dafrosts I watched this in the original Cantonese and loved it. My subtitles were way off the mark so I turned them off. Lau Kar Leung is a living legend and proved in this film he could still hold his own at 67yo. Seeing Gordon and Wing in the film strutting their stuff made me homesick for other Shaw Brothers productions. It was great to see Chi Kuan Chun take another turn at playing the baddie. He is very good at being good but oh so much fun to watch as the villain. He has kept in very fine shape over the years. He proves it in a few scenes. The plot is reminiscent of old SB films, the righteous securities owner screwed over by associates, is left for dead, while the associates take control of the business. Ma Biao - referred to as Man Bill in subtitles - heals from his wounds while teaching Drunken Monkey Kung Fu to Siu-Ma, the young woman who rescued him. He later get two more students, Tak & Chan. Mischief makers who finally rise to call to help Ma Biao exact revenge upon those who had betrayed him.Seeing anyone go against Leung, Gordon and Chi Kuan Chun was difficult, because I know their capabilities. A couple of fight scenes try to hide the lack of fighting skills in the younger actors. They are no worse than a few I have seen in older flicks. When Lau Kar Leung steps into the final fray, you know it's going to be a great battle. He shows once more why he is Sifu to so many Wuxia I have come to admire over the years.The big fight with Chi Kuan Chun was unintentionally funny to me. This man is fierce. He knows his stuff frontwards and backwards. Yet, he's supposed to be taken out by these 3 students?I have no doubt Sifu could have taken Chi Kuan Chun out on his own. However, this movie was more to showcase the talents of the younger performers while reminding us the elders still have vibrancy and fight in them.

wanderingviet After looking at the 5.9 average rating for this movie I gave it a try. Good grief! After ten minutes, I told myself I'll give it another ten minutes or so. I couldn't take it after around 25 minutes. Believe me when I say I love movies and I like all sorts. I don't watch TV - I only watch movies on DVD. There have been very few movies that I simply could not justify wasting my time watching the rest of it. As a matter of fact, I couldn't name one now if you asked me. I admit that by not finishing the movie, I don't have much of a leg to stand on. But I wanted to warn those after me to not waste their time. The acting and story is simply horrible. At first I thought it might be a comedy - they were exaggerating the acting on purpose. My conclusion was that they were serious and that was when I took the DVD out.

Kane Anderson As a big fan of Lau Kar-Leung, Gordon Liu, and Wu Jing I absolutely loved this movie. Wu Jing will be a face to watch out for in future action movies and it's good to see the old timers still going at it.The story is a standard Kung Fu tale with signature dumb Asian comedy thrown in. In all actuality I could go without the silliness but it doesn't degrade the movie at all. The title may lead some to believe that this film will have many drunken fights in it but this movie focuses more on the monkey style without so much drunkenness thrown in. Drunken Monkey really feels like the old Kung-Fu films of the 70's and 80's and that's a welcome surprise. The last action scene of the movie (that last like 30 minutes) is simply amazing and this movie is worth seeing for it alone, although the movie as a whole is great too.Overall this is a very enjoyable Kung Fu film with some old and new faces throughout. I'm glad they're still making old-style martial arts films.

sarastro7 After watching Drunken Monkey the first time, I wasn't all that impressed, and rated the movie a 6.But in hindsight, I have to say the action was really good, the kung fu was superb, and the story almost epic - not so much in its content, but in the way it was presented. The movie looked really good in a graphic and cinematic sense, and many scenes are quite memorable. While the plot structure and most of the characterization weren't fantastic, the comedy was after all fairly effective most of the time, and the movie also managed to maintain the serious story quite well.I have now amended my rating of Drunken Monkey from 6 to 7 - if it wasn't for some very silly things (like, why is the "young uncle" suddenly considered head of the family??), it could have gone as high as 8 (edit: which in fact it now has). The production values were consistently great.Edit (may 10, '05): Having seen the movie again, I am now up to an 8 rating. Man, these guys take kung fu seriously! The silly things no longer strike me as all that sillly, and I'm growing much more fond of the characters. What a crime that the fabulous Jacky Wu has only done three movies. All three are great; the two others (Tai Chi Boxer from '96 and Legend of Zu from '01) have both earned a 9 rating from me.