Wonderful Movie

hyped garbage

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

This film begins with an awful introduction--with a song that just sucks. Little did I know that after this it only got worse!! I am not exaggerating when I say this film is 100% bad--with absolutely nothing to recommend it--nothing! And, if it were possible, I'd give a score lower than 1 because unlike the average bad movie, this one is so gosh-darn annoying! The film is supposed to be a parody of the Charlie Chan films. Now this idea COULD have worked--after all "Murder By Death" was all silly low-brow fun. But, unfortunately, the film never works thanks to ineptitude in every way. The director was apparently a chimp--who loved to instruct the 'actors' to over-act, fall down a lot and do pratfalls. The writer did not appear to have even watched any of the Charlie Chan film--as it never had any inside jokes or laughs. The producer was not even stupid (that would be an improvement), as they cast Richard Hatch (from "Battlestar Gallactica") as a half-Chinese grandson of Charlie Chan!!! And as far as the acting goes, I expected nothing form Hatch (and got it) and Michelle Pfeiffer is young so she can't be blamed. But, Lee Grant, Roddy McDowell and Peter Ustinov (an Oscar-winner!!) are just awful and should have known better. What possessed them?! All of the 'actors' behaved broadly--falling down, bumping things and just appearing like amateurs in bad community theater.I notice one reviewer gave this film a 10. I just don't know what to say about this...all I know is I wouldn't even show this film to my worst enemy!! If karma and reincarnation are true, those who made this movie should all come back in their next lives as dung beetles.By the way, although it didn't change my opinion about the movie overall (it couldn't be any worse), I was irritated to no end about the character played by Brian Keith. All he seemed to do was curse--and in ways that are bound to offend anyone who is the least bit religious. Is this supposed to be funny?! I am sure this would offend many out there and shows a complete lack of sensitivity towards the audience and their values. Now I am NOT saying that films must be sanitized--but this was ALL that Keith's character did and as a 'joke' it was of very questionable value and taste.

The amazing super sleuth is back and he's here to solve another crime. In "Charlie Chan and The Curse of the Dragon Queen", Mr. Chan(Peter Ustinov) come out of retirement to help his bumbling son Lee (Richard Hatch, "Battlestar Galactica") solve a murder in San Francisco. The cause of the crime is a adversary Chan dealt with years earlier: The Dragon Queen(Angie Dickison). This woman would strike where ever the family goes. Her "curse" would bear misery to anyone who crosses her. However, when the police caught her again, someone else was causing the problems, and the Dragon Queen was just a distraction to the real culprit. The music was hilarious, and very entertaining at the same time. Peter Ustinov did well playing Asian. Richard Hatch was very funny in the movie playing a clumsy detective, a scene he would never do when he was on BS. Michelle Pfiffer was excellent as well. This movie was worth the watch, the trailer was a gem! 4.5 out of 5 stars!

Although the script abounds with funny lines, the overall effect of this film is as though someone (Producer? Director? Studio?) took a deft Charlie Chan send up and stamped heavily on it, adding elements clearly inserted for commercial appeal rather than inherent value. These elements do their best to destroy what would have otherwise been an enjoyable hour and a half. As it stands, you'll want to see it for some stellar performances, and because you don't want to miss young Michelle Pfeiffer in one of her earliest roles. She lights up the screen.Peter Ustinov does his spiffy Warner Oland impression, and a talented cast does its best with the sparkly script but on-again-off-again plot.

If the A.F.I. decides to vote on the 100 best kisses in American Film, they have to put Richard Hatch's and Michelle Pfeiffer's kiss in the top ten. Not only are we talking tung, but a 45 second smooch that makes the viewers laugh as well as cry. Fast forward to this scene first, the rest of the film can wait.