Customer Reviews

Prince of the Sun [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I really don't know what director Wellson Chin (Tsui Hark's Vampire Hunters) was going for, here. Comedy? Sci-fi? A wry commentary on Buddhism and immigration in Asia? It's impossible to say, except that he ripped off Eddie Murphy's The Golden Child - right down to a giant bat monster at the end - in the process. If you've ever desired to see that story translated into Hong Kong fare with Cynthia Rothrock in a co-starring role, then definitely give this one a buy, but otherwise, trust your common sense and know that this flick is barely worth the celluloid it's printed on.

The story: when Buddha is reincarnated in the form of a small child, he's threatened by the agents of an evil ex-monk (Shun Lau, Swordsman) attempting to stop him from becoming the "Prince of the Sun". Sent to Hong Kong for his safety, he's intercepted by a hapless thief (Conan Lee, Tiger on Beat) and a misfit gambling addict (Sheila Chan, Fist of the Red Dragon) who must protect him until reinforcement arrives in the form of a butt-kicking nun (Cynthia Rothrock, Above the Law).

"Prince of the Sun" could be the best movie in the world and it would still be ruined by the atrocious English dubbing. May you fare better than me by finding a subtitled version with the original language track, but as for the Region 2 DVD release that I ended up with, not only are the characters' voices grating but also completely out of sync with the actors' lip movements; this is due to the ENTIRE audio track playing ahead of the video, so that even sound effects during fight scenes are heard a half-second before the matching action occurs. The rest of the movie isn't a technical marvel, either: stunt doubles have been disguised admirably but the film has a grainy, bottom-of-the-barrel look to it and relies on laughable animation and amateurish wirework to get the story's magic aspect across. It's very dull to look at.

The characters are a relatively intriguing bunch but watching them interact is no joy. A whole side point of the story is how much they enjoy hurting eachother, with Conan Lee throwing the deranged Sheila Chan out of her third-story window a total of three times and her retaliating by setting his feet and belly on fire; before that, she assaults kindergarten students. Even the little child who's supposed to embody the paradigm of benevolence gets a kick out of scaring others senseless with his magic and hitting bad guys in the face with doors. Cynthia Rothrock's character literally seems like the only sane one among the bunch, but she doesn't become a major part of the movie until the last half-hour, taking on the evil monks (including Jeffrey Falcon from Six-String Samurai) in a handful of fight scenes. These hand-to-hand battles are the only redeeming part of the movie, for even though they are pretty unoriginal, they retain the technical fluency that Cynthia's stuff is known for, with the best being a five-minute brawl which ends when birds attack the bad guys.

I should have had the sense to turn the movie off by the time it had Conan Lee literally eating dog food. This film so barely misses a one-star rating that it's not even fortunate, as it becomes clear before the end that Cynthia Rothrock isn't fighting for the fate of Buddha as much as she is fighting to keep the movie watchable. Perhaps she would have had better results if she actually starred in it as the cover would have you believe, but there's only so much that even she can do. Avoid unless you're feeling particularly adventurous.

This is a comedy NOT a drama. It is the funniest movie to ever come out of China and is on my personal Top Ten List of funniest movies of all times. This movie is best watched with a really good buzz! Im serious this movie is funyy with a capital F.

I found this movie in the bargain bin and got it on DVD for (money)- at that I was ripped off! Cynthia Rothrock plays only a minor role in this "Golden Boy" rip-off (although probably it predates that movie). The fight scenes are no better than average and the dubbing diabolical. I can think of no reason that would pursuade me to part with nearly (dollar amount) for this fiasco!