Shôrin shôjo [少林少女]
Xinyun got free tickets from her colleagues for the prescreen of the movie and I was given the priviledged to watch it with her. My impression of the movie is this: Women’s lacrosse + Shaolin Soccer + Kungfu Hustle, and a tad of Star Wars (Dark Side?!). You can possibly even pass it as a sequel to Shaolin Soccer itself. (Hardly a surprise considering that Stephen Chow is the Executive producer, two of the original actors from Shaolin Soccer and one of actress is from CJ7!)

My feelings are rather mixed for this movie. First of all… when the heck did Shaolin take female disciples? Next, while I am rather pissed with Stephen Chow trying to pass this off as a sequel to Shaolin Soccer – a wonderful movie of its own – and the storyline was pretty much meaningless (in xinyun’s words – wtf?), there are things in the movie which make it redeemable. In fact, for those who are born in the 70s and have watched Japanese TV series on tennis (I think it was tennis) and volley ball, it would be a little nostalgic to watch the computer graphics depicting the absurd trajectory of the ball, albeit done with better quality in the movie. Personally speaking, that’s the other thing – other than the fact that the actors are speaking Japanese – that reminds me that this movie is Japanese.

Synopsis: Shaolin Girl Rin Sakurazara returned to Japan after 3000 days of training, to find her grandfather’s dojo abandoned. Her original master has quit and is now a chef running his own restaurant. She subsequently learn that simply teaching the martial techniques is not quite enough and there are other things to learn – such as the spirit of Shaolin itself, and teamwork. (Here you find a shadow of Stephen Chow in Shaolin Soccer, where he needs to learn that his ability to kick the ball hard and fast is useless if you can’t put it on target.)

Rin slowly learn as a lacrosse player that it’s not just about her and in a team one has to trust her team mates and cooperate with them. She also learn why she was sent away to Shaolin and what caused the dojo to be abandoned during her absence. Ultimately, she has to face the evil enemy and the temptation of the dark side to protect the very people who were trying to protect her, and also the people she cared about.

You are really not missing much if you give the movie a miss. But if you like to see cute Japanese girls… and could let your mind wander and think of the meaning of certain things in a movie, then there’s really no harm watching it either. There are still lighter parts of the movie which is quite entertaining in my opinion.

Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
I have not read CS Lewis books, and I watched these movies simply for the objective of entertainment. But before I begin, I must say Ben Barnes (who acts as Prince Caspian) has much room to improve as an actor. One Keanu Reeves is quite enough and personally I felt both are better off playing poker than acting. After all, you can’t tell if they are angry, excited, happy or sad.

Synopsis: One year has passed since their defeat of the White Witch, but 1300 years has passed in Narnia. At this time the wife of Miraz, uncle of Prince Caspian X of the Telmarines, has given birth to a son. Seeing that the line of succession is now secured, Miraz moved to the final step in usurping Prince Caspian’s throne and made attempt on the life of Prince Caspian. During his escape, Prince Caspian blew Susan’s magic horn and summoned the Pevensie siblings back to Narnia’s rescue. The Pevensie siblings arrived in time to assist Caspian and to unite the creatures of Old Narnia in their last stand against the Telmarines at Aslan’s How, the location of the destroyed Stone Table, now an underground fortress.

Ultimately, everything that the rest of the Pevensie siblings (except Lucy) do in their own strength was futile. In the end, Lucy has to seek Aslan to deliver the Narnians and restore the land.

I felt this sequel is less exciting and mesmerizing as the first installment of the series. There were also several distortions to the original novel that several bloggers had pointed out. I personally do not know what direction it will take if another novel of the Narnia series is taken to the big screen. I can only hope that any further sequels won’t end up either maiming or destroying CS Lewis’ masterpiece. To prevent that from happening, I will probably start reading the books myself.