From the moment Brenda Song walked into the junior high school set of "Stuck in the Suburbs" and flung her retro-1960's hairdo over her shoulder, people who never knew who she was prior to then would realize this is an actress that The Disney Channel could not afford to lose before she grows up. And though she already turned 18 before the release of this DCOM, they couldn't possibly deny that she was a star in the making as far back as "The Ultimate Christmas Present." When I first heard that this was going to be Brenda's first starring role, I thought it was going to be incredibly corny, cheesy and campy. I'm surprised to find I was wrong about the third part.
Wendy Wu, is a pretty and popular contemporary Chinese-American California high school girl. She has two friends that envy her, a trophy boyfriend she's not entirely enthusiastic about, and while not the smartest kid in class, she's certainly not the spoiled airhead she plays on "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody." Neither she nor her parents, nor even her classmates make any issue of their cultural heritage, until two things happen; 1)Her mother, a museum curator starts getting newly received ancient Chinese statues, and 2)Wendy herself gets a visit from a Buddhist Monk who insists she's the reincarnation of an old female warrior destined to fight an evil spirit(What I'd like to know is how this temple survived more earthly evils like the Five Year Plan, "Great Leap Forward," Cultural Revolution, etc.). Naturally, she thinks the guy is nuts, but he slowly starts to convince her that he's telling the truth, and she agrees to accept training for the big fight that's to come.
The tagline here is "Pretty. Tough." No truth-in-advertising laws were broken here. Her opponent Jessica Dawson(Ellen Woglom)isn't so bad looking herself. The TV-PG Rating was appropriate as well, not only for the standard contemporary martial arts choreography, but for the idea that Shin may have to die, a la Michael Biehn in "The Terminator"(1984). Essentially, Shin Koyamada is Wendy Wu's version of Kyle Reese. Part of the problem with the kung-fu fighting scenes is that like so many of them nowadays, the producers think they have to rip off "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon(2000)." Others detected elements of "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer(1992)," the "Dragonball"(1988) franchise, and numerous versions of the "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers"(1993). Although admittedly, I saw more Power Rangers elements in "Sky High(2005)," than I did here.
Hardcore Martial Arts fans would probably dismiss this because it's a DCOM, and because of the cheesy plot, and far-fetched special effects, but I remember seeing plenty of martial arts movies from the 1970's with less of a plot, and people shooting lightning bolts out of their hands as well as other SFX that didn't exist in the 12th Century Far East. As of this writing, there don't seem to be any plans to put this movie on DVD, however the high ratings may change that. And though there are others who may like "High School Musical(2006)(TV)" better than this DCOM(including those who like this one), I feel the opposite way. All in all, it's not half bad.
