Ruan gu zhen nai (1978) User Reviews

Nothing special

[JohnSeal · 3/10 · 5 September 2005]

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.

Amazing contortionist kung fu

[phillip-58 · 5/10 · 25 November 2007]

This is a hard film to really comment on. So much of it is badly done - like the script, editing and most of the acting. Yet it is worth watching for Chi Kuan Chun (who played in many Shaw's classics) playing a unsympathetic character who of course comes good in the end. Kong Ching Ha plays the mistress of the troupe of travelling herbal medicine sellers who also practice kung fu and is always a good actress. But the strange star of the film is Phoenix Yue Shing Fung who only seems to have made this film. She looks very young which makes the villains lusting after her even more distasteful. But even allowing for some obvious trickery she was / is an amazing acrobat. She plays the part as dumb but her character comes strongly through and its a pity she seems not to have been offered more parts. The storyline is very average but Bai Ying (playing the evil Doctor Chang) plays it well and the final three on one fight is well done with an unusual ending. It also contains the classic lines when Phoenix orders her companions not to die as 'what will women do, if men die'. I leave others to answer that! So, not a great film but an interesting curiosity and I will never understand how she managed some of the contortions.

Weak kung fu film with circus-style acrobatics

[sillybuddha · 4/10 · 26 July 2007]

The unique selling point of the film is Phoenix Chen's contortion-ism and acrobatics - possibly the least practical fighting techniques ever captured on film, but hey, it's something a bit different.

The basic plot is that various orphans are taken in by Madame Kao who then teaches them fighting skills and acrobatics. A variety of complications ensue which, to be honest, I can barely remember, but it involves a town elder framing Madame Kao for selling dodgy medicine, leading to her eventual murder. There's a bit of a plot twist involving the town doctor toppling the corrupt town elder and taking over the crime gang, while Ah-Fei (another of Kao's students) falls out with Madame Kao over taking revenge on their enemies and temporarily joins the bad guys.

The film itself is pretty poor, the editing is rough and scenes jump around with little context. Enemies appear with little introduction (especially the 'drunken master' (see below) )The kung fu is nothing special apart from the circus-style acrobatics (used in a fairly surreal way to trap the big boss's head at the end). I was never sure what era the film was set in - I assumed early 20th or late 19th, because everyone is wearing traditional clothes, but then there's a guy in jeans and the crime gang seem to be wearing golf caps.

It's a pretty bog standard film - although one moment does stand out when, for no reason at all, a 'drunken master' and a Jackie Chan lookalike turn up to fight our heroes! My dub even had the Jackie Chan lookalike announce the fact he looked like Chan! There are also some odd moments of humour (cross dressing as a disguise etc) ported in at inappropriate moments.

One final note, I'm fairly sure that Wah Yuen (the landlord from Kung Fu Hustle) has a small part as one of the gangsters.

An impressive contortionist mired in a below-average kung fu film

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 15 February 2017]

YOGA AND THE KUNGFU GIRL is an entirely cheap Hong Kong kung fu comedy mixing together acrobatic stunts, lame comedy, and action. It's the sort of film which is indistinguishable from a hundred others and it looks pretty bad too: cheaply staged, with poor set building and most of the scenes filmed in a dirt-filled clearing in the countryside. The most interesting thing about it is the young lead actress, who is a contortionist able to bend her body into all kinds of positions and shapes. She can fight as well. However, she doesn't have much to do in the scheme of things.

Otherwise this is straightforward stuff indeed. Former Shaw star Chi Kuan-Chun plays a ne'er-do-well character who finds himself up against some evil gangster types. A random drunken master pops into the story at one point so it's the kind of film that feels like it was made up as they went along. The violent climax, in which multiple opponents take on the chief villain, is pretty good, but the rest is a bore.

Not exactly mind-bending, but certainly body-bending!

[gridoon2024 · 6/10 · 11 July 2008]

"Yoga and the Kung-Fu Girl" is a cheap old-school kung fu movie, distinguished by the presence of the astonishing contortionist Phoenix Chen in its cast. That girl can really flip, bend and roll! Her body would hardly be more flexible if it was made out of rubber. And although she is clearly a more accomplished contortionist than martial artist, she has her moments in fighting, too (like when she breaks both the arms of an opponent in three different places!). When she is not on the screen, most of the fights are nothing special, and when there are no fights on the screen either, the film comes close to being unbearable. The Dragon DVD may look good on the outside, but it actually features a full-screen and poorly dubbed in English print (the heroine is mute, but luckily for her EVERYONE in this film seems to understand sign language). However, the final fight scene, a not-unfair 3-on-1, goes on for more than 10 minutes and will probably leave most genre addicts satisfied. (**1/2)