Ching din dai sing (2005)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Jeffrey Lau

Writer:

Jeffrey Lau (writer)

Release Date:

22 December 2005 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Drama | Fantasy | Romance | Sci-Fi

Plot:

A love story between an alien and a monk.

Plot Keywords:

Monk | Disciple | Rescue | Ugly | Magic

Awards:

5 nominations

Cast

Nicholas Tse	...	Tripitaka
Charlene Choi	...	Yue Meiyan
Bingbing Fan	...	Princess Xiaoshan
Bo-lin Chen	...	Sun Wukong
Isabella Leong	...	Red Child
Kenny Kwan	...	Zhu Wuneng
Steven Cheung	...	Sha Wujing
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kenny Bee
Wai-Man Chan
Goo-Bi GC
Kara Hui
San Kao
Yiu-Cheung Lai
Tats Lau
Keung Lee
Kin-Yan Lee
Chia Hui Liu
Guan Lo
Patrick Tam
Yut Fei Wong
Wah Yuen

Also Known As:

A Chinese Tall Story (International: English title)
Qing dian dai sheng (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)

Country:

Hong Kong | China

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Malaysia:U

Company:

Emperor Motion Pictures

Quotes:

Unknown: The greatest distance divides us, not because you are oblivious to my love, when I stand in front of you; but because we each other, knowing fate will forever keep us apart.
[translated from chinese text shown on screen]

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Fa yeung nin wa (2000)

Soundtrack:

Love Saint

Off the rails comedy/action/romance is full of wild action and humor but is wounded by a disjointed narrative that starts and stops at will

Another go round with the monkey king going west....sort of.

Beginning in the middle of some action the movie just goes from the first frame onward.

A monk and his three disciples go to a town to get the sacred suras that will bring peace to the world once they are translated and spoken to the world.But an evil force has intervened and kidnapped all of the children of the town. The evil force wants the monk because if you eat him you will live forever. The retainers battle the forces of darkness before forcibly sending the monk off for safety (The monk thinks he can win simply by reasoning with the bad guys). The monk ends up with a bunch of lizard imps who plan at some point eating him... however the bad guys arrive and he's off an odyssey with the ugliest of the lot.

Can a movie that starts off the rails go off the rails? Don't get me wrong I really liked this movie but its so scatter shot and all over the place that plot and logic simply fall away as some scenes simply pick up mid action with no way of knowing how we got there (The final battle to rescue the disciples is completely out of left field). This is one of the messiest movies I've seen in a while, but it made me laugh and smile like no get out. The movie starts and you have no idea where things are and then whats on screen is either interesting or funny and you just go with it. How do we get from thing to thing is often beyond me. Its full of odd asides and strange references as we go from heaven to the ocean to space to the rib cage of some mythic beast to god knows where. This movie floats all over the place which helps keep it fun since you don't know where it will end up (and is the reason"m keeping details to a minimum) And its funny. Very very funny at times.

And the action is very good, even if a good chunk of it is unabashed CGI animation (which provides for some cool images, the golden staff, the spider attack formation, the angel in flight...) And its very touching. Action and comedy aside this is actually a wonderful love story. Its the story of an ugly imp and a monk who end up falling in love (and having other complications). Its a interesting look at the nature of love and what is true love. You will be moved.

However much I enjoyed it I was still annoyed by its scatter shot construction. The films inability to hold its ideas together and to tell a complete story really hurts the film and takes away from the enjoyment every time we get to a bump in the road. the bumps take you out of the movie itself and make you realize how much is being cribbed from other sources.

Absolutely worth seeing since it does have many choice moments, just be prepared for some bumps and you'll have a good time.