In the previous post, I talked about the American movie industry remaking Asian cinemas. Today, I will talk about the opposite. That’s right, Asian directors remaking American movie. This move could be beneficial as in the case with the KDrama Fantasy Couple – a remake of the movie Overboard. I briefly talked about this drama in earlier post, but a recap is a rich woman loses her memory and is mislead to belief she actually lives in a poor household being the maid of the house. Hilarity ensues when she can’t do anything right but eventually get the hang of it. In the end, she grows to love her new lifestyle and friends (something missing in her previous lifestyle). Now another remake has been made called CJ7. The director is Stephen Chow who is most famous in the West for the movie Shaolin Soccer. CJ7 takes ideas from the classic ET by fame director Spielberg (to me that’s a remake no matter what anyone says). The story is also quite similiar. What I’m most interested in is the difference and hopefully, there will be many. Click below for the trailer.
I saw ET when I was little, but by then it was way past its phenominal years. Of course I didn’t quite understand English as I do now so I might’ve missed out on various jokes, etc. However, the magic it contains was still there. From my recollection, the movie was touching and funny. A story about friendship despite your appearance, origin, and freaky glowing finger-tips. I suppose the storyline matches my feeling at the time as I too was / is a foreigner. CJ7 is similiar to ET in storyline and not to mention in titles. The story for CJ7 is a widower, plays by Chow, is a poor man with little to spare. Eventhough he doesn’t have enough money to buy his son any toys, he still wants to try. At a nearby dumpster, he finds a green, partly furry “toy.” To his surprise, the toy turns out to be an actually alien and the alien family wants him back. However, that’s not to be the case before some fun are to be had.
Chow’s movie are a combination of slap-stick comedy and a touch of pity. Together it forms a Tragecomedy ( an actual term) where the story is funny but there are aspect that will makes you go, “This is so painful to my heart!” If anyone hasn’t seen Shaolin Soccer, I recommend you watch it first before this movie. You’ll get a feel of his movie this way, and because it’s a pretty good movie too. Though I have not seen CJ7 yet, I anticipates that it will follow the same direction as his other movies. The movie was released on January 30th, 2008 so it’s still pretty new. My little plot about the movie was taken from Wikipedia so don’t sue me if it wasn’t all right. Nontheless, I’m looking forward to this movie.
Thoughts on the Asian Stage 