Sai yau gei: Sin leui kei yun

It is unfair that there is no thorough review on this masterpiece: Chinese Odyssey I-II (1994).

Someone would dare to say this is THE BEST movie ever, to me it is certainly clear that there is no other movie can compete with this in making tearing eyes of audience at the end of movie on which they really don't know whether the tears came from too much laughing or from the pathos of epic love story. As many other great cult movies this one also has difficulties to deliver its greatness to audience especially to non-Asian (due to lack of background and missing points in translated caption etc.), however this difficulties can be overcome and I strongly recommend trying this movie since it is worth your time and effort. One simple way to overcome the plot complexity and its hidden meanings is to watch repeatedly, this way will work on this movie just as it does upon the movie like 'Mulholland Drive (2001)'. These two movies belong to completely different genres but they have one thing in common that you have to watch multi-full time to get it.Let's get into the detail of Chinese Odyssey I-II, it has at least four aspects to discuss,

(1) Background story and its twist of Chinese great classic novel 'Journey to the West'; You don't need to read the book thoroughly and you can get information from internet,Or you may only need to know that the novel was written basis of the real event of a Chinese monk Xuanzang (602 – 664) who went to India to get the Buddhist bible and get it to the Chinese King in order to bring justice and peace/love in the world. The author gathered folk tales and even mingled with traditional fantasy mythology into a classic.

The content of novel includes 81 episodes of adventures while the protagonist Son WuKong (Monkey King) guides Xuanzang with two friends. This story generated many modern versions of twist such as the international big hit of Japanese Manga "Dragon Ball" The movie Chinese Odyssey I-II covers Wukong's troubled mind between earthly desires and righteous job (getting the scripture) with nice mixture of romantic love story.

(2) Peculiar sense of humor; The first thing the audience can notice on this movie may be the unusual sense of humor some times goes behind the tolerance of normal people. It is because Stephen Chow (Shaolin Soccer 2001, Kung Fu Hustle 2004) once you get his sense of humor you will really enjoy it, this is same for Mike Myers, Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy and Jim Carrey. He is as good as these American actors for comedian and romantic hero so it is fair to say that without him this movie would be impossible, but this movie has more than just Stephen Chow.

(3) State of martial art; From the typical Hong Kong martial art style, well known by legendary Woo-ping Yuen (who worked in Matrix and Kill Bill series), you can enjoy fantastic fighting scenes in this movie. Woo-ping Yuen has worked with actors; Jet Li, Stephen Chow and director Hark Tsui (if you don't like Stephen Chow's style it will be worth to check 'Chinese Ghost Story (1987), and The Legend of Zu (2001)). By the way the director covering martial art of this movie is the other legend Xiaodong Cheng.

(4) East-West culture confliction (Christianity vs. Buddhism); One of the reasons that those great Chinese movies such as 'Chinese Ghost Story (1987)', 'The Legend of Zu (2001)' and 'Chinese Odyssey I-II (1994)' don't get right reputation in western world is they have basis of reincarnation which is from Buddhistic or generic eastern idea. As for me I regularly attend church and follow guidance of Jusus, but I have no problem with reincarnation idea in movies. Many American movies also have imposed reincarnation idea such as in 2001 A Space Odyssey (1968), The Big Chill (1983) and The 13th Floor (1999).

(snake legs) : The plot of Chinese Odyssey I-II is very complicated which is different from normal Hollywood movies, I recommend to watch two parts (I and II) straight..

This movie has two parts. I suggest you watch them both in one sitting. This is based on the famous Chinese story "Journey to the West." Joker aka reincarnation of the Monkey King(Stephen Chow) delivers a lot of laughter. He get's involved in a demon women(Jing Jing, played by Karen Mok) and makes a mistake while traveling back(500 years too far). He eventually falls in love with the Zixia(Athena Chu). From there they ensure on a crazy journey fill with laughter, and love. The first part is more of a comedy with the plot leading into the second part. The second has more to do with the adventure itself. I must say the ending was touching. Sure there is lots of laughter in the movie, but the underlying love story was good. I wen't in watching and expecting all out funny, but got much more. The movie itself is very memorable. Music wise, it's spectacular. However, in the end I was kind of left in the air. I didn't have the full details as I would like. Which leaves room for a third one(unfortunately there is none) that would show conclusive ending and giving all the details.

One the whole, this movie work's for all kinds of people. It's got comedy, romance, and fighting. One of my favorites.

More Chinese Odyssey - at least according to the english title of the movie. Recently and after 20 years of the first two another movie has come out that has been titled A Chinese Odyssey Part 3. I haven't seen that one yet, so I can only talk about this and a little bit about the very first one. Yes this is a sequel and it begins without any callback or flashback to the previous movie.

Having said all that the movie starts off pretty "normal". Now that is for the first minute or so and then fighting ensues. After that it is a bit of romance and the first character callback from the first movie. He knows things that the woman he's talking to has no idea about. So "comedy" ensues. And a lot of physical pain and beating up (mostly to make audiences laugh, but there are also real fights with death and blood and violence and all).

There is also a moment where the male individual (our main hero of the story I guess you could call him), retells events from the first movie ... by using random characters who play or rather replay characters from the first part - including someone watching who ... Oh boy I don't even know how to describe this. It's kind of epic as are the fights, if you don't mind people flying around and kicking others while doing so. Also Magic, Demons, Lovers, Body switch comedy and so much more ... it's insane. Will you like it? Depends on your taste, but it really never lets up and it never changes its tune

What an insane thing this is! The story of cinema has been written from a predominantly Western point of view this first hundred years. Were it to be evenly told somehow, this would be in a short list of cult classics you have to see, for sheer bonkers imagination.

It's rooted in a Chinese classic about the Buddhist monk who brought back the first scriptures from India but that's just the springboard that supplies the context and characters of legend, it has as much actual history as the Pythons' Holy Grail does about medieval times.

Everything at first takes place in some remote outpost where a mysterious woman walks into the company of a petty thief and his gang. That night characters are revealed to be Devils, the woman changes into a giant spider. Immortals and supernatural beings show up through both films. The "hero" is a scoundrel who gets beaten all the time and set on fire, in that marvelous way Hong Kong has of mocking cool.

There's time travel and a story about being incarnated as the "Monkey King" of legend, meanwhile the famed Buddhist monk is shown to nag everyone with legalistic obtuseness. Illusory magic puts characters in each other's bodies. Half of it makes no sense at all but strangely it somehow does. A Bull King with his army comes stomping into the scene. Now and then it erupts in flying wuxia, remarkable gliding and leaping through colored smoke. A battle takes place inside someone's body, slashing through arteries!

It's all as crazy as anything the Pythons and Abrahams/Zucker did, as devilish as Army of Darkness. It's drawing from its own Chinese folk tradition of course about ghosts, immortals and magical belief. It begins with Guanyin, this is the boddhisatva of compassion in Buddhism, facing off with Monkey because Monkey can't stand the monk's nagging and wants out from the mission.

How revealing to watch it with a Marvel comparison in mind (who have many of the same stuff, mythic beings, gods and demigods) where everything has to be laboriously explained. Everything here just springs from air, shapeshifts in and out of illusion. Characters come and go with no obligation to some overarching purpose, or feels like it. Self is malleable, a matter of illusory disguise, a foolish invention the story gives rise to; so proper in a Buddhist context.

Another context sees the women in control, the men as dufuses. Men and women change bodies, changing the social dynamics. Self being illusory, anyone can be anything, a devil of vast powers turn into just a girl in love. Yet the central tenet in the story is the pining for deep love.

I could barely make sense of it but what I could hold onto is sweet and layered. The hero travels through time to save his loved one, until he loses himself. But it seems that was someone he started to love out of duty to a story he made up, because he said he was who she was waiting for, Monkey. Being lost, he meets another girl who is his true love and "turns him" into that person. There's body swapping at this point and she becomes possibly a Pigheaded henchman. His being torn between dutiful and true love is surreally transmuted in a scene with dual marriages supposed to take place.

By the end we have veered off into a cosmic showdown where the sun is tethered close and burns everything up. And then we return to normative reality. The "Monkey King" has to resume his place dutifully in the journey of fantastic mythadventure while his mortal self stays behind with the love of his life. Parting illusory from real.

This is taking whimsical nonsense as your dharma teacher.

After watching Part 1, I immediately had to see Part 2. Like the first movie, it is fast, crazy and funny. Unlike the first one, it's also somewhat touching, although reviews on this site that seem to find the last part an overwhelming emotional experience puzzle me.

I did not like Part 2 as much as Part 1, simply because I couldn't for the life of me figure out what was going on. Part of this was certainly the bad subtitles I downloaded from the Internet. Part of this was that I am somewhat face blind, so that I had difficulty telling two of the principle women apart. But in spite of that, I think a lot of the issues are with the movie itself. Things just suddenly happen without introduction, and there's a body switching bit that seems just designed for confusing people.

In spite of being frequently confused, though, I enjoyed it a great deal.