Le Roi singe 1 : La Boîte de Pandore

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 one crazy movie, with martial arts monkeys, ladies who become giant spiders, and all sorts of devils and other supernatural characters wandering around causing trouble. It's fun, funny, and wacky.

One interesting thing is that it's a movie full of strong women and weak men. You don't see that too often. True, love slows the women up, but outside of that they are tough as can be.

I saw this movie with badly-done subtitles I downloaded off the Internet, so I was sometimes a little unclear as to what was going on, but the movie is such crazy fun that I barely minded.

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.

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.

First off let me say that I watched this movie not under the best circumstances. I downloaded it from Piratebay and was watching it on my Media Player when I realized within the first 2 minutes that the subs were awful. There were many English typos and because of that it seemed to be a poor translation. HOWEVER the acting was so good and the scenes so good that even with rudimentary dialog (that is to say basic translations) it still made me laugh quite a lot and I can't remember when was the last time I enjoyed a movie THIS MUCH! It's been SO long! This must be one of my favorite movies. Top 10 at least. Maybe even top 3 if I dare say so- but the problem with saying so and with saying it is absolutely one of my favorites (and it is) is that I am not sure many others will understand why it is one of my favorites or will even care to understand. It is one of my favorite movies for a number of reasons. Let me tell you why.

1) It kept me in suspense. I am familiar with Goku the monkey king and how he was mischievous and had to pay penance for his sins and play a good guy for a while to gain freedom or whatever. That is as far as my knowledge of Goku the monkey king goes, oh and I know he is supposed to have a circlet and lance and was reminded of that later. Big deal, right? Wrong. This movie told me a story I have never been told before and kept me wildly guessing and entertained throughout! It is like a fairy tale. A very good fairy tale to movie translation. A very good play of sorts. What I enjoy about it the most is that I went into it not knowing what to expect. I thought it was about Buddhism? hello? but instead it was about....Well. It's hard to put into words. Read my first sentences about what I knew of the story of the monkey king. That much in this movie is still true. However there are many things I did not know that this movie tells and because my life is so boring and most things predictable (that is to say most movies, video games have predictable plot lines) this was a movie with nice twists and turns that got me to be interested in story-telling and cinema again. And boy did it get me interested again in a big way! I am in awe with how good the writer(s) must have been- the original writers that is to say who came out with the skeleton of this story because there is some wild stuff in here.

2) This movie is surprisingly funny. Actually I had another 2 and 3 in mind as to why this movie is one of my favorites but forget them both. Oh yeah! It reminds me of the wild and wacky stuff I used to watch as a kid in it's creativity! Namely the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. If you're a 90's kid like me and grew up on that show you may actually love this. It's similar because there is martial arts and funny bad guys and action scenes in this. Also the special effects are old school with make-ups and costumes, none of that CGI stuff. I can appreciate the old ways because it doesn't really detract from the story or acting here and that is what's strong.

I suppose people may give this a 7 or 8 instead of a 10, maybe even worse, but I am not too concerned about that. I know why others may not like this (because it's too foreign, or they are too busy to appreciate it's intricacies, or they don't find it funny, whatever the reason someone may not like this, maybe they have heard the story differently and have a preconceived idea of how it should be, who knows, but I had fun watching this and that is why I watch movies to begin with. To have fun. To forget life for a bit. Watch it if you want to be entertained and are not scared of Chinese films as an American or if you can laugh at silly faces, voices, and remarks.