Desertman84
My Mighty Princess is a film about So Hui,a beautiful martial arts prodigy,who is about to embark on a journey into adulthood. But her journey is like no other. Her super-human strength and martial arts prowess scares away her fellow undergrads and even the boy she has fallen for. The movie stars Shin Min-a and On Joo-wan.It is directed by Kwak Jae Yong,who did My Sassy Girl,Windstruck and The Classic.The plot revolves around So Hui ,who happens to be the darling of the martial arts community with her superhuman strength and high-flying prowess. But being a martial arts prodigy isn't much help when it comes to getting handsome brooding hockey player Jun Mo to notice her. Much to the dismay of her father and longtime friend Il Young, she decides to quit martial arts and go manage the college hockey team. While So Hui's pining after Jun Mo who's pining after an older woman, fighting breaks out in the martial arts community as a decades-long conflict comes to a head. So Hui may be the only person who can subdue the evil Black Tiger and solve the mystery surrounding the strife.Talented Korean director Kwak Jae Yong delivers in this delightful and entertaining romantic comedy with action scenes in it.The film is set in a modern day world where mystical martial arts is still alive.The special effects are commendable thanks to colorful special effects and action choreography from renowned Hong Kong action director Dion Lam of Spider-Man 2, Daisy and The Storm Riders. With regards to the performances,Shin Min-a proves in this film that she is one capable Korean actress.Although the movie has unoriginal ideas and purely formulaic,My Mighty Princess still will elicit fun to the viewer because it provides action, laughter, and pure entertainment.The fight scenes also were great as well.Overall,this is movie has Kwak Jae Yong written all over it.
greencandyholic
throughout the movie you're thinking "oh okay. . .i can do that"(along with a face somewhat similar to ----> (=__=) ahaha,even though the martial arts action sequences are there,similar to the crouching tiger hidden dragon element of wire flying,and even holds the "green destiny,"which if i was right that was also from CTHD maybe just in a lot of old Asian folklore.The movie itself did have its own moments for laughter and did seem like it tried too hard @ sometimes or just rather to show off her skills of being superhuman(getting hit in the head with a hammer...everyone stares @ her something like this ---->(0__0)? and than she realizes it and falls down pretending it hurt her) ahaha well it was funny to me,yet i can say i didn't truly laugh until the end. . end credits ahaha.Another thing anime freaks might notice is that PUCCA shows up throughout the movie and that also applies well to the story with the main character So-Hui is definitely comparable with PUCCA as she doesn't let her love interest get away from her,following him around and around,as well as her past mate that follows her round and round,so that also has a certain PUCCAISH feeling.Another element that the movie lacked was the developing of character relationships and trying to twist too much story elements into another. First So-Hui loves one person that loves a slightly older woman,which you will have to listen to the story line as to why he likes her,but they never bring it up you just have to use your common sense,and than another young man comes into the whole equation and he likes her and she has pneumonia or how you spell that and than she remembers her past completely cutting off the relationship with the other guy and going for the other guy. . .as confusing as i just tried to explain it,is just as confusing as the romance that takes place.well i don't think you should take my review into consideration in that everyone has their own perspective i "LIKED" the film,you might "LOVE" or "HATE" it,yet you wouldn't really be missing anything if you didn't see it,it is an okay film for everyone to see...
DICK STEEL
Korean writer-director Kwak Jae-young seems to have a knack or a preference to craft romantic comedies for the mass market, and so far have been delivering hits like My Sassy Girl, to my recent personal favourite of his with Cyborg, She. Strong female characters up against wimpy men also becomes staple in his stories, together with some touching, bittersweet moments that work their way into the plot.However, I'm more inclined to say that My Mighty Princess rates slightly above the disastrous Japanese movie Shaolin Girl, both of which feature female characters gifted in the field of martial arts, exploiting their skills in daily life, as well as in sports, coupled with special effects and elaborate wire work (here courtesy of stunt people from Hong Kong). But while Shaolin Girl suffered from a self-destructive storyline, My Mighty Princess fared better, but still had too much squeezed into it and became quite incoherent, flip-flopping from one subplot to the nextIt had identifiable elements from movies like Kung Fu Hustle (the meeting of the martial arts masters where they demonstrate their distinct skills), Shaolin Soccer (for the dexterity of Kung Fu used in sportS), and even borrowed the legendary weapon from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon with its Green Destiny Sword, complete with weapon nuances. Granted though its duality, in being a martial arts movie with swordsmen and swordswomen roaming Korea, served as a highlight, but somehow the gel wasn't done correctly, and it seemed like two movies spliced side by side.Kung Fu aside, the romantic plots here also turn out to be quite messy. We have teenager and heroine Sohwi (Shin Min-A) in love with hunky Junmo (GUn), a hockey player in school, and mean biker. However, this infatuation is only one sided, because Junmo happens to have the hots for, check this out, older women in uniform. Though there was a very short explanation for this, it's one of those blink and you miss moments inserted through flashback, that might leave you quite perplexed should you not be able to connect the dots properly.Then you have Ilyong (On Ju-wan) who is a childhood friend from the same brotherhood/fraternity of martial artists as Sohwi. Being the two youngest and most promising of their cohort, their curiosity one night will spark perhaps one of the rare moments where you actually start to feel for these two characters, outside of their slapstick like, and rather blah moments, where they get to exercise their skills. Cliché after cliché get pounded on the screen, to a point where you can be a step ahead in guessing what would happen next.The opportunity for redemption came at the last act, which played on the notion of having to subdue someone you love, and forced by conscious circumstances to do so. Being also of a martial arts genre, you'll know what theme will be tapped on as well in order to end the movie. But execution wise was quite clumsy, with repetitive scenes of the same thing - dialogue, fighting moves, and effects, that it quickly became a bore, and threw all opportunity for a powerful emotional core away in a flash, which was quite a pity.It seemed that Kwak lacked the courage to have ended this movie in a dark manner, and lapsed into unnecessary fluff that made it all look very cartoony. Then again, this movie was probably not meant to be taken seriously to begin with, and I was expecting too much. But knowing what Kwak Jae-young is capable of, perhaps my expectation was justified, though I should stick to his Japanese effort, and as I mentioned one of my personal favourites, for the time being.
