Occasional scenes feature the two acting with stone-faced gravity – a marked contrast to Wong Cho-Lam’s and Ronald Cheng’s constant mugging. The main comedy cast is fine but the actors brought in for dramatic purposes, including Rose Chan and Philip Ng as badass martial artist Tony Luo, are numbingly serious. Wong Jing goes for drawn-out gag sequences carried by slapstick and banter, followed by equally long scenes of snooze-inducing intrigue. This is a generic, unremarkable story that’s told in equally unremarkable style. There’s nationalism in Princess and Seven Kung Fu Masters but it’s benign and barely worth mention. Will General Lin and the seven kung fu masters of Lucky Star Town man up to defend their country? Ninjas + Tiger Den equals a troubling alliance for patriotic Chinese everywhere. Janice and her three compatriots (Dennis To, Timmy Hung, Xu Mingzhu) get routed early on by the Tiger Den inhabitants, who are in cahoots with Kiyoko Kurosawa (Jo Koo) and her Japanese ninja platoon. Cheryl is super nice but questionably intelligent she falls instantly for revolutionary Janice (Rose Chan), thinking that she’s a he. Chanting Bing desperately loves Miss Manuelle but she doesn’t notice, while Little Tailor pines after Cheryl Lin (Kimmy Tong), General Lin’s daughter and the film’s eponymous “princess”.
The other three are Taoist priest Chanting Bing (Yuen Wah) Miss Manuelle (Natalie Meng), a brothel madam with high-kicking skills and whiny dressmaker Little Tailor (Wong Cho-Lam). That’s four of Lucky Star Town’s martial artists. Basically, the romance is there as fodder for jokes, so don’t expect anything approaching actual emotion. There’s a romantic rectangle going on between the four, a plot development that’s as original as it is compelling. Madonna wields the eardrum-bursting “Life-Taking Annoying Sound”, which she uses to terrorize Little Trumpet (Ronald Cheng), who has designs on her sister Mademoiselle Hong (Xie Na). Manysons (Eric Tsang) roams about carrying his many motherless children, while the loud and sassy Madonna (Sandra Ng) runs local restaurant McShop. Contrasting with both is Lucky Star Town, a happy little hamlet where nothing bad happens, and it’s all thanks to the seven wacky kung-fu masters hidden throughout the burg. Kuomingtang-affiliated General Lin (Sammo Hung) lords over the local area, while the thuggish denizens of Tiger Den (led by Xing Yu and Jiang Luxia) remain in uneasy opposition. In early 1900s China, political and personal intrigue is afoot. Nothing here is noteworthy, but would this film be awesome Sunday afternoon viewing when your cousins are visiting and you’re forced to spend time with them in front of the television? Absolutely! Wong Jing, you’re the man! Or at least the equivalent of such if we lower our expectations accordingly.
While the story (aside from the inclusion of ninjas) is no great shakes, the film itself is a pleasant and even surprising success, managing decent laughs, solid action and a few inspired moments. Wong and co-director Keung Kwok-Man ( Bullet and Brain) helm this star-jammed laffer about a bunch of hidden martial arts experts who band together to beat up some generic bad guys and take on a sexy female ninja played by Jo Koo. With ninjas.Īfter his period gangster epic The Last Tycoon, Wong Jing returns to crappy comedy with Princess and Seven Kung Fu Masters. This all-star wackfest is nothing to write home about but that's just fine. Wong Jing comes through with a solid effort, meaning it's funny and futile filmmaking that entertains more than it bores. Tsang Chi-Wai, Ronald Cheng Chung-Kei, Wong Cho-Lam, Xie Na, Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, Yuen Wah, Natalie Meng Yao, Kimmy Tong Fei, Rose Chan Ka-Woon, Philip Ng Won-Lung, Dennis To Yue-Hong, Jo Koo, Timmy Hung Tin-Ming, Xing Yu, Jiang Lu-Xia, Wen Chao, Lee Kin-Yan, Du Yi-Heng, Mo Meilin, Xu Mingzhu Sandra Ng, Eric Tsang and Ronald Cheng in Princess and Seven Kung Fu Masters.
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