A Chinese Odyssey Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

A Chinese Odyssey Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 28, 2008

Humor, action, and unparallel imagination are the key ingredients in Jeffrey Lau's two-leg production "A Chinese Odyssey". Heavily influenced by classic Chinese novel "Journey to the West" pic has inspired cohorts of appreciative fans from Helsinki to Perth. Courtesy of Mega Star Video.

Part I - Pandora's Box (1994).

The Axe Gand, led by the moody Joker (Stephen Chow), camps not too far off of the Five Finger Mountain. There they bait and attack their victims. A mysterious woman (Yammie Nam) appears and defeats the goons. She forces them to let her stay in their well run inn until her target, an unknown scarred man, appears. The Axe Gang unwillingly agrees. While she is waiting the Joker decides to strike back and eliminate her. Unfortunately for him the mysterious woman's sister (Karen Mok) appears. The Joker immediately falls for the beautiful stranger leaving the Axe Gang confused. In the meantime it becomes obvious that the two sisters are actually powerful demons looking for the reincarnated Monkey King who would lead them to the mysterious Longevity Monk.

Part II - Cinderella (1994)

500 years earlier. The Joker has been summoned by the fearful ZiXia (Athena Chu) who has obtained Pandora's Box. He wishes to go back to his love Jing Jing but ZiXia has other plans for him. She needs the Joker to help her and her sister, both sharing the same body, end Buddha's wrath who apparently cursed them many years ago. Unsure what ZiXia's intent is the Joker draws her magic sword which immediately makes him the chosen one - he is destined to be ZiXia's eternal love. Out of nowhere King Bull appears and falls for ZiXia setting the stage for a dramatic finale where the Joker must face a fearful, determined, and powerful opponent.

The mysterious beauty

A Chinese Odyssey is a challenging film many will be surprised to discover offers a great deal of difficult to decipher sub-themes. Served as a stylish period story with enough off-kilter humor to produce severe head-scratching amongst its viewers this is also a film where imagination is key. In it mysticism, adventure, and plenty of Chinese history are mixed in an unusual panorama of visuals where even the most ridiculous stunts look rather logical.

Stylistically, A Chinese Odyssey is probably as bold and unconventional as anything you might have seen in contemporary Asian cinema. The film effectively flirts with overused cliches found in classic kung-fu pictures yet on the other hand it dips into a rather unexpected territory-surrealism. As a result the clash between the forces of good and evil for example is littered with stereotypes but they hardly affect the the composure of the story. On the contrary, I suspect that a lot of them added to the surreal visuals is what might have forced many to grant A Chinese Odyssey its cult status.

The technical presentation is also quite unique. There are large panoramic vistas that one could easily argue belong to Alejandro Jodorowsky's El Topo (1970). These scenes are carefully filmed and quite misleading to say the least. However, while El Topo appeared preoccupied with the bizarre and abstract A Chinese Odussey appears focused on the colorful and expressive. As you could guess the visuals are very, very unique.

I must be honest and warn you that while the short synopsis I provided earlier may sound rather exotic and suggesting nothing but fun times A Chinese Odyssey isn't necessarily a film that is meant for entertainment purposes only. I am not familiar with the classic Chinese novel "Journey to the West" which the film uses as a foundation for its story but I am fairly certain that there are much more serious themes here that a Western viewer such as myself isn't likely to fully grasp (Buddha's treatment of the two sisters in particular does seem to be carrying a much deeper meaning). Therefore, I encourage you to read between the lines as much as possible. Perhaps you could extract more from the story than I did.

Finally the cast of A Chinese Odyssey is probably the main reason why the film enthralls its viewers. Stephen Chow's never-ending improvisations are absolutely terrific forcing one into a constant guessing mode attempting to figure out what other bizarre stunts he could pull off. There is so much here that I did not see coming up that by the time the first installment ended I was completely clueless where the story will head next. Suffice to say when I was finished with A Chinese Story I felt as if I completely misunderstood the Jeffrey Lau's intent - I was confused, mesmerized by the visuals, and emotionally exhausted.

A Chinese Odyssey Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in their original aspect ratios of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC, and granted 1080p transfers the two installments in A Chinese Odyssey arrive on Blu-ray via HK distribs Mega Star. This being said, this is the first time an important HK catalog title reaches my desk aside from Behind the Yellow Line and I would like to provide a detailed analysis on the quality of the actual transfers. First of all, both films certainly reveal a dated look with some notable wear and tear. There are occasional specks here and there, a bit of dirt, and a few minor scratches. Second, the color-scheme while strong is, as mentioned above, also affected by the age of the films and occasionally one is likely to detect a few inconsistencies (a good example would be the desert scene where brightness affects the richness of color). Third, the two films also reveal a wealthy grain structure which definitely is intended. Fourth, I don't believe that the two prints provided here have undergone a full-blown digital restoration so, once again, you are likely to detect a few print marks here and there. With all of this in mind, the good news is that A Chinese Odyssey looks very strong. Given the manner in which the films was shot (heavy use of filtered backlighting), the type of film stock, and of course its age the results are more than pleasing. Both detail and clarity are reasonable and particularly during some of the close-ups you will be pleasantly surprised to see how good the overall quality of the prints is. Finally, I am particularly pleased by the fact that A Chinese Odyssey does not suffer from external DNR manipulation. The films reveal a very natural look which I believe to be in tune with the director's vision. (Note: even though the back cover for this double BD pack indicates a Region-A only status these are indeed region-free transfers). The two BDs arrive in a digipack case with colorful illustrations on both sides of the package. The actual case is slightly smaller than an SDVD-digipack.

A Chinese Odyssey Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are three audio tracks on this release (identical for both discs): Cantonese DTS-HD Master 6.1, Cantonese Dolby True HD 6.1, and Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1 EX. Each disc also offers the following subtitle options for the main feature: Cantonese (Traditional and Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional and Simplified), English, Japanese, and Korean. I opted for the Cantonese DTS-HD Master track and later on did a selective comparison to the Cantonese Dolby True HD mix. To make a long story short the DTS-HD Master mix gets most everything right here (so long as you do not expect the audio here to rival the aggressive DTS-HD Master mixes found on many contemporary releases) - there is a good amount of activity in the rear channels, balance is well maintained, and fidelity of sound appears to be adequate. Furthermore, I did not detect any excessive amount of hissing, pop-ups, or cracks. Aside from a minimal low-noise presence which should be part of the master print everything else appears to be handled quite well (bass is potent but not overwhelming, the high frequencies appear undistorted, and the dialog without any disturbing drop outs). This being said, I have to point to the subtitles-file which is not particularly pleasing. First of all, I noticed a great deal of grammatical errors in addition to improper syntax. There are some quite obvious misspellings which should have been addressed. Second, when put into context portions of the English text are simply incoherent. I was able to grasp what needed to be understood but am afraid that some may find this to be quite an issue of concern.

A Chinese Odyssey Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Both discs offer galleries with trailers for other Mega Star releases in addition to the original theatrical trailer for A Chinese Odyssey. There is also a long interview with the director of the film which has been split in half and the relevant parts added to each of the films. In it, there is plenty of information pertaining to the history of the film, how it grew to become a cult classic, what was the director's initial intent, how the cast struggled with the complicated and colorful story, and how well the two films have aged during the years.

A Chinese Odyssey Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I must admit that I am not a fan of the genre A Chinese Odyssey belongs to. I also believe that I lack the proper cultural background to fully appreciate the rich symbolism of the story as well as the subtle references it carries. As a result, to me, the transparent adventure-comedy structure the two films rely on appears somewhat flawed and inconsistent. This being said, I understand that A Chinese Odyssey has spurred different reactions amongst other viewers. Thus, if you are willing to experiment and this review has provided you with a good idea of what you are likely to encounter give this film a try, it may well be something that will pleasantly surprise you. Recommended.