Folks, My gut instincts seem to of been right on about this Taiwanese Glove Puppetry film!!! I'm soooooo jazzed after reading this review... This fella drives cross this country and into Canada... to see a movie... a movie starring foreign puppets whupping each others' asses with swords and kung fu and glowy shit! MUST SEE THIS MOVIE NOW! This is Harry's overactive geek gland powering off and handing you to my friend... for anyone to trek this country for a movie like this... Well, you are a kindred spirit and a friend, though we may never meet...
Hey Harry, Whipped up this review of Legend of the Sacred Stone in case you're interested.
Been mulling over this for a few days, I was sure a review would pop up on your site, but so far, nothing, so I suppose if no one else will do it, it's up to me. Let me explain my situation: When I first saw the snippet of the Legend of the Sacred Stone trailer on AICN, it was immediately clear to me that my purpose in life was to see that movie. I was so blown away by the trailer that I showed it to practically everyone I know. I put up a small page with all the info and links I could find here and waited with baited breath of any news of when I could get a chance to see it. Turned out I didn't have to wait long, as the Fantasiafest info was posted just days later. Living in the state of New York, I knew it wasn't going to be easy for someone on my budget (poor college student, you know how it is) to get to Montreal, but I jumped on this like a man possesed. Eventually I somehow convinced a friend to let me borrow his car and drive it approximately ELEVEN HUNDRED MILES, to see a movie about PUPPETS BEATING EACH OTHER UP. At this point, everyone around me concluded that I was insane. Insane or not, nothing was going to stand in my way.
So anyway, while nerds of the west coast were enjoying the San Diego Con (used to attend every year, but now I'm in NY and broke) I found myself in the car, heading out on the highway (Heavy Metal Thunder). I swung by Toronto to pick up a bud who was as psyched for LoSS as I was, and we were set. We had a megaphone, we had oversized sombreros, and we had a car with an awesome stereo. We tore our way up to Montreal in record time, speeding all the way and rocking out. We even had time to snag some of those crazy-ass ketchup chips they only have in Canada. After we arrived in Montreal, (the frenchiest city in North America) we proceeded to get lost trying to find the theatre. Never trust Mapquest. We bought a map, found the theatre (after some cruising around downtown montreal pumping MC Skat Kat), bought our tickets (6 canadian bucks, cheap!) and got in line, wearing our sombreros. We decided to leave the megaphone in the car in case security had issues with it. Anyway, the line started moving after a bit of munching ketchup chips on the sidewalk, and we were in! We got some decent seats and put our sombreros on our laps so as not to be rude. Finally, this would be the culmination of my month-long mission. I was seeing Legend of the Sacred Stone, and I was PUMPED...
THE MOVIE ITSELF: In Short: Utterly and completely WORTH the drive. A quick rundown of the plot: the main protoganists are White Lotus-Su Huan-jen, a swordsman and hero, and his sidekick Ching Yang-zi. Su Huan-jen and Ching Yang-zi end up entwined in the machinations of Lord Jian, along with Ao Hsiao Hong-chen, an extremely powerful fighter and swordmaster. Lord Jian is seeking to acquire the Heaven Stone for his own not entirely savory ends. The stone apparently has the power to grant any wish, but only at the expense of the life of the one who utilizes it. Also factoring into the equation are a group of demons who are after the Heaven Stone as well, and they provide some humor in contrast to the well-mannered poise of the main heroes.
I was blown away by some of the set designs in this movie. The cinamatography is beautiful and some of the sets and the demon puppets incorporate a mix of futuristic and alien designs, which brings a very cool touch to the otherwise medieval chinese-esque scenery. The main thing that stands out about this film however are the action sequences. Ching Yang-zi fights with his harp(!) which fires projectiles, Su Huan-jen and Ao Hsiao Hong-chen use combinations of sword and kung fu techniques, and the demons have some badass looking scythes that they chuck all over the place. The articulation and movement of the puppets is incredible, and the puppets allow for actions and techniques that human actors could never pull off. The style of the fight scenes are akin to that found in the Hong Kong kung fu cinema that we all know and love, and the superpowered puppets fit perfectly with the over-the-top physics defying action.
I think kids will enjoy this movie, but some of the violence may be shocking, and the demons are some scary looking motherfuckers, so we'll just have to see what happens in terms of American distribution. It certainly does deserve a wide release. This movie has a distinct advantage in that a dub will not end up looking stupid, as the characters have very little mouth movement. A dub will also allow this film to be taken a little more seriously (as serious as magic kung fu puppets can be taken, that is) as all the original voices are done by Vincent Huang, who does a great job, but I must say that his female voices were a source of much amusement to everyone in the audience.
Now I have to mention the CG in this film. Computer effects are used all over the place in this movie. During the fights there is a lightshow of color as the opponents square off with magic powers and flying swords and all kinds of incredible attacks. The interesting thing is that use of CG in this film just fits so perfectly. The CG blends so well with the puppetry.
The way the CG is used in this movie would not work in a film with real actors. The CG would look too cartoony and phony in contrast with live people. On the other end of the spectrum, the CG effects of LoSS would blend horribly and be utterly out of place if combined with traditional animation. The puppet theatre is the perfect medium for these types of effects, with beams of light shooting all over the place, swirling balls of energy, rainbow maelstorms of magic forces, and a bunch of other cool-ass crap. It just feels SO RIGHT with the puppets.
This film is a must see for fans of Hong Kong super-power kung fu, and I think it will appeal to anime fans as well, anyone looking for a uniquely excellent action movie experience. In conclusion have to say thanks to you Harry, because I probably would never have even known this movie existed if not for AICN. Keep up the good work and keep letting everyone know about COOL stuff like LoSS!
Later,
Lil' GOR GOR
