O Príncipe de Shaolin

This little film has stuck with me for decades. It's basically everything Shaw Brothers, rolled into one hilarious, action-packed, visually stunning masterpiece.

For those unfamiliar with the Shaw Brothers, this movie contains over the top kung fu (or gung fu/ gong fu if you want to get technical), great slapstick comedy, and a hint of the paranormal. Tang Chia's directing style is so unique, and actually has great control over his actors.

It took me years to find the name of this movie back in the infancy of the internet, as I had a bootleg copy... I have a copy bought from Amazon now so there's that fix.

Definite must watch, even if you're not big into fists and kicks, because at least you'll laugh your socks off.

This film is a perfect example of mistitling, which is too bad, considering that it's quite good. My local video store has about 100 to 150 tapes in it's "Martial Arts" section, and only about 4 or 5 are worth renting, including this one.

Anyone looking 'only' for a ninja movie should steer clear as there are no ninjas in this film, nor any deathmasks. It actually looks like a Chinese epic, concerning two young princes who must fight an older prince to regain the throne that he cheated them out of when they were mere babes. Some might say this film has too much humor to be effective, but I wouldn't. For me, a "martial arts" film without humor is like a hot dog without mustard. For example, "Enter the Dragon" seemed very good 20 years ago, but now I can barely watch it.

The alternate title "Shaolin Prince" seems perfect. I've watched this film about 6 times in about two months, and have not tired of it yet.

An oddity from fighting choreographer turned director Tang Chia. The man behind the fighting scenes of many a Shaw Bros. production turned to directing at the end of his career, this being his first and apparently the only one released in the U.S. If this film is any indication Tang Chia's taste ran to the fantastic.

The film starts like a standard period piece but soon with the introduction of the Fire General, who shoots flames and explodes things, and the Water General, who swims under water and has a Mickey Mouse voice, the film settles into it's groove. The infant Crown Prince, hidden from the evil 9th Lord, is adopted by three crazy monks who are imprisoned in a detention pavilion at the Shaolin Temple for twenty years.

Gimmick weapons, lots of wire work, a fighting wall of hoop wielding monks and more are here. Not a great film but done with a lot of humor and enthusiasm. The final fight scene is about as strange as these films get. Good fun.

So the story goes, a bunch of children get chopped up and brutally killed because a couple of them are actual princes. Lo and behold two princes actually survive the whole ordeal and they grow up and learn weird @$$ kung fu and seek revenge against some guy with some golden finger weapon or some crap and blah blah blah and so forth. This is one of three movies directed by Shaw Brothers veteran Tang Chia and yes I wouldn't be surprised if the producers fed this guy crack before making these movies. I like this one because of the insane kung fu action and the insane amount of special-effects this movie has to offer which I think is a lot better than those dumb@$$ Marvel movies. "Nyuh! CGI, special effects." So gay. The story was pretty good too and easy to follow but still follows the same formulaic pattern like all other kung fu movies do which is about learning kung fu and seeking revenge. But who cares. Highly recommended kung fu movie with a lot of crackhead crap in it. Enjoy.

It has been a while since I saw it. It's good, but nothing spectacular. I think it is a Shaw Bros. film, so the action was decent. Hoaky costumes and some crazy Shaolin monks in it. Not bad.