Tai yang zhi zi

Much like the "Inspector Wears Skirts" series, also directed by Wellson Chin, "Prince of the Sun" is a mix of broad comedy and wild, over-the-top action. The first hour or so belongs mostly to Sheila Chan, Conan Lee and the little boy who is the reincarnation of Buddha; these three are sometimes funny and Sheila is cute. Cynthia Rothrock pops up for a fight here and there, but doesn't really take charge until the last 30 minutes; from then on it's all action, as the good guys, helped by the spirit of a martial arts master, fight the bad guys who want to kidnap the little Buddha and use him for their own purposes. Cynthia is in good form, but the film often gets cheesy, especially when the head villain/demon with the maniacal laugh appears. Unfortunately, the current DVD version of this movie is a total rip-off, featuring atrocious dubbing, poor full-screen framing, and even off-synch sound! And, perhaps needless to say, Cynthia NEVER appears in the sweaty tight top that the cover shows her in. (**1/2)

I have seen virtually all of Cynthia Rothrock's films, and to me this is the funniest. It reminds me of early Jackie Chan movies. Admittedly, Ms Rothrock may not be the greatest actress, but she is very good to watch as both a martial artist and as a very cute young lady. This film, while probably not the best of all her films, was the most entertaining.

This movie has its moments. There are some extraordinary fight scenes that involves Cynthia Rothrock. The fight between Conan Lee and Sheila Chan is hilarious. Besides the fights , the story is lame and the dialogue through the film is shockingly bad. There are a few good actors in this like Cynthia Rothrock, Jeffrey Falcon or Ching-Ying Lam. There is a lot of cheesy Hong Kong humor to sit through unfortunately. But fortunately the movie has better fights than any US movie Cynthia Rothrock has done so far. So this one i recommend just to Cynthia Rothrock fans (maybe). I didn't saw the Hong Kong Laserdisc which runs with 6 minutes longer. At least is better than Triple Cross or The Hostage (the US movies starring Cynthia Rothrock).

While this movie is not a classic, nor is it even on my top 50 martial arts films of all times, comparing it to Kung Pow seems ridiculous. It is a Hong Kong style martial arts film, with strong doses of mystical Buddah- like powers thrown in. I do not recommend it to any except hard-core martial arts fans. It is good for laughs, and as with almost any Cynthia Rothrock film, you are sure to see a lot of high energy, well executed action sequences. If you really liked this film, rent "Tiger Claws 3". But really want to see a kung fu film that is not silly, watch "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" or "Legend of the Drunken Master" Note that a lot of martial arts films titles are purposely similar, so do not mistake these films for "Tiger Claws 1 or 2" or "Drunken Master"

Prince of the Sun has to be one of the funniest films I've seen in a while. From the horrendous special effects, to the horribly done attempts at comedy ("I'm invisible, you can't see me!"), to how everyone has a quaint grasp of the Queen's English despite never quite matching the mouth movements...it's silly, and it's a pity MST3K never got a hold of this thing.

I can't rate it a one. Oh no. It's too entertaining for that. But don't expect it to win any awards, unless they have "Raspberry" somewhere in the title. Prince of the Sun is so bad, it gives a whole new meaning to trash cinema - so rent it if you can!