Le Roi singe 2 : Cendrillon

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.

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.

Yes, it's not just the best movie ever from Stephen Chow but the best movie ever!

You have to watch the first part before fully appreciate all the trivial details in the second part. If we consider the first part as the usual comedy product of Stephen Chow, then surprisingly the second part not only continued the comedy routine but every funny element eventually turn into something much deeper, richer and tragical, which made this movie absolutely cult icon in the next decade in China.

The story is based on the classic Chinese Novel 'Xi You Ji', in which the rebel Monkey was tamed by the Budder and helped a Monk to go to India. Stephen Chow's contemporary adoption of the story is one of his trademarks by mixing the modern elements with the ancient context. It not only added the funny material into the movie, but also the irony and insanity on top of it which younger generation is so addicted to.

At the beginning this movie looks just like another Stephen Chow's typical box office hit but with the stories go on, audience started to feel increasing sadness and later on realised the unavoidable tragical ending.

It's a tough movie for Westerners to understand and appreciate because it requires quite bit Chinese culture knowledge and lots of loss in translation but I would still encourage everyone to give it a go simply for it's such a wonderful and creative movie.

Introduction:

This two part movie, is easily deserving on a 10/10 rating. And if you twisted my arm enough into choosing which is better, I would say it's the second part. The comedy is funnier, and the story is able to rap up in a satisfying way.

The Good:

Stephen Chow is hilarious in his role as the Joker, or Monkey King. Given a lot of funny lines and moments to shine in his talent as a slapstick comedian. This is probably his best film. The musical score by Lowell Lo is spectacular, probably better than his work on the first film. The action is also entertaining and always funny to watch, and the movie as a whole is just a blast. The ending of the film was touching and satisfied me. Really making these two films worth the watch.

The film has a real sense of adventure, it's a great action movie, it's a great comedy, it's a great romance, it's an awesome movie. And a movie I will always come back to.

The Bad:

The sets and costumes are not convincing in this film. And that technically qualifies as a flaw. However, I think the costumes and sets were terrible for the sake of adding to the film's comedy. So it qualifies as a criticism, but I don't fault the film.

Conclusion:

A Chinese Odyssey Part Two is an excellent second chapter to a great story. And a crash course in how to execute good slapstick comedy, and just comedy in general. The action is fun to watch, the comedy work, the romance is interesting, the characters are likable, and the movie is great and worth a 10/10 rating.

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.