Friday, January 15, 2010
Saga of the Phoenix (1990) - 1 Movie
The sequel to 1987's Peacock King. Yuen Biao reprises his role as Peacock, designated guardian from the minions of Hell. He’s assigned to watch over Ashura (Gloria Yip), who was the cute-as-a-button daughter of Hell that was prophesied to bring about Armageddon. The forces of good wish to imprison her, but she’s such a sweet girl that they give her a week to play around, with Peacock and brother Lucky Fruit as her guardians.
Sadly, Hell’s Concubine decides to stir things up and tries to repeatedly kidnap Ashura. She fails initially, but freezes Peacock in a block of ice. After that it’s all downhill. Nevermind that no one seems to care that Peacock is missing - the film takes a massive turn and tells the story of Ashura’s new friendship with a wacky inventor and his free-spirit sister (Loletta Lee). Lucky Fruit hangs around, which leads to the blossoming of a romance with the sister.
As if that weren’t wacky enough, the filmmakers go the Ewok route and introduce Genie, a flatulent muppet that attempts to steal the show but only succeeds in annoying the piss out of anyone watching. The antics are unbearable, but eventually they take a turn for the worse when Hell’s Concubine possesses Genie and tries to use him against Ashura. The pain that registers watching the little mutant attempt cuteness is beyond belief - it’s like watching Salacious Crumb dance for our amusement. By the time Peacock returns to set things straight, the damage has been done. Also, Lucky Fruit is played by a taller, different Japanese actor than in the original. All told, the film is passable in spurts - if you cut out the little muppet then the film would improve considerably. Sadly, it’d also be 25 minutes long. (Kozo 1998)
To watch this show: TBA
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