Underplayed Gems

A Chinese Odyssey (1995)

A Chinese Odyssey poster
Original title
西遊記第壹佰零壹回之月光寶盒
Directed by
Jeffrey Lau
Genre
fantasy film, comedy film, kung fu film
Country
Hong Kong, People's Republic of China
Runtime
1h 27m
Rated
I
Rating
7.5 of 10 from 313 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

This two-part film series is a comic retelling of the classic novel Journey to the West. It follows Sun Wukong as he gets distracted from his mission to escort a monk on a quest for sacred scriptures. The films mix martial arts, fantasy, and slapstick humor.

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What happens

A Chinese Odyssey is Chinese film series directed by Jeffrey Lau. It is a spin-off of the 16th-century novel Journey to the West, following the adventures of Sun Wukong when he gets sidetracked while escorting Tang Sanzang on their quest for the Buddhist scriptures. The original series consisted of two back-to-back films released in 1995: A Chinese Odyssey Part One: Pandora's Box (西遊記第壹佰零壹回之月光寶盒) and A Chinese Odyssey Part Two: Cinderella (西遊記大結局之仙履奇緣), starring Stephen Chow, Athena Chu, Ng Man-tat, Yammie Lam, Karen Mok, Law Kar-ying, Lu Shuming and Ada Choi. A third film, A Chinese Odyssey Part Three, with a largely different cast and less popularity, was released on 14 September 2016. The two-part A Chinese Odyssey, the first project produced by the Choi Sing Film Company co-founded by Chow, met with a lukewarm critical and commercial reception upon its premiere in 1995. By the 2000s, however, it had developed a cult following among young people in mainland China and helped establish Chow as a cultural icon. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

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