Sai yau gei: Yut gwong bou haap

Don't expect this movie to be the typical comedy/adventure/action HK movie. In fact it's a very well written tragedy, not only about love, but life in general. The acting is excellent, especially for Stephen Chow and Karen Mok. Since the story is split into two movies, you must watch them both to fully understand the whole story.

Even though the characters are taken from the classic novel "Journey to the West", however, it has nothing to do with the original. I surely will not even consider it as an adaption... a REINVENTION is probably the correct word.

If all you are looking for is a few good laughs, the movie has plenty. But this movie definitely have more to offer, so enjoy!

This is a nice movie, including the second part.You can really appreciate the imagination and some twisted sense of humor. Decent fighting scenes, pretty woman and impressive art design. The story is, well, kind of freaky, so all this together make this film very surreal, but entertaining enough. Stephan Chow, genius as usual, is very helpful.

You can see that Jeffrey Lau got a lot on his mind. In this movie he presents identities in crisis, internal struggles, personal development and learning, some religious, cultural and social issues, including sexual problems. All this presented to the viewers through fantastic story, while completely ignoring the laws of Fisics.

But the way he chooses to make his statements or opinions looks strange, simplistic and not complete, at least to Western culture cynic like me. There a lot of movies dealing with the same stuff in another way, more realistic and, that's why, more powerful.

So, it's great Mr Lau are talking and presenting this sort of themes in his personal and interesting own way, but the movie is not for everyone. His extreme fantasy takes the viewers far away from reality, it's all very distant, like some alien world. The plot and the characters are very confusing sometimes, this unbelievable environment seems artificial and doubtful, so the movie has no real impact, no meaningful influence, it's like grabbing water with hand. You know you felt something, but there is nothing left.

A Chinese Odyssey Part One: Pandora's Box is a fantasy martial arts extravaganza like A Chinese Ghost story. Just to give you an idea what to expect. The main character is Stephen Chow. He plays The Monkey King and Joker. Joker is The Monkey King reincarnated who doesn't know of his past life. It is through these roles where Stephen Chow shows his versatility as an actor. If you have seen some of his movies than you know what to expect. He always tries to combine humour, martial arts and drama. Maybe for some the humor will be a bit over the top. But Stephen Chow's humour is very visual and will appeal to many viewers. A few scenes made me laugh so hard I almost choked. I even dare to say that some scenes in this film outclass Kung Fu Hustle when it comes to comedy. And that one was hilarious. I liked how during these scenes the actors maintain straight faces and are very serious about what they are doing. You know like they did in the Naked Gun film series. To me that makes all of it even funnier. Another thing I liked that the comedy does not come at the expense of action. Of which you will have plenty of. Most of the martial arts is done with wire works though and in combination with fighting demons this is done beautifully. The special effects may look a bit cheesy compared to CGI to some, but are very enjoyable because most of the effects are used creatively. I personally prefer effects done this way since it shows that sometimes all you need is a little imagination to create movie magic. And Pandora's Box certainly is magical. In fact it's a fairytale you can enjoy over and over again.

There is no doubt in my mind that Stephen Chow is a true master of mixing surreal comedy, romance and drama in most of his films that he has written and directed. But hold on, he didn't write or direct this film that was made way back in the mid 90s! But it sure feels like a Chow directed film. In fact, Jeffrey Lau wrote and directed and this is my first introduction to his films. It seems to me that Stephen Chow may have learnt much from Lau when directing his later movies and indeed style of comedy. Its just so similar but even the deserved global success of Chow's Kung Fu Hustler and Shaolin Soccer can't topple Lau's crowning achievement of this glorious comedy fantasy epic.

But you do have to attune yourself to their style of comedy. At times the comedy is rather Naked Gun style but the BIG difference is that with a Naked Gun/Airplane style movie you are never emotionally involved with the character's journey/fates. This is a real epic Chinese fantasy adventure chock full of side splitting comedy, drama, time travel, love triangles, deceit, tragedy and old school wire-work martial arts. Not many movies can boast such a varied concoction and even fewer can pull it off in such a knockout cocktail. Close comparisons for me are Zu Warriors and A Chinese Ghost Story.

The story actually moves at a breakneck speed despite the fact it is drawn out into a 2 part epic saga. Chow is at his very best in his dead pan (Buster Keatonesque) comic timing and furthermore gives an emotional underlining subtext in his performance much akin to the great Charlie Chaplin classics.

The comedy is inventively laugh out loud but always rooted to the storyline and never stooping low for a cheap laugh. The storyline is set firmly in the Chineses mythological realm of gods and demons and apparently extracting a chapter from a famous Chinese story called Journey to the West, putting its own spin on things.

Its not a flawless movie though, and one cannot expect it to be with such an ambitious premise and so much elements thrown in. While the first part of this epic is the more comedic, the second part begins with a somewhat convoluted progression of the storyline and becomes quite confusing with too many women involved in a long multiple women juggling segment. It is my only gripe, however.

I personally would also have loved to see more of the arrogant, fun and cool Monkey King persona but I can understand that more of him may not have served the story pacing well. Pity though, as the Monkey King is a really fun character here than I've seen elsewhere including the fun Monkey Magic television series.

My review covers both parts of this film as a whole. So in a nutshell, this is a vastly entertaining, side-splittingly funny, fast moving, emotionally driven Chinese fantasy epic. And I will now be seeking to watch more Jeffery Lau films as well as Stephen Chow's early movies.

Intro: A Chinese Odyssey Part One is a weird, but enjoyable and hilarious movie. Known as the movie that put Stephen Chow on the map, I appreciate the film for this. But, this film wasn't my introduction to him. My introduction was Kung Fu Hustle. But I later watched this one, and I think it's even better than Kung Fu Hustle. Now, I still love that film. But this's one of the best film to come out of China, one of the favorite comedy films, and a great film.

The Story & Characters: The film centers around a the Monkey King, who after trying to gain immortality, was banished out of Heaven by the goddess of happiness, and he was reincarnated as the Joker. And the events are some of the most over the top, funny and most insane things to happen in any movie.

First off, the comedic writing is on point. Perfect timing, perfect delivery, and really funny dialogue. Such as, the fact that this film was made in a time that the crotch gag was getting old, and they still made it work several times in this film. The film's comedy is just always perfect.

I also enjoyed the characters as well, all of them have their own brand of funny to them. And have very funny lines. To cut this short, the characters were all unique and entertaining to watch.

And the film as a whole is just a completely chaotic and ride. And I loved every second of that crazy ride. The film's literally impossible to predict. I couldn't predict the events of the film.

The Visuals: The visual style of this film is not all that impressive. But I don't think it's supposed to look very good. I think having the fake sets and bad costumes adds to the comedy value. Granted, it made me laugh a few times.

Conclusion: A Chinese Odyssey Part One is a great example of Chinese film making, and just a good comedy film. It might be one my favorite films, and it's a movie I can always come back to and re-watch.