Lo Foo Ji

Master Q 2001 is an A Hong Kong production with starpower--Cecilia Cheung and Nicholas Tse--and very fine animation for the cartoon characters who co-inhabit the screen with the live stars. While not up to the standards of a movie like "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," Tsui Hark's production does have some nice touches, such as Alphonso Wong, the creator of Master Q, interacting with the comic characters he created. The movie even shows Mr. Wong drawing a cartoon using both his right and left hands, almost at the same time. As for the story, it could be better. Still, the animation is fine and former model Cecilia Cheung looks great playing a teacher.

"Master Q" is a popular comic book series character in Hong Kong. Each comic book is usually made up of many different situational stories, with 8 frmaes making up a story in 1 page. In short, it is like the newspaper comics that you see in America but in a book form.

The comic style does not translate well into a movie of course, due to the length of a movie. So, the quiessence of "Master Q" has pretty lost in the movie. Insightful comments and thoughts have been translated into humor without depth in this movie adaptation.

The movie is about how Master Q and his 2 friends Mr. Chung and Potato are out looking for jobs but accidentally cause an traffic accident for Mandy (Cecilia Cheung) and Fred (Nicholas Tse). As a result, both have lost their memories and due to circumstances, they have become enemies... but then, true love will eventually reunite (with a lot of help from Master Q and Potato).

There are multiple subplots going on but they pretty much lack any depth. The humor is also very elementary and lack any sophistication. One gets the feeling that whether the movie could have done just as well without the cartoon characters as they become a sideshow merely to showcase the 3D CG technology.

A 4/10 on my book.