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¤p¾K®± (1995)
The Little Drunken Masters


Reviewed by: pjshimmer
Date: 04/13/2003

The first review is most misleading. Beautiful? Turn that around 360 degrees and you get the truth: this is a cheap, lame, tasteless low production. Lots of good kung fu with minimum wire work? Try hardly any kung fu with maximum wire work in every fight scene. This really is a waste of time. Even though I normally enjoy Yuen Cheung Yan's choreography, this is probably his worst effort.

[4/10]


Reviewed by: MrBooth
Date: 03/14/2002

Kiddie kung fu movie 18 little monks are sent away from the Shaolin Temple when it is raided by the evil King Fifth (Hung Yan Yan) who is looking for the little buddha. We know that one of these kids is the Little Buddha, and the task of getting them all to the one man who can tell who falls to Carman Lee. Quite what she was doing at Shaolin Temple at the time isn't quite clear, but it's lucky she was I guess. Carman sets out on the way with kids in tow, and soon enough they bump into Willie Chi. Willie decides to be annoying, and pretends to want to help but with devious intent.

Numerous adventurers occur, mostly of a comical nature, and mostly aimed at kids. Or at least involving kids. It's quite pleasant to watch - especially the young sister of Fatty Monk (same kid from New Legend Of Shaolin), who is quite the cutest little girl ever made. You just want to lock her in a cage and hang her in a corner of the living room, she's so sweet. Carman Lee does a very good job of working with the kids, which must be a really difficult thing to do! Willie Chi mugs a lot and is generally irritating, but does throw in some OK martial arts.

Eventually, Hung Yan Yan catches up with them and is extremely pissed. Great performance from him, flying around and tearing up the scenery with little regard for the fact his opponents are only 8 years old. There are a lot of them though, and they manage to come up with some cool methods to combat Hung Yan Yan's basic invincibility.

There's not as much kiddie-fu here as I'd been hoping for - some of the monks do some nice forms and stuff, but there's nobody with the 'wow' factor of little Tsui Siu Ming (sp?) or the kid in Chivalrous Legend. Some of the humour... ok, most of the humour... is very much aimed at children. The kids performances vary from pretty good to quite awful. But, you've got Carman Lee being cute and a little girl being even cuter, and Hung Yan Yan being mad, so even with Willie Chi on set it can't be all that bad.


Reviewed by: hkcinema
Date: 12/08/1999

Basically, the storyline involves several young monks (kids, actually) who become fugitives from the evil Qings when it is discovered that among them is one who possesses special characteristics. Carman Lee does a decent job as, not the expected damsel in distress, but as the heroine of the story. The movie has its funny moments and is interspersed with various fight scenes, most featuring the wunderkinder. Recommended.

[Reviewed by Anonymous]


Reviewed by: hkcinema
Date: 12/08/1999

Lots of good kung fu, with some minimal but entertaining wire work, andI must say the settings are soooo beautiful. This is a historical film, and the scenes in the towns and the countryside are wonderful, but laid back. Not shouting Look At This Beautiful Village Recreated and Look At These Beautiful Costumes, but just beautiful in a matter-of-fact way. So much better looking than the "art house" movies from China that I see...

[Reviewed by Eduardo in NY]