Korean writer-director Kwak Jae-Yong with past trademark films like- “My Sassy Girl”, to “Cyborg Girl”, the trend of strong female leads (with weaker men) are evident. “My Mighty Princess” is a quirky and cute romantic comedy with enough martial arts wire-fu to keep your interest. The film seems to be influenced by other successful films of the genre (Crouching Tiger, The Stormriders, Shaolin Soccer for ex.), taking pieces from one film to the next, but still maintains its own identity however jigsaw as it may seem.
We begin with our heroine, a likeable seemingly normal college girl named, So Hui (Shin Min-a), and it so happens she falls for the cool hockey playing captain, motorcycle riding Junmo (Geon Yu). He doesn’t feel the same for her but his tastes are more mature women. Our baddie is the evil Heukbong whose sole wish is to take over the martial arts world by force by destroying every master. Sohwi’s father is defeated by Heukbong and Sohwi vows…revenge.
We are introduced to Ilyeoung, (On Ju-wan) who is a long friend of Sohwi and from the same ultra secret sect if you will of martial experts. The two are quite a pair
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together and a whole film can be made just with both of their back stories. In actuality, there are two movies to be had here and the film on the surface ends up being campy, at times flat.
Their screen presence also between them both is one of the rare special moments in the film, and I would’ve liked to have seen more of this. What started out in the film as clever and light hearted boils down to a combination of repeated gags, martial arts moves and slow, unmoving dialogue.
The humorous, warm moments the film has are few (especially when So Hui demonstrates her abilities in a play to the amazement of the audience) and though So Hui as a character is sweet and endearing, her character cannot save us from the poor plot. It is what it is and if you take it not very seriously, you will enjoy the cute factor of it.
**1/2
Weak: 1 Star Average: 2 Stars Good: 3 Stars Very Good: 4 Stars Excellent: 5 Stars