Sien lui yau wan II: Yan gaan dou

This is the first sequel of the iconic and fantastic Hong Kong ghost fantasy, A Chinese Ghost Story. This time, humble tax collector Ling Choi Sin (Leslie Cheung) meets rebel sisters Windy (Joey Wang) and Moon (Michelle Reis) after his escape from prison. He gets himself stumbled onto a plot where the rebels' father Lord Fu (Siu-Ming Lau) was framed for a crime. While waiting at a villa to rescue Fu from the convoy, the rebels encounter an awakened demon.

Like its prequel, this movie is fast-paced and full of action scenes and surprises, which gives the plot momentum and suspense. There is a good balance of drama and romance, as the character of Windy reminded Ling Choi Sin of his beloved tragic ghost, Lip Siu Sin, from the first movie - bridging a touching connection between the two stories.

This film also has a beautiful music score composed by James Wong and Romeo Diaz and crazy special/visual effects of the magic spells seen in the film you would have to suspend your imagination to believe. Though very wild, the magic somehow works very well and fits in this story. Lastly, the acting was great, provided by a cast of very memorable characters.

While this film does not surpass the original Chinese Ghost Story in story and quality, this movie is still entertaining and fun and certainly one of the better sequels to come out of Hong Kong.

Grade B+

Although I hadn't seen the first movie, the recap at the beginning brings you up to speed very quickly. The movie itself while not hilarious, cheered me up and made me laugh in a few parts, mainly when the monk, Autumn, was on screen.

There's a lot of likable things about the movie, namely: love interests, thieves that appear out of nowhere (in the plot, not out of thin air), fight scenes with demons and a funny "freezing" spell, redemption of the "bad" guy, and most importantly (since more recent Asian movies seem to forget about them) a happy ending.

Overall, if you want a funny movie that you can just relax while watching it (no serious people), give it a go.

After the resounding success of "A Chinese Ghost Story" a second part had to be made. And what a sequel it is! This time our bumbling tax-collector finds himself in prison, fighting stacks of rubber monsters and befriending a Taoist who likes to travel underground! It's nice to see all the cast back too. This movie is very funny and never takes itself too seriously. For some who didn't quite understand the first movie, this is great to clear up any confusion. For the others, this is lighthearted entertainment.

"Chinese Ghost Story 2" is almost as amazing as the first "Chinese Ghost Story"(1987).Again the film is incredibly energetic,atmospheric and filled with incredibly well-choreographed fight scenes.Of course the special effects may be a little bit cheesy at times(especially the monster is funny looking!),but the film is extremely entertaining for horror,fantasy and even comedy fans.So don't wait any longer-check it out now.Highly recommended.10 out of 10.

SINNUI YAUMAN II isn't bad at all, but it's disappointing. It isn't as funny, exciting, touching or visually inventive as its predecessor. The device used to reintroduce Joey Wong into the story is just plain wrong; if they didn't want to bring back her original character ( I have to admit they probably couldn't) they should have come up with a new love interest played by a new actress. Limiting Wu Ma to such a brief appearance limits his chemistry with Leslie Cheung, which is one of the things that made the first film such fun, and there's just about no one else here, except Cheung, who has as much charisma. It is a novel way to bring back the two actors, but it's a letdown.

As for Cheung himself, he just isn't as disarming here as in the original; he doesn't fit his character as well. There's also what seems to be some kind of political allegory near the end that doesn't fit the rest of the story - maybe you have to be more familiar than I am with China to appreciate it? Oh, maybe I'm griping too much; it has its good moments (especially a scene concerning a slowly 'thawing' monster)...just not nearly as many as 1987's SINNUI YAUMAN. It waters down the impact of that jewel a bit, and frankly, I wish they'd taken all the good stuff in this film and used it on some entirely different project.