.

.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Kung Fu Arts (1978)

A Chinese kung fu directed by Kuang Hui A.K.A. Kim Young.
A sick princess is cured by a monkey and forced to marry him. The cruel emperor sends her and her new husband away on a boat to die or be forgotten. The man who sent the monkey to cure the princess finds her and they return to dethrone the emperor.
It was stupid, annoying, insipid and pointless. The audio was absolutely horrible, with certain phrases like "uncle monkey, uncle monkey" being repeated endlessly and consecutively. The camera-work during the fight scenes blew donkey nards and I couldn't see what styles the fighters were using. For being named "Kung Fu Arts", one would think that there would be talk of different styles, but no. No drunken boxing, no animal styles, no tai chi. HOWEVER, the plot was coherent and the characters identifiable. These are grand achievements for a film of this genre and are not taken lightly. Note the female equivalent of epic sideburns and the boy's Tarzan costume in the picture. I'm accepting the flaws inherent in the genre and rating this o.k. because I could understand the story and knew who the main characters were.