Le prince du Tibet

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!

This is the worst piece of crap I have seen recently. There is nothing good about this movie. The plot is plain stupid, dialogs don't make any sense, humorous scenes never heard anything about the real humor. Actors just don't play, the worse they don't even try. The script itself is somewhat which is in the same league with Ed Wood and Uwe Boll. There is only one good thing in this flick, the fights. They are well choreographed as one would expect of the Hong Kong guys, and are the only reason to watch Prince of the Sun. Although I believe the fights are just supposed to fill the empty space so that the screenwriter didn't have to bother thinking about the storyline. However, this weak and absurd plot may prevent you from watching it to the end. Avoid it unless you are fan of the dragon lady Cynthia Rothrock.

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)

We are treated to some wonderfully weird idiosyncrasies when watching martial arts flicks from the 80s or 90s (or earlier!) from Hong Kong. One of these is that when watching a dub, English-speaking actors therein - dubbed into Mandarin or Cantonese upon release - are in the English versions dubbed over again with an entirely different actor. In the case of this film, suffice to say that Cynthia Rothrock's characteristic timbre does not greet our ears. As is not unexpected, this is an instance in which the dubbing doesn't match the lip movement we see, and the voice acting at large does not carry the same emotion or impact. Odder still - something I truly don't understand - is that some dialogue is dubbed (I must emphasize, very poorly - some of the worst I've ever seen), while other instances retain the audio of the original language and use subtitles. If you think this sounds like a movie that's inherently difficult to engage with, you're not wrong. Yet we're not done, because another unmistakable idiosyncrasy is the realization of special effects to which one can only respond with a generous, muted "Well, okay then." And, in no few instances, there are dramatic flourishes added to characters or scene writing that, built for entertainment, nonetheless come across as ham-handed.

These are a few aspects to make an impression in only just the first few minutes, though make no mistake that they continue to be very prominent throughout the length - so prominent as to frankly distract from the content. However, instead of declaring this an unfortunate set of circumstances, the viewing experience is more a matter of, as the saying goes, being caught between a rock and a hard place. The first third of the feature serves up a couple scenes of martial arts that don't last very long, light and marginal plot development - and a wealth of boorish, juvenile supposed comedy that one could be forgiven for thinking that it seems to have been proposed by the pre-teen child actor who stars as the titular figure. Yes, the sour taste of that would-be humor is absolutely amplified by the rotten dubbing. We get a little bit more plot development in the second third - though not much - while the humor remains prevalent (emphasized with overt, playful music), martial arts continue to be substantially played down, another supernatural element is introduced secondary to the core plot... and "star" Rothrock shows up for another few seconds of what has so far been a total of about 2-4 minutes of screen time.

Finally, within the last half hour of so, the narrative - and the value of 'Prince of the sun' - does meaningfully show up again for the first time since the brief prologue that opened the picture. Fight choreography, martial arts, stunts, and action at large are all outstanding. The tired attempts at comedy remain, and the awful dubbing - but for the first time in 80-90 minutes, the film earns its first (and only) actual laugh. Even keeping in mind the definite gaucheness of the special effects, the climax is well done. One is distinctly reminded of any other Hong Kong flicks they're seen of any similar tenor; in my case, 'Mr. Vampire' comes to mind, particularly in regards to the antagonist, and aided by the inclusion in the cast of recognizable actor Lam Ching-ying. Quite honestly, based on the strength of the third act alone, I want to like this movie more than I do.

The restriction of the picture's worth to the last stretch of its length does it no favors, though. We get swell filming locations, and good set design, and I think there are some really great ideas in the screenplay. Unfortunately, those good ideas are weighed down by an overabundance of wholly extraneous pablum and loose, careless writing that waters down what 'Prince of the sun' could have been. The utmost magnanimity, patience, and open-mindedness may allow one to see this as a kid's movie misrepresented as a typical Hong Kong action-comedy, or to otherwise look past the weakest facets to focus on what it does well. I think I tend to be very accepting when it comes to cinema, enjoying features of a wide variety of styles and range of quality; this, I have difficulties with. Dialogue and scene writing is wildly inconsistent, and is sometimes outright annoying. Characters are broadly undeveloped, not least of all Rothrock's - a major supporting figure in the last third of the movie, all the same it's unclear who she actually is - and the title figure, the "Living Little Buddha," is also written inconsistently. The narrative was in critical need of significant tightening; some beats don't connect, and too many of those that do are so inadequately tethered to the core plot that it feels like this could have dropped at least 30 minutes from its runtime without actually losing anything.

There are parts of 'Prince of the sun' that I like, especially the martial arts. Those parts are far outweighed by construction that is simply dubious. It's certainly not the worst film I've ever watched, but even for as much fun as the last third may be, it's hard overall to specifically recommend this. If you happen to come across it, there is deserving content within that may warrant a view. I just surely wish more thoughtful consideration were put into anything more in addition to the action.

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"