Is it possible to select the single most annoying aspect of the vast sea of martial arts pictures released to the western video market? Could it be the harsh dubbing, frequently done by Australian actors who obviously had no respect for or interest in the film's original dialogue? Or the re-written dialogue itself, oversimplified and dumbed down to the point of inanity? Or how about the brutal pan and scanning, reducing the Scope photography to over-zoomed, squeezed action scenes that become so much visual noise? Perhaps the obvious re-cutting, often reducing running time and story clarity in favor of the (now pan and scanned and near unwatchable) action scenes?
I'm not sure which of these I would pick, but they're all on display in this lame kung fu comedy about Madame Kao, a wandering herbalist who also has time to take in needy orphans and train them in the martial arts. The film begins as Madame Kao adopts Phoenix, a flexible young lady whose penchant for yoga makes her a formidable if bizarre kung fu opponent. A local bad guy in a bow tie takes a fancy to her, and tries to steal her away by framing Madame Kao for selling bad herbal medicine. He hasn't, however, reckoned on the presence of Phoenix' classmate, the troublesome but loyal Ho Fei, and a not terribly climactic battle leads up to another signature of these chopped up chop socky epics: an abrupt ending that usually involves our heroes and heroines shuffling hurriedly off into the sunset.
There is very little to set this picture apart from hundreds of others, but the young lady who plays Phoenix can truly do some amazing and unsettling things with her body, which garners Yoga and the Kungfu Girl an extra couple of stars on the IMDb scale.
I'm not sure which of these I would pick, but they're all on display in this lame kung fu comedy about Madame Kao, a wandering herbalist who also has time to take in needy orphans and train them in the martial arts. The film begins as Madame Kao adopts Phoenix, a flexible young lady whose penchant for yoga makes her a formidable if bizarre kung fu opponent. A local bad guy in a bow tie takes a fancy to her, and tries to steal her away by framing Madame Kao for selling bad herbal medicine. He hasn't, however, reckoned on the presence of Phoenix' classmate, the troublesome but loyal Ho Fei, and a not terribly climactic battle leads up to another signature of these chopped up chop socky epics: an abrupt ending that usually involves our heroes and heroines shuffling hurriedly off into the sunset.
There is very little to set this picture apart from hundreds of others, but the young lady who plays Phoenix can truly do some amazing and unsettling things with her body, which garners Yoga and the Kungfu Girl an extra couple of stars on the IMDb scale.