Customer Reviews

The Secret of the Magic Gourd

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4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The Secret of the Magic Gourd is a very lovely film and deserves more notice in the U.S. than it is getting. The first of Disney's Chinese co-productions, the film did respectable business in China, where it is titled "Bao hu lu de mi mi."

In the interest of lip synchronization, the young boy's name is changed from "Bao" to "Raymond" and the Gourd's name is "Bailey," from the Chinese "Hu lu" (could it be that the website hulu gets its name from here)?

The story, from a classic Chinese children's book, is a dreamlike, present day tale in which a boy learns to be careful what he wishes for -- a theme explored with horror in "The Monkey's Paw" and The Twilight Zone and with humor on I Dream of Jeannie. Some of the wacky antics caused by little Bailey in his earnest attempts to please his "master" reminded me very much of "Jeannie."

U.S. film and TV makers might take a closer look at Gourd, with its traditional family, caring teacher and pleasant friends. No bumbling dysfunctional parents (or lack thereof), no caricatured authority figures or no snarky, hip-holding preteens here. The kids aren't always nice to Raymond but they do stick with him in the end.

Speaking of hip-holding preteens, the presence of High School Musical star Corbin Bleu is very likely a device to allow youngsters the privilege of watching this movie without eye-rolls and loud sighs from older siblings. But don't underestimate him -- Bleu does a very creditable job. His natural likeability shines through his vocal performance. That's not easy when you've also got to act as well as focus on replacing dialogue recorded and animated for another language.

The film largely rises and falls on whether you like Raymond and especially Bailey, and it succeeds thanks to skillful work by the entire American cast, including Bleu and singer/actress Megan Hilty, under the guidance of Disney veteran Rick Dempsey, who also co-wrote the lyrics to the end title song, "Worlds of Wonder."

The English script also avoids an overabundance of pop culture references and slang. Bailey might say one or two Americanized things here and there, but he's not a boogie-ing gangsta gourd, as I'm sure the Chinese version of the Gourd is not either.

Speaking of music, the fine original score by Peter Kam is one of the things I enjoyed most about The Secret of the Magic Gourd, yet I've not seen it available either in an English or Chinese soundtrack album. I'd also like to see an English version of the book.

The bonus material is primarily Chinese promotional documentary footage with English subtitles. It would have been nice to see Bleu and the cast working on the dubbing, a very special kind of acting that takes special talent to carry off properly. All in all, though, the word "nice" is the best way to describe the film, and I look forward to the future co-productions.

There is one thing that really stands out in the fairy tale "The Secret of the Magic Gourd"--and, thankfully, that is a wonderfully under appreciated gourd. With its crooked grin and sweet, but sad, eyes--our hero struggles to understand the needs and wants of one of the most unappealing movie youths to come around in some time. The gourd (somewhere between a squash and a pumpkin) has a vitality, a humor, and a bizarreness that left me entranced and perplexed. Giving a great, heartfelt performance, this vegetable (technically, I suppose it might be a fruit) pulls out all the dramatic and comedic stops. Its mission in life is to grant wishes to its "master," and although nothing more is ever explained in this fable about the gourd's backstory--I guess you'll either go with it or you won't.

The "master" in question, however, is a bumbling 11 year old. At first, he seems misunderstood--but as he takes the reins of his own desires, it soon becomes clear how self-involved and truly ungrateful the little brat is! His wishes create havoc and misery for everyone, and he continuously takes his furor out on his new, and only real, friend. The old adage "Be careful what you wish for..." has never seemed so true. But our boy never takes responsibility for his own actions, everything is someone else's fault. It becomes grating and irksome--but sit patiently, a big lesson is to be learned.

No real consequences, however, ever befall the boy and the film's lesson is cheapened by making the ending so rosy. The boy is embraced by all the students that he has betrayed and cheated--with no real apology. The boy, who made the swim team by cheating, works really hard and competes in the big race. But instead of the message that hard work and "trying" are their own reward that should be respected--the boy, instead, wins the race. I guess winning is a better lesson. And watch closely, when the gourd and its master part ways in the end, the closing "lesson" and moral introspection is delivered by the GOURD! THE GOURD HAS LEARNED SOMETHING FROM THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE--NOT THE BOY!

Don't get me wrong--I think kids will appreciate the visual appeal of "Magic Gourd." The are some nice moments in the visual effects. The gourd provides some genuine whimsy and surely looks delicious. But I don't think "Magic Gourd" succeeds as entertainment for the whole family. It's more for the young ones and that's not bad. I just wish the tale had given me a human lead that was half as interesting (or worth caring about) as my dear, dear gourd! KGHarris, 03/09.

This is the story of a Chinese boy by the name of Raymond (a.k.a. Wang Bao) who has a creative imagination, but is chronically lazy and forgetful. Ray has a hard time getting out of bed in the morning, and he stubbornly refuses to trim his toenails on a regular basis (which, of course, can eventually wreak havoc on one's socks and shoes). The flaw that gets young Raymond into the most trouble, however, is his habitual failure to study for the rigorous math exams, administered daily by his demanding teacher, Miss Lee. It seems that in China, students work in groups, so one slacker will negatively affect the whole team's grade. Thus, Raymond's carelessness infuriates not only his instructor, but his classmates as well. One fateful afternoon, a dejected Raymond flees the jeers of his peers and heads for the lake to do some fishing. There he makes a wish, a wish to succeed in school and life without having to do any work or spend any time studying. Enter Bailey (or Bao Hulu), a diminutive genie in the form of a Chinese bottle gourd.

Bailey seems like an odd name for a gourd (Gordon would be better), but this little fellow is no ordinary gourd. Looking a bit like a dollop of soft-serve ice-cream, this anthropomorphic calabash has widely spaced button-like eyes on the upper half of his body, a hollow mouth in the middle of his belly, and no nose whatsoever. He appears to be made of plastic, like a Mr. Potato Head toy, and his rubbery limbs stretch and expand like Mr. Fantastic's. The Magic Gourd is also a shape-shifter, like the Shmoo, who can morph into anything from a speedboat engine to an alarm clock. He can melt into a puddle or grow into a giant monster...he can even burst into flames at will, without being consumed in the inferno. What's more, Bailey is an infinitely powerful sorcerer who can fly jet planes and make cheeseburgers and snack cakes materialize out of thin air. He can build robots...calculate complex mathematical problems...and YES, he can clip toenails like nobody's business! Can the gourd really free Raymond from life's day-to-day drudgeries...or will he only cause more trouble?

The Magic Gourd DVD boasts a beautifully clear and colorful widescreen transfer with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. Bonus features consist of Bailey's computer-animated bloopers; a DVD game; a behind-the-scenes featurette; and a music video of the Chinese version of the movie's theme song. In addition to the English dub, the Mandarin and Cantonese vocal tracks are included, but the only subtitle choice available for them is the closed captioning of the English version. Since Bailey the Gourd is trying to do for nail care what Smokey the Bear did for forest fire prevention, it would have been nice if Disney had included a free pair of clippers in the DVD case. Well, maybe they're saving that for the platinum edition.

The tale of the Magic Gourd is apparently a well known story in China, but Americans will probably find the whole concept of a gourd-shaped wizard to be kind of bizarre. The folks at Disney have tried to Americanize this production by casting High School Musical's Corbin Bleu, changing all the Chinese names and having the characters say the word "awesome" a lot...but I doubt that the Magic Gourd will become the next Hannah Montana. Nevertheless, this is a pretty entertaining family film with a positive message.

First let me admit that I hate computer animation, which seems so talentless compared to animation and clay-mation. However, being a fan of Disney, I decided to give this movie a chance.

The secret of the magic gourd mixes live action with computer animation, and is your basic "careful what you wish for" story. The actor's interaction with the animated gourd is decent. You do get a feeling of chemistry between them. However, the movie is pretty lame compared to the movies I grew up with. As a live action/animation mix, this movie pales in comparison to Who Framed Roger Rabbit . As a magic buddy film, movies like E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial and Little Monsters are far superior. Hopefully nobody will get offended that I am even comparing these films to the magic gourd.

As other's have said, the voice over dubbing is horrendous (worse then your typical Godzilla film). That alone does not ruin the movie, but it certainly adds to its list of disappointments. What happened to the Disney that I grew up with that turned out films like Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and White Fang? To say that this film is comparably uninspired is truly an understatement.

The movie's message seemed to be that satisfaction can only be achieved from hard work. Working hard should make you happy, because if things come too easily or without enough effort, this will lead to trouble.

In theory, this sounds like a potentially good lesson for a movie, and I agree that there is satisfaction in working hard and achieving something. However, the movie seemed to place more emphasis on moralizing than on telling an entertaining story. It felt like a government message telling all viewers to be happy with their lot in life, so don't complain.

I did a bit of research and learned that the story was written in the 1950s by Zhang Tianyi, an author assigned by the communist party to write children's literature. So, the "educational" tone of the movie makes sense. Other indicators linking the story to communist party ideals include:
- the red scarves worn by the children (uniform of the Young Pioneers of China [Communist Youth League for younger children])
- team grades in school, and mandated after school group study
- The teacher explains that cheating is wrong because you don't want to let your *friends* down, rather than explaining that cheating deprives an individual of the opportunity to learn.

The voice actors did a fine job with the dubbing, and the combining of live action and computer animation was well done. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to be a memorable movie. Children will probably enjoy the talking gourd and comical frog sidekick, but parents may want to be aware that the story is a product of an official (communist) government writer rather than an ancient folk tale.

This movie was filmed in China (where children may be familiar with a tale of a magical wish granting gourd) with an all Chinese cast. it was dubbed into English. The boy playing the lead, "Raymond" is cute and very expressive. He's about all that saves the film from being a complete waste of time.

The basic story is that Raymond daydreams and avoids doing his school work, then finds the magical talking gourd, which calls him "master" and agrees to do his every bidding. This sounds great to Raymond at first, but then things start going wrong. The gourd misinterprets his wishes and Raymond gets into all kinds of scrapes. The final lesson is that you can't be proud of honors that you don't earn through your own effort.

I asked my kids what they thought of this film. My eight year old said it was "freaky" and she left halfway through, completely bored. My four year old enjoyed it though, and thought the talking gourd was hilarious.

I appreciate the fact that there was nothing too scary or gross in this movie, but the fatc that it is not offensive is pretty weak praise.

My family enjoyed this movie. While it was not the nest children's movie we have seen this month, it was fresh and entertaining.

My only beef with the flick is that Disney tried in nearly every way to mask that this was a Chinese film with overdubbed voices. When started to weatch the movie, we thought something was wriong with the audio because the words didn't match the actor's mouths. Of course we quickly realized why...they were speaking Chinese.

Despite being enjoyable, some of the overdubbed voices were over the top, and didn't feel authentic.

In any case, this film is worth watching if you have children 10 and under.

This film is a lot of fun. Kids will enjoy it even though adults may not. The story telling is a little different from American style (Asian films usually are), but the earnestness of the actors shines through. The kid was great. His performance was enjoyable. Corbin Bleu's voice over was fantastic. He made the character of Bailey the Gourd very likeable even when Bailey's magic caused more problems than it solved. I was hoping for a song by Bleu but, alas, there is none. The made up bloopers are very funny. The documentary at the end is good for about 10 minutes before it gets boring. The music video doesn't have English subtitles.

I viewed this overall as a 'be careful what you wish for' tale, because you just might get it. A young Chinese boy finds a magic gourd and wants his every wish to be fulfilled. Of course, this doesn't happen the way he wants or expects, so eventually he decides it's better to do things the right way than try to take the easy way out. The morality felt pushy, they kept emphasizing the same point over and over. While the cinematograhy and animation was very good the dubbing was not, my 6 year old noticed this right away. She also didn't like how Raymond treated the gourd. Although she did enjoy some parts of the movie, she has no interest in watching it again. It might be good for a rental, but overall we wouldn't buy it again.

The Secret of The Magic Gourd is a famous childrens story, written back in the 1950s, that is brought to vivid life by Walt Disney Productions in conjunction with Centro Pictures Entertainment and China Film Group. It's about a young boy, named Raymond, who has a very vivid imagination but would prefer not to have to work very hard in school to get what he wants.


One day, while fishing, Raymond stumbles upon a mysterious creature, named Bailey, who tells Raymond that he can give him anything he wants. He only needs to ask. At first it seems like a child's dream come true, with Bailey providing Raymond with all kinds of things, such as food, toy robots, and different kinds of fish. But Bailey doesn't always understand Raymond's wishes and makes mistakes that ultimately cause Raymond to look bad in front of the other children at school. In the end, Raymond learns to become more independent and responsible for his own actions, which enables him to be a good son and a much better student.


The film took several years to complete, with some very impressive CGI effects that bring Bailey, the magic gourd, and all his amazing abilities to life. Scenes such as one involving Raymond being chased by a dinosaur in a movie scene that's playing at a local movie theater, comes off quite stunningly. You can really tell that the years it took to finish the production really paid off. The message of the film is also a very universal one that will appeal to children all over the world.


The problem I had with this US DVD version, lies in the English dubbing of the Mandarin-speaking actors. It does not fit very well and some of the dialogue is changed in the translation which causes some very awkward moments. It's almost cartoonish at times, when it shouldn't be. Happily, the original Mandarin language track (along with another in Cantonese) is also provided on the DVD, which sounds so much more realistic to listen to. I had a similar experience watching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, where viewing the film in Mandarin using English subtitles made for a much more enjoyable experience. Unfortunately, the only English subtitles provided (for the hearing impaired) are for the English-speaking version of the film, so you can never fully understand what the original dialogue, in Mandarin, actually is. Oddly enough, one of the nicest special features, the "Making Of" segment, is completely subtitled due to all the Chinese creator's speaking in their own respective languages. Raymond's actual Chinese name is Wang Baeo, which you can hear the actor's actually saying in Mandarin for the film, but the English subtitles still say "Raymond." As a result, it's difficult for me to fully recommend this DVD version.


Again, the 25 minute "Making Of" is quite good and very informative. You learn the background of the original story and how long it took to make the film and perfect all the effects. You can really tell that the creators were quite passionate about this work and wanted to produce the best product possible for the audience. A definite labor of love to be sure. A short but humorous segment of bloopers is also provided, as well as a music video and a fun little interactive game. The music video is sung in Mandarin and no English subtitles are provided, but the song is discussed in the "making of" segment, which is subtitled and you can read a few lines of the song from there.


The film looks great shot with a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.35:1 (enhanced for 16x9 TVs) and the 5.1 Surround is quite good too. Again, the only real marring is the bad English Dubbing, with no true Mandarin translation of the dialogue in English provided. This will no doubt irritate some purists and cause them to stay away.


The Secret of The Magic Gourd
Rated G, 85 Mins 5.1 Surround Sound
English, Mandarin & Cantonese language tracks
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
English Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired