A Chinese Odyssey: Part 2 - Cinderella

Opening with the beautiful Athena Chu entering an abandoned desert village, we are treated to a quick but fun fight when a gang of Heaven's guards attack her, in true Ching Siu Tung style of course!

This leads us back to the end scene of part one, where she meets Joker (Chow) and makes him her slave, as well as stealing his Pandora's Box. His attempt at trying to open the cave door to retrieve it is hilarious, and once in, does what he has to in an attempt to get the box and save Jing Jing back in his own time.

They set off soon after, from towns (where we see the hilarious Ng Man Tat back as Pigsy) to the desert, where one night, Chow witnesses the Monkey King arguing with a Goddess; a return to the very first opening scene of part one...

And then it all comes together. Chow, who has now seen via the magic mirror that he is the Monkey King reincarnate, gets an insight to who he is going to become. Seeing that his former self has the Pandora's Box he attempts once again to get it from them, of course, with hilarious results that shake the storyline up in crazy ways!

Cinderella cranks the comedy and madness up to 11, with more demons (the soul sucking scene is just too funny), more Bull King, and of course, more Monkey... But it also has heart that seems to blend flawlessly with the ridiculousness of it all - one of those scenes has Longevity Monk, Law Kar Ying, giving a painful rendition of the Platters song 'Only You'.

That's followed by a crazy body swap which leads to more hilarity, from a fight with the Bull King, to a botched fake suicide attempt that results in a rescue mission. Then the return of Karen Mok's character Jing Jing, spins Chow into a comedic flashback as he very quickly goes over their story in part one, to try and convince her who he really is!

Madness!!

The last 20 minutes is a total delight as Chow takes full Monkey King form, facing off against the Bull King and his army with his own team of monkeys in an all out battle of weapons and wire-fu, big set pieces and stunt work, while breaking the heart of his beloved and suffering the pain of love lost. All of that, while the piece of earth they are fighting on is flying into the sun... and then some.

A Chinese Odyssey 2 is something else - and both films are well worth seeing. All in all, this is a fantasy love story which delivers in every department and is one of the legends finest adaptations. It's beautiful, hilarious, touching, action packed, and well worth seeing!

Overall: I only wish Chow had stuck around to continue the story, but nonetheless has helped give us another amazing piece of Hong Kong cinema!

Introduction:

This two part movie, is easily deserving on a 10/10 rating. And if you twisted my arm enough into choosing which is better, I would say it's the second part. The comedy is funnier, and the story is able to rap up in a satisfying way.

The Good:

Stephen Chow is hilarious in his role as the Joker, or Monkey King. Given a lot of funny lines and moments to shine in his talent as a slapstick comedian. This is probably his best film. The musical score by Lowell Lo is spectacular, probably better than his work on the first film. The action is also entertaining and always funny to watch, and the movie as a whole is just a blast. The ending of the film was touching and satisfied me. Really making these two films worth the watch.

The film has a real sense of adventure, it's a great action movie, it's a great comedy, it's a great romance, it's an awesome movie. And a movie I will always come back to.

The Bad:

The sets and costumes are not convincing in this film. And that technically qualifies as a flaw. However, I think the costumes and sets were terrible for the sake of adding to the film's comedy. So it qualifies as a criticism, but I don't fault the film.

Conclusion:

A Chinese Odyssey Part Two is an excellent second chapter to a great story. And a crash course in how to execute good slapstick comedy, and just comedy in general. The action is fun to watch, the comedy work, the romance is interesting, the characters are likable, and the movie is great and worth a 10/10 rating.

Yes, it's not just the best movie ever from Stephen Chow but the best movie ever!

You have to watch the first part before fully appreciate all the trivial details in the second part. If we consider the first part as the usual comedy product of Stephen Chow, then surprisingly the second part not only continued the comedy routine but every funny element eventually turn into something much deeper, richer and tragical, which made this movie absolutely cult icon in the next decade in China.

The story is based on the classic Chinese Novel 'Xi You Ji', in which the rebel Monkey was tamed by the Budder and helped a Monk to go to India. Stephen Chow's contemporary adoption of the story is one of his trademarks by mixing the modern elements with the ancient context. It not only added the funny material into the movie, but also the irony and insanity on top of it which younger generation is so addicted to.

At the beginning this movie looks just like another Stephen Chow's typical box office hit but with the stories go on, audience started to feel increasing sadness and later on realised the unavoidable tragical ending.

It's a tough movie for Westerners to understand and appreciate because it requires quite bit Chinese culture knowledge and lots of loss in translation but I would still encourage everyone to give it a go simply for it's such a wonderful and creative movie.

Someone may think it is a love story while someone may think it is a comedy.But I think it is a sort of tragedy full of sarcasm.I think it is the best Chinese movie I've ever seen.It is totally worth watching.If you really give it a time to think about this movie,I promise you can gain a lot from it.It is way better than Journey to the West.

Sometimes you will feel lonely even when you are successful.Sometimes you have to accept the fact that you cherished and loved is gone because they didn't belong to you any more.Sometimes when you finally got what you've always wanted but it doesn't matter now because the one you loved is gone,so what's the point of all these efforts?Sometimes in order to succeed,we have to give up something that may seemed unimportant in the first place but after we made it,you would be painful to find out that all things you once gave up has been always important,you just got blind and didn't notice that.

If you really catch the meaning of this movie,well,congratulations. Cuz you are really grown-up .ENJOY IT!!!!It's full of joys and tears.

This movie has two parts. I suggest you watch them both in one sitting. This is based on the famous Chinese story "Journey to the West." Joker aka reincarnation of the Monkey King(Stephen Chow) delivers a lot of laughter. He get's involved in a demon women(Jing Jing, played by Karen Mok) and makes a mistake while traveling back(500 years too far). He eventually falls in love with the Zixia(Athena Chu). From there they ensure on a crazy journey fill with laughter, and love. The first part is more of a comedy with the plot leading into the second part. The second has more to do with the adventure itself. I must say the ending was touching. Sure there is lots of laughter in the movie, but the underlying love story was good. I wen't in watching and expecting all out funny, but got much more. The movie itself is very memorable. Music wise, it's spectacular. However, in the end I was kind of left in the air. I didn't have the full details as I would like. Which leaves room for a third one(unfortunately there is none) that would show conclusive ending and giving all the details.

One the whole, this movie work's for all kinds of people. It's got comedy, romance, and fighting. One of my favorites.