Woodyanders Karate master Kazuma (the almighty Sonny Chiba) gets severely beaten up and crippled by a vicious gang of thugs lead by evil rival Nikaido. Kazuma trains his loyal daughter Yumi (a fine and moving performance by beautiful brunette Etsuko Shihomi) in the martial arts so she can exact a harsh revenge on the pernicious bastards. Directors Yataka Kodaira and Yutaka Kohira maintain a steady snappy pace throughout and stage the copious brutal, blood-spilling and bone-breaking fight scenes with plenty of violent aplomb (one especially thrilling set piece has Yumi single handedly taking out a pack of ferocious Doberman Pinchers). Hanjiro Nakada's snazzy cinematography makes nice use of shaky hand-held camera, funky freeze frames and strenuous slow motion. Shunsuke Kikuchi's groovy, rousing "wacka wacka" score likewise does the trick. The villains are a truly mean, nasty and hateful bunch, with the best one being a blind, white-haired swordsman. Shihomi makes for a strong and sympathetic tragic heroine whose sole reason for existing is to avenge her father. A bang-up little winner.

tenshin-3 OK. If you are around my age and went to high school back in the late '70s in Florida, then you probably remember a little Saturday afternoon show called "Black Belt Theatre". Every week they showed another badly dubbed, low budget martial arts flick.And I LOVED it! It was here that I first remember seeing Etsuko "Sue" Shiomi. I can't remember the actual movie but it might have been Sister Streetfighter. In any case, I was a die-hard fan from then on. So when I first saw a copy of Dragon Princess on VHS a few years later at the local Blockbuster, I scarfed it up. Yeah, Sonny Chiba has only a small part in it and the budget is typically minuscule, but if you can get past that then you are in for one fun ride! Sue Shiomi does an excellent job as the revenge seeking daughter of Sonny Chiba's character. The villains though, especially the blind swordsman, in my opinion steal the show. Each fight is unique and entertaining with the violence being, of course, over the top.A few years ago I found this gem on DVD. If you get the chance, grab it up. Trust me; you'll have a blast!

mwidunn I saw this for sale at my local grocery store as one of the movies on a two-movie DVD sold for $1. Couldn't beat that! As I have found with some Kung Fu films, the movie begins with absolutely no explanation: just two guys in a church (?) arguing over who will be chosen as the next leader of the local Karate school. Of course, Evil Guy brings along some thugs to settle the question and solidify his position. Good Guy, for some reason, brings along his little girl.Anyways, Good Guy is irreparably crippled, and slinks off to New York City . . . or, to Los Angeles. (The film shows New York; but, later someone says he went to L.A. Gotta love these films!) Father beats his hatred and desire for vengeance into Little Girl, who turns into a stunningly beautiful Etsuko Shihomi, who is credited here as SUE SHIOMI. IMDb doesn't show this listing for her, though. SONNY CHIBA shows up as a member of Evil Guy's academy, who might have his own reasons for revenge against Evil Guy. Do you think nice-looking Chiba and pretty Shiomi will pull together and fight Evil Guy? Do you "wax off" after waxing on? (R.I.P. Mr. Miagi) I agree that the camera work is quite shaky, and certainly detracts from the fight scenes. Also, there are no "foosh-foosh; fuh-pish, fuh-pish" arm and leg movements like one finds in traditional Chinese Kung Fu. So, that is a difference. However, there are some camera angles and shots that are interesting and nuanced. The editing stinks, thus making some parts incomprehensible.The story is a carbon copy of so many other martial arts films: Girl sets out to avenge her father's disgrace, meets a guy with "a past" who allies with her, and all the Goodies and Baddies meet up for a final battle. If only they had kept it simple: There's something about a Karate tournament at Evil Guy's academy . . . a storyline which is set up in detail and, then, mysteriously goes nowhere, even though Evil Guy goes to great lengths (like, the island Cuba) in order to assassinate his competition. It's almost as if the directors decided, "Let's be done with this!," and threw out the more involved story about the tournament, opting instead to throw in the easier solution of a final "duel" between Chiba/Shiomi and Evil Guy and his thugs.Not the greatest Karate film ever made; but, higher marks for promise.

kattcb Sonny was the next best thing out there besides Bruce. i've seen this movie back in the 80's, and i loved it. sonny is in the movie enough to make an impact. but the problem is when it came out, it was called Dragon Princess, but when you try to find it, it keeps coming up Dragon Princess but it is actually showing you Sister Street Fighter. this makes it very difficult to find to purchase. etsuko style is sooooo sonny's style. it's sad as her father trains her to take revenge on his life because he knows that he will be killed because of who he is. yes, he is very strick and hard on his daughter, but very protective of her also. a very brutal man you would think the way he is training her, but she loves him. everything that she do in her young life is in preparation for her ultimate challenge in life, her father's revenge.