8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Hong Kong Comedy, June 26, 2006
One can never understand the humor and spirit in this movie if one does not understand Cantonese or has not lived in Hong Kong. This is meant to be a light-hearted comedy! The dialogs are filled with contemporary everyday Hong Kong slangs! When translated into English, they may seem stupid and out-of-place, but the movie uses these dialogs ON PURPOSE to achieve a brillant level of mocking humor. This is not meant to be an epic, but a very enjoyable movie by all means.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Flying "Dragon", January 29, 2006
Perhaps the one flaw with "wire-fu" movies is that they tend to take themselves too seriously -- humor is pretty much absent from movies like "Hero" or "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon." That isn't a problem with "White Dragon," a humorous little action/romance flick that never quite gets serious. Not too much, anyway.
Black Pheonix (Cecilia Cheung) is an average airhead schoolgirl -- she thinks about her looks, school, clothes, her looks, the handsome second prince, and her looks. But when the aged hero White Dragon (Nay Suet) is injured, she bestows her powers on Black Pheonix. And a bad case of acne, which White Dragon assures her can be cured by doing good deeds.
Pheonix is starting to enjoy her heroic alter ego -- White Dragon Jr. -- when she is called on to capture the blind assassin Chicken Feathers (Francis Ng). But she breaks her leg during the fight, and to her surprise, Chicken Feathers brings her to his home and nurses her back to health. Now Pheonix must make a choice -- save the blind outlaw, or wed the hunky prince?
When watching this film, do not take it seriously, unless it wants to be taken seriously. The first half of it is an unabashed joke -- where else could you see an ancient Chinese musician smash her lute, while the audience does the wave? McDonald's, baseball, designer handbags, and Latin pop tunes all get name-dropped over the course of the movie. And when Pheonix gets her powers, a downloading bar appears on the bottom of the screen.
The plot sags a bit when Pheonix and Chicken Feathers spend time together at his cottage, and you start wondering when the plot will get moving again. And when it does, some of the humour has gone, as a broken-spirited Chicken Feathers wanders aimlessly through the town. Then it kicks into high gear again, with assassination plots, whirling fight scenes, and a pleasant finale where everything falls into place at last.
While there are moments that smack of cutesiness, like the "my only weak spot is you" line, the love triangle is a remarkably sweet one -- both Chicken Feathers and the prince are nice guys, and it's easy to see how Pheonix would be torn between them. And some twists are unusually sweet ones, such as the idea of Pheonix's flute music allowing Chicken Feathers to "see" the stars.
Cheung is the star as a girlish, selfish airhead, who is unexpectedly called on to be a hero -- a sort of selfish Robin Hood ("Please don't scar my face!"), who throws tantrums when she doesn't get her way. Her Pheonix is enormous fun just to watch. But she can also play a more poignant part. And both Ng and Lei Liu give wonderful performances as the rival lovers.
Pop-culture martial-arts are the order of the day in "White Dragon," an unabashedly silly comedy that also turns in some poignant romance and solid action.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
GOTTA LOVE CHICKEN FEATHERS, September 8, 2010
THE WHITE DRAGON
Despite what others may think this is not the 1968 version at all, in fact that one had a male White Dragon. In the case of this film the Dragon title goes to the lovely Cecilia Cheung, so as you can see this is a different film. Now with that said I can tell you that this is a very fun film and you should know that going in. I have been around some people expecting this to be some epic because of the cover art. Needless to say they were surprised but they did indeed enjoy once they got that it was a comedy.
Black Pheonix (Cecilia Cheung) is just another girl at just another school worrying about average girl stuff. You know friends, herself, and of course boys, one in particular that is, the young prince. Of course she starts to develop a relationship with him when see notices that she has developed acne. As all of this is happening the schools principal is killed in the middle of the night by an assassin, an assassin named "CHICKEN FEATHERS".
Yes with an intimidating name like that how can one not shiver at the mere sound of a cluck. Any way the first White Dragon is wounded by this assassin and hands the powers of such title over to Pheonix. She eventually learns to love the new abilities she possesses and starts to use them well, until she is called upon. What is she asked to do you might ask, well take out Chicken Feathers of course. So she is off to do battle with him and thus the battle ensues and it is a good one, until. Until her leg is broken in the fight and he takes her in, that is right he takes her in to care for her. This is were the film gets excellent as they go back and forth one upping each other or trying to. The film blossoms from there making it a comedy with a little romance and a whole lot of treachery [you'll see].
This is a very fun flick full of humor and some good action as well, more so on the humor part but still good. There are all kinds of pop culture references and a very excellent download bar when she gets her powers, I am telling the truth [I love it]. Also did I mention that the deadly assassin Chicken Feathers is blind, yes very much so but that adds to a lot of the relationship between him and White Dragon. There are moments when the film slows do a little but for the most part it is a cool flick.
Cecilia Cheung is delightfully bubbly at times and very angry teen at others, a nice mix that plays out better than it sounds. Francis Ng is great as Chicken Feathers [keep wanting to type fingers] and is deadly/goofy/funny and all that in this role. Written by director Wilson Yip and Yiu Fai Lo the film is not perfect but if you go in understating its style you will like it. "The White Dragon" or "Fei hap siu baak lung" is an enjoyable movie that non fans should find the humor in. of course it could just be I like silly flicks like this, I don't know.
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