Just Another Pandora's Box
Just Another Pandora's Box, also known as Once Upon a Chinese Classic, is a 2010 Hong Kong parody film directed by Jeffrey Lau, starring Ronald Cheng, Gigi Leung, Betty Sun, Eric Tsang, Huang Bo, Guo Degang, Gillian Chung, and Patrick Tam. It is a spiritual successor to Lau's two-part 1995 film A Chinese Odyssey. Athena Chu, who starred in A Chinese Odyssey, makes a guest appearance in Just Another Pandora's Box.
| Just Another Pandora's Box | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Film poster | |||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 越光寶盒 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 越光宝盒 | ||||||||||
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| Directed by | Jeffrey Lau | ||||||||||
| Written by | Jeffrey Lau | ||||||||||
| Produced by | Julia Chu Xu Jianping Jessica Kam-Engle Li Li Liao Qianshan Yang Yang | ||||||||||
| Starring | Ronald Cheng Gigi Leung Betty Sun Athena Chu Eric Tsang Huang Bo Guo Degang Gillian Chung Patrick Tam Wu Jing | ||||||||||
| Cinematography | Edmond Fung | ||||||||||
| Edited by | Marco Mak | ||||||||||
| Music by | Mark Lui | ||||||||||
Production companies | Beijing Bona Cultural Exchange Co., Ltd., Beijing Galloping Horse Film & TV Production, Pearl River Film Co., Ltd., Beijing Galloping Horse Film Co., Ltd. | ||||||||||
| Distributed by | Mei Ah Entertainment | ||||||||||
Release date |
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Running time | 92 minutes | ||||||||||
| Country | Hong Kong | ||||||||||
| Language | Cantonese | ||||||||||
The film's Chinese title is a pun on the Chinese title of the first part of A Chinese Odyssey, Yuè Guāng Bǎo Hé (月光寶盒). The last three characters of each title are the same, only the first differs; the pronunciations of 月 and 越 are the same in both Cantonese (jyut6) and Mandarin (yuè). The older title translates literally to "Moonlight Treasure Box"; in the title of this film, the character for "moon" is replaced by 越, in this context meaning "more" or "surpassing".
In addition to A Chinese Odyssey, the film spoofs Red Cliff and also makes references to other films such as The Eagle Shooting Heroes, Kung Fu Hustle, House of Flying Daggers, CJ7, Kung Fu Panda, Titanic, King Kong, The Green Hornet, and The Matrix, as well as events such as the 2008 Summer Olympics.[1]
Plot
Rose Fairy is sailing along the river when she suddenly trips on a rope and falls into the water. The trap is set by the bandit Qingyise, who wants to rob her. He steals the Purple Sword from her and plans to sell it. Just then, Joker (the protagonist in A Chinese Odyssey) appears and makes Qingyise unsheathe the sword by pulling away its scabbard. Rose Fairy regains consciousness and mistakenly thinks it was Qingyise who unsheathed the sword. Since she has made a promise to marry the person who unsheathes the sword, she follows Qingyise wherever he goes, leading to a cat-and-mouse chase between the two of them.
Qingyise and Rose Fairy run into Grandpa Buddha and his assistant, who are chasing Bull King for the Pandora's Box. By accident, Qingyise recites "Prajñāpāramitā" and activates the box, causing him to be transported back in time to the Eastern Han dynasty. He finds himself as Zhao Yun at the Battle of Changban, where he is supposed to save Liu Bei's infant son. While the rescue mission turns out to be successful, Qingyise unwittingly brings Liu Bei's son straight into the enemy camp, right before Cao Cao, who confiscates the Pandora's Box and sends him away. Unable to return to his own time, Qingyise is forced to cooperate with Rose Fairy, who has infiltrated Liu Bei's camp in disguise as an ambassador from Turkestan. The two of them make their escape in the midst of the Battle of Red Cliffs.
Cast
The opening sequence of the film states that Jackie Chan, Stephen Chow, Jet Li, Chow Yun-fat, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi and Angelina Jolie refused to be in this movie.
Main cast
| Actor / actress | Character(s) | Spoof of |
|---|---|---|
| Ronald Cheng | Qingyise / Zhao Yun / Zhang Ziyi's transvestite | Red Cliff, A Chinese Odyssey, Titanic |
| Betty Sun | Rose Fairy | A Chinese Odyssey, Titanic |
| Huang Bo | Zhou Yu | Red Cliff |
| Huang Yi | Xiao Qiao | Red Cliff |
| Yuen Biao | Liu Bei | Red Cliff |
| Alex Fong | Guan Yu | Red Cliff |
| Louis Fan | Zhang Fei | Red Cliff |
| Guo Degang | Cao Cao | Red Cliff |
| Eric Tsang | Zhuge Liang | Red Cliff |
| Jeffrey Lau | Grandpa Buddha | A Chinese Odyssey |
Special appearances
| Actor / actress | Character(s) | Spoof of |
|---|---|---|
| Gillian Chung | Sun Shangxiang | Red Cliff |
| Athena Chu | Zixia | A Chinese Odyssey |
| Gigi Leung | Ambassador of Turkestan | |
| Stephy Tang | Painted Skin / Ambassador's sister | Painted Skin |
| Ada Choi | Princess Iron Fan | A Chinese Odyssey, King Kong |
| Sandra Ng | Cook | |
| Kenny Bee | Soldier holding Olympic torch | House of Flying Daggers, 2008 Summer Olympics |
| Bruce Leung | Beast | Kung Fu Hustle |
| Yuen Wah | Landlord | Kung Fu Hustle |
| Yuen Qiu | Landlady | Kung Fu Hustle |
| Yu Rongguang | Gan Xing | Red Cliff |
| Johnnie Kong | Blindy | A Chinese Odyssey |
| Tin Kai-Man | Soldier in forest | House of Flying Daggers |
| Lam Chi-chung | Sunset Warrior | A Chinese Odyssey |
| Lee Kin-yan | Flower Girl / Pork Chop | A Chinese Odyssey |
| Guo Tao | Hua Tuo | Red Cliff |
| Sha Yi | General Qi Yan | Red Cliff |
| Wang Xuebing | Bull King | A Chinese Odyssey, King Kong |
| Xu Jiao | Dicky | CJ7 |
Other cast
| Actor / actress | Character(s) | Spoof of |
|---|---|---|
| Yuen Cheung-yan | Beggar | Kung Fu Hustle |
| Lee Lik-chi | Joker | A Chinese Odyssey, The Green Hornet |
| Wu Jing | Zhao Yun's subordinate | |
| Edmond Leung | Wu soldier | |
| Marco Ngai | Wu soldier | |
| Ken Wong | Lu Su | Red Cliff |
| Yu Bin | Injured soldier | |
| Xu Wanqiu | Nurse | |
| Marco Mak | Xiahou Dun | Red Cliff |
| Patrick Tam | Xiahou Yuan | Red Cliff |
| The Flowers | Cao Cao's soldiers | |
| Corey Yuen | Cao Cao's general | |
| Lam Suet | O Sim | Osim massage chair |
| Xing Yu | Wu soldier | |
| Chiu Chi-ling | Wu soldier | |
| Tats Lau | The Boy | Kung Fu Hustle, CJ7, Kung Fu Panda |
| Wong Cho-lam | Cao Cao's soldier | |
| Chen Kaishi | Big Mouth Jenny | Kung Fu Hustle |
| Li Yixiao | Lady Mi | Red Cliff |
| Zhang Li | Liu Bei's wife | |
| Ai Mengmeng | Liu Bei's wife | |
| Li Na | Liu Bei's wife | |
| Michael Tong | Wu general | |
| Lin Wai-kin | Cao Cao's official | |
| Tse Kwan-ho | Agent Smith | The Matrix |
| Yu Qian | Sign language performer | |
| Ken Jonk | Cao Cao's soldier | |
| Charmaine Fong | Cao Cao's soldier | |
References
- "Film Business Asia: Just Another Pandora's Box". Film Business Asia. 15 March 2010. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
- "'Once Upon a Chinese Classic' launches official website". Xinhua. 2 December 2009. Retrieved 10 December 2009.