant spiders, and all sorts of devils and other supernatural characters wandering around causing trouble. It's fun, funny, and wacky.One interesting thing is that it's a movie full of strong women and weak men. You don't see that too often. True, love slows the women up, but outside of that they are tough as can be.I saw this movie with badly-done subtitles I downloaded off the Internet, so I was sometimes a little unclear as to what was going on, but the movie is such crazy fun that I barely minded.

First off let me say that I watched this movie not under the best circumstances. I downloaded it from Piratebay and was watching it on my Media Player when I realized within the first 2 minutes that the subs were awful. There were many English typos and because of that it seemed to be a poor translation. HOWEVER the acting was so good and the scenes so good that even with rudimentary dialog (that is to say basic translations) it still made me laugh quite a lot and I can't remember when was the last time I enjoyed a movie THIS MUCH! It's been SO long! This must be one of my favorite movies. Top 10 at least. Maybe even top 3 if I dare say so- but the problem with saying so and with saying it is absolutely one of my favorites (and it is) is that I am not sure many others will understand why it is one of my favorites or will even care to understand. It is one of my favorite movies for a number of reasons. Let me tell you why.1) It kept me in suspense. I am familiar with Goku the monkey king and how he was mischievous and had to pay penance for his sins and play a good guy for a while to gain freedom or whatever. That is as far as my knowledge of Goku the monkey king goes, oh and I know he is supposed to have a circlet and lance and was reminded of that later. Big deal, right? Wrong. This movie told me a story I have never been told before and kept me wildly guessing and entertained throughout! It is like a fairy tale. A very good fairy tale to movie translation. A very good play of sorts. What I enjoy about it the most is that I went into it not knowing what to expect. I thought it was about Buddhism? hello? but instead it was about....Well. It's hard to put into words. Read my first sentences about what I knew of the story of the monkey king. That much in this movie is still true. However there are many things I did not know that this movie tells and because my life is so boring and most things predictable (that is to say most movies, video games have predictable plot lines) this was a movie with nice twists and turns that got me to be interested in story-telling and cinema again. And boy did it get me interested again in a big way! I am in awe with how good the writer(s) must have been- the original writers that is to say who came out with the skeleton of this story because there is some wild stuff in here.2) This movie is surprisingly funny. Actually I had another 2 and 3 in mind as to why this movie is one of my favorites but forget them both. Oh yeah! It reminds me of the wild and wacky stuff I used to watch as a kid in it's creativity! Namely the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. If you're a 90's kid like me and grew up on that show you may actually love this. It's similar because there is martial arts and funny bad guys and action scenes in this. Also the special effects are old school with make-ups and costumes, none of that CGI stuff. I can appreciate the old ways because it doesn't really detract from the story or acting here and that is what's strong.I suppose people may give this a 7 or 8 instead of a 10, maybe even worse, but I am not too concerned about that. I know why others may not like this (because it's too foreign, or they are too busy to appreciate it's intricacies, or they don't find it funny, whatever the reason someone may not like this, maybe they have heard the story differently and have a preconceived idea of how it should be, who knows, but I had fun watching this and that is why I watch movies to begin with. To have fun. To forget life for a bit. Watch it if you want to be entertained and are not scared of Chinese films as an American or if you can laugh at silly faces, voices, and remarks.

WARNING: Spoilers within.Like many of Stephen Chow's movies, "A Chinese Odyssey" generates an even mix between humor, martial arts and Chinese-style special effects. Lightly based on a classic Chinese mythology, it centers around the "journey" that a powerful yet misguided monkey 'king' (Chow) is forced to choose between - a life of complex emotions or abandoning it all to accompany the Longevity Monk's (Kar-Ying Law) journey towards the West.The movie is divided into two parts: the first serves as a background on "Joker's" life as a human bandit; the second highlights his struggle and unravels some interesting secrets that reveals a long forgotten past. Throughout his journey, Joker encounters magic spells and mythical creatures while finding a way to cram in Chow's trademark slapstick humour.One element that sets "A Chinese Odyssey" apart from Chow's standard fare, though, is its willingness to showcase raw emotions. Although his satirical humor in widely appreciated, few of Chow's films are known to put aside screen time which depicts its characters as emotionally relatable to.Thankfully, "A Chinese Odyssey" serves as something of an anti-Chow project. It allows its viewers to sympathise with Joker's ordeal. It's a step away from the accident-prone heroes who are there for the single purpose of enticing a few chuckles. Demonstrating his humanity throughout the film, Joker nonetheless manages to deliver without sacrificing the fanfare that made Chow a household name.Too often we're offered films which veer towards one extreme. They're either focused entirely on comedy or riddled with so much cheese, they appear lame instead of the tear-jerker promised. Not so "A Chinese Odyssey." It delivers with consistency and therefore appeals to fans of different genres.