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A Chinese Odyssey

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A Chinese Odyssey (Chinese: 大話西遊) is a series of two 1994 films, directed by Jeffrey Lau. They are some of actor Stephen Chow's most famous movies, the first one being A Chinese Odyssey Part One: Pandora's Box (西遊記第壹佰零壹回之月光寶盒) and the second one being A Chinese Odyssey Part Two: Cinderella (西遊記大結局之仙履奇緣). The two films together can be called a "sad comedy" showcasing Stephen Chow's comic genius while telling a sad love story. The movie borrows elements (characters, plot, setting) from the Chinese classical novel Journey to the West.

Story

Template:Spoiler The two films take place somewhere in the midst of the classic Journey to the West. Sun Wukong (Stephen Chow), finding his master to be too talkative and annoying, rebels and tries to kill his own master, the Longevity Monk (Law Kar-ying). As punishment, Guanyin captures and decides to get rid of Wukong once and for all. Yet, she is stopped by Sun Wukong's master who maintains that he should receive some of the blame for his disciple's faults. He willing sacrifices himself to give Wukong a second chance (A life for a life).

Wukong is reincarnated 500 years later as a leader of desert bandits named Joker. Of course, Joker has no memory about his past and gets involved with different demons and women. Through the course of the movie, Joker is in love with a demon woman, Pak Gwut-Jing (Karen Mok), who also loves him in return. She is killed in the process of protecting Joker. Using the Pandora's Box, Joker goes back in time to save her, but mistakingly transports himself 500 years into the past, the time that Sun Wukong came from.

In this time period, Joker meets a female spirit named Lin Zixia (Athena Chu) who confiscates the Pandora's Box. She and her sister where punished by Buddha for being too quarrelsome and are now cursed to share the same body; one of them has control during the day, the other during the night. However, neither sister knows about this; they both assume that the other sister is somewhere else in the world. To get back the Pandora's Box, Joker agrees to help Zixia convince her sister that she is dead so she hands over her magical sword to him as proof. This sword can only be drawn from its scabbard by her true love, which Joker easily does. Noticing this, Zixia quickly falls for Joker.

In the night, Joker stumbles upon a curious scene. This is in fact the scene that begins the movie, where Wukong is arguing with Guanyin. It seems that Wukong has swiped the Pandora's Box from Zixia and was planning to use it to escape from his master. Yet, he was caught by Guanyin before he had the opertunity. Guanyin proceeds to capture has in the beginning, however, due to Joker's interference this time, the Pandora's Box accidentally transports the Longevity Monk - instead of Joker - before he could sacrifice himself.

Continuing on, Joker encounters the Bull King. In the Bull King's place he meets the Longevity Monk, Zhu Bajian (Ng Man Tat) and Sha Wujing. They all (including the Bull King) recognize Joker as Wukong. Joker doesn't believe it, but somewhat plays along. The Bull King has captured the Longevity Monk and wishes to eat for eternal life; he now holds the Pandora's Box. He has also captured Zixia to become his newest concubine.

Just before the wedding, the Bull King's wife shows up and stops it. She also recognizes Joker as Wukong, but, interestingly enough, she came to see Wukong and not the Bull King. She recounts the past romantic affairs that she and Wukong had. Escaping from her, Joker finds an angry Zixia. Joker convinces Zixia with a lie that he loves her. Together, they plan to steal the Pandora's Box and escape.

At night time, Joker looks for Zixia. She has, however, been stabbed by the Bull King's wife who is jealous that Joker "loves" her instead. Joker manages to escape with an unconscious Zixia. He meets up with Bajian and Wujing. They are pursue separately by the Bull King and the Bull King's Wife. In a three-way fight, several bodies are accidentally exchanged through the body change technique of the Bull King's wife. Bajian now shares the body with Zixia. Meanwhile, Zixia's sister has been moved into Bajian's body. The Bull King's wife has changed bodies with Wujing. Everybody, except Zixia/Bajian, manage to escape from the Bull King. Joker escapes by pretending to fall off of a cliff, but when the Bull King's wife sees him and tries to approach, he falls off for real. His fall manages to kill several officers and save three robbers who were about to be executed.

Joker is carried back to the cave where he first found the Pandora's Box and met Zixia by the robbers he saved. One of them reports to him that he muttered the name of "Jing Jing" many times in his sleep. Joker happily replies that she is the person he loves. Nonetheless, the robber mentions that he muttered the name of "Zixia" even more times. Joker is stunned and confused.

Jing Jing arrives at the cave and meets Joker. Since she is of the past, she knows nothing of their romance. Joker, with the help of the robbers, reenact the whole story of what happened and convince her that their love is true. She agrees to marry him. However, she changes and mind just before the wedding, leaving him with a letter to go save Zixia. Another demon woman, Spider Woman (Lam Kit Ying), shows up and slaughters the robbers and Joker.

The dead Joker's spirit is now reformed; he understands that he is Sun Wukong and he understands the importance of the Longevity Monk's journey to help spread wisdom to the suffering people. After a short conversation with Guanyin, he accepts the position to become Sun Wukong once again and help the Longevity Monk. In doing so, however, he must let go of all wordly desires, including love.

Meanwhile, the Bull King's wife and Wujing are trying to save the Longevity Monk and Bajian while restoring everyone to their original bodies. They succeed in restoring everyone except for the Bull King's wife - she gets trapped into a dog. Zixia' sister is placed into the Bull King's wife's body. Zixia and her sister also make amends when they both try to save each other (Zixia from letting her sister get killed, and her sister from letting Zixia get married).

All try to fight against the Bull King, but he is simply to powerful. As all seems hopeless, Joker, who is now Sun Wukong, appears and fights the Bull King. Wukong is clearly holding the upper hand. Zixia is sure that he is Joker, but Wukong tries to pretend that he is not. Furthermore, he acts spiteful towards her since he is not allowed to love.

In the middle of the fight, the Bull King decides to destroy the whole place in desperation. While trying to hold the place together, Wukong is left vulnerable. Zixia sacrifices herself to protect Wukong from the Bull King's attack. Unable to save Zixia, Wukong kills the Bull King in a fit of rage. Zixia's sister decides to go back to Heaven, now that there is no point in her fighting her sister anymore. Wukong, Bajian, Wujing, and the Longevity Monk use the recovered Pandora's Box to escape destruction.

They turn up 500 years later and renew their journey. Upon leaving the city, Wukong notices the reincarnations of Joker and Zixia. Apparently, both have been standing on top of the city wall for days, locked in a lover's quarrel. Unwilling to accept this display, Wukong possesses Joker's body temporarily and kisses Zixia, promising to never leave her anytime in this life. He leaves Joker's body satisfied, and continues with his companions into the distance, toward the west.

Cast and roles include


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