La Légende du dragon rouge

The American re-release of this film, "Legend of the Red Dragon", is a mess. Shows how important seven minutes can be to a film. Deannie Yip's part (Red Bean's mother) is ripped to shreds for no discernible reason whatsoever, which unfortunately makes an important plot twist seem trivial. Also, she has the best comic moments in the original film. Columbia-Tristar is the villain here. They must think 'Fu film fans are stupid - which only goes to show how stupid THEY are. A real insult.

The original film is by no means a great film; intentionally anachronistic and overly dependent on special effects, it is clearly a kind of throwaway for Jet Li and director Wong Jing (although certainly not as trashy as their Wong Fei Hung parody, "Great Hero/ Last Hero of China"). Still, it is entertaining to a surprising extent, largely thanks to Yip's comic performance. If you can find the original (I saw it on a Tai Seng tape), don't expect much, but you may find yourself enjoying it for the characters if not the martial arts.

I watched the dvd dubbed version of the movie. It was 80 minutes of fun and entertainment. I'm a big Jet Li fan and have seen many of his films and I must say this is on the top 5 list he is in. The casts were a great mix. The movie kept a fast action, high octane flow from the beginning to the end. I was either excited by the awesome action scenes, laughing out loud on the humorous scenes, or just enjoying the beautiful sceneries. The music to the movie was awesome too. It was shear enjoyment. I'll definitely watch it again and again in the future. Jet Li played a martial art master skilled in the magic spear and in this movie you get to see his skill with spears and the amazing things he can do with it from the opening action scene.

It's short enough to be watched on some idle evening but believe me you are in for a treat...especially if you are into martial art and period movies. A happy fan.

I believe Jet Li to be a terrific martial artist. However, I thought this movie was probably the worst I have seen him do. Legend of Red Dragon is about a man whose family was murdered by people related to the government, because he was a bandit. His friend ratted out on him for money and it ended in a fight to the death for the friend. Little did Jet Li's character know that the man would come back as an evil creature on revenge. The only survivor was his own son, and now the two team journey on their own. Eight years after the tragic event, their past comes back to them.

On a side story, five little Shaolin monk children were tattooed a piece of a map that would lead to a valuable item: The Red Dragon. The "Friend" from eight years ago and the government team together to find the kids and get the map. As they try to get children, they stumble upon the father and son. Now them and the five children, along with a few other characters try to put a stop to the government from getting a hold of the Red Dragon.

What makes this a disappointment was how it was directed, as well as the storyline. You were able to see strings from most of the flying scenes, you could tell that most of the scenes were taken in a studio. Secondly, the Red Dragon was never found and it pretty much died out when Jet Li's character had a bounty on his head. Personally, I think it could have been better. Stick with the storyline, and work on the strings.

Great, fun martial arts flick. Very tongue-in-cheek and light-hearted. Excellent chemistry and performances from all the main actors.

Jet Li plays a serious, heroic character like something out of a comic book - this is one of the earliest movies I've seen using this comic-book technique. His son is simply amazing and funny as a very disciplined young martial artist. On their journey they come across a couple of con-artists (mother and daughter) with the most hilarious results. A hero's quest with a range of other fantastic characters thrown in make for a great comic, action-adventure story.

Also great for all the family. It explores themes of loyalty and traditional Chinese father-son, mother-daughter, peer, and romantic relationships in a silly but highly enjoyable manner.

Make sure you see the full, subtitled version though. Not the cut-down version or the poor dubbed version.

Definitely a movie worthy of watching. I have a complete set of all Jet Li's movies (Chinese and American made) and feel that it deserves a higher rating than others have given it. Reviewers must realize that kung fu movies are fun movies with lots of action and a weak plot. You can't compare them to Hollywood's finest productions, because people have to realize that they were meant to be released in Asia only and that they are to be compared to other Asian fighting shows. Now that I've finished ranting about other's reviews let's get back to talking about the show. Jet Li plays a different character than the usual Master Wong or Master Fong. Jet usually plays the master of the kung fu club or society, but in this case him and his son are rebel outcasts of the main society. I'm not going to spoil the movie for you, but it's the usual plot of a kung fu movie - he fights the true bad guys, picks up a sexy girl who falls in love with Jet, and he fathers and trains his son. By the way, I only watch the Chinese original movies because I'd rather read the sub titles and hear the original music and read the proper meaning of the show. I understand that influences my reviews because others may be seeing badly translated dubs with stupid voices in them.Rent or buy the proper versions if you can. The theme song for Fong Sai Yuk (Jet's character in the 'Once Upon a Time in China' series is an awesome instrumental song) If you're picky about production quality, quality of plot, etc. etc. then don't watch Chinese produced Jet Li movies. Some of my other favourite Jet Li movies are 'Last Hero in China' and 'Hitman'