Wendy Wu: A Garota Kung Fu

Brenda Song is probably best known for being London Tipton, the dimwitted daughter of a wealthy hotel owner in The Suite Life of Zach & Cody. She proves in this film she can do more than be a pretty face! She said in a behind the scenes documentary for this film that she took karate classes as a child (even though she wanted to do ballet) and the really paid off! She kicks major booty in this DCOM.

The Basic Plot: Wendy Wu (Song) is a young lady hopeful of being Homecoming queen, but it is not until a young monk (Shin Koyomada) reveals to her that she is part of a prophecy...and that an evil force has been released and it is her duty to bring it down...but Wendy will have to hang up her prom gown and her hopes of becoming homecoming queen as well...

This is unlike any DCOM I've ever seen! Amazing special effects and martial arts choreography. I give it and 8/10

Worst DCOM I have seen. Ever. Well, maybe not as bad as Smart House. This was just bad. The acting and story was fine, but the effects SUCKED!

They were so fake! The only good fight scene was between the brother and Shen. That was probably the only scene in which I was excited.

Overall, I found this movie very boring and the film kind of ended suddenly.

I will give it a four for Brenda Song who is a very funny actress and that one fight scene.

4/10

This is basic Disney fare. Cute and kinda of funny...clearly aimed at teen and pre-teen audiences. No problem there..but I did have a problem with Brenda Song trying to step away fromo her "London Tipton" role...she barely pulled it off. At any moment I was expecting a dumb comment or one of those vauge "duh" looks to come over her. She obviously was playing a bit of a spoiled high school girl..not a real stretch I suppose. The idea of the story was nothing new...it was pure Disney. What always gets me in these films is while these magical things are going on..no normal person in the film seems to notice anything. In this one...I wondered why the Grandmother had not bothered to start training her granddaughter earlier if she khew what was going to happen? As always...Disney stories involve growing up and finding happy endings..which this one does...after quite a bit of annoying things in between.

This movie was a joy to see. An interesting story line with great action scenes. It should rank with The Cheetah Girls, High School Musical, and other successful Disney Channel films. Though some of the special effects were not the best (what can you expect with a TV movie) it still showed effort.It also showed the amazing acting skills of The Joy Luck Club star Tsai Chin playing the grandmother of Wendy. The true amazement was shown by Disney Channel veteran but not yet star Brenda Song. Her wonderful acting in this film will take her to new heights in the Disney Corporation. Shin Koyamada playing the very religious yet heartthrob monk-trainer Shen was also a good choice for the role. I hope that you will take my advice and make an effort to see this movie. I am sure you wont regret it.

I would definitely give this at least one try before saying no. Granted there are several of the "matrix" type of effects, but there are also a great deal of legitimate martial arts moves and much of it is very well choreographed and well done. At some parts the stunt doubles are more obvious than others, but that is to be expected.

This movie does hit on a very poignant topic in todays society...too many children (and all too often their parents) do NOT have enough of an idea of their history. We spend too much time living up to cultural stereotypes and then getting angry at producers for showing them to us. I do wish there had been a little more legitimate focus of some Chineese history and perhaps more about the monastery life and such, since those were supposed to be large parts of the movie...but it is only a 2 hour movie made for TV. I do hope it brings home the point that many of us do not know ourselves as well as we really should.

Definitely worth watching.