The Lion Roars (DVD) (US Version) DVD Region All

OK, I thought, not entirely her fault as the material was about as drippy as Jacque Costeau's wetsuit. But then she didn't redeem herself in a slew of unmemorable roles: Tokyo Raiders, Legend of Speed, Para Para Sakura, Mighty Baby. In fact by this time she was starting to register dangerously close to Meg Ryan on the annoying-o-meter.

So you see folks, I had no intention to see The Lion Roars at all ,but as fate would have it, I did and the verdict is: ...not as bad as I expected! Perhaps the material was marginally (and I stress on the word "marginally") better than some of the watery mess that has been hitting our screens of late. The Lion Roars is the story of how a Soong dynasty poet, Seasonal Chan (Louis Koo), unwittingly manages to tame Moth Liu (Cecilia Cheung), a beautiful but feisty shrew who makes thumping her suitors to a bleeding pulp a hobby. Seeing as how Moth can't find a suitor who can withstand her fists - and it seems like she's the only one who adores Seasonal's lame poetry - the Emperor decrees them to be married. After the marriage Seasonal finds out the hard way just what a tough piece of work his wife really is.

If you already had a giggle at their names, then you're on your way there. The first half is a silly delight, sprinkled with lots of amusing jokes, mixing modern day and traditional pop culture to great effect - something HK films have always done really well. Glad to see the tradition still lives. Look out for the canto-poetry concert, Soong dynasty style!

The second half turns dramatic. The pivotal juncture arrives with a screech (literally) when Moth discovers that her husband had a one-night affair with the emperor's sister. Herein lies probably the biggest joke in the whole movie: Seasonal is seduced by the princess pretending to be a lost spirit who needs to couple with the poet in order to reincarnate. Huh? Yeah, either Seasonal Chan is stupid enough to believe it himself or he thinks his wife is dumb enough to buy that hogwash. Moth, painfully wounded and betrayed by her husband's infidelity, refuses to share her husband with the princess despite the orders of the emperor and opts instead to forget the whole damn thing by drinking the "Love Eraser" potion. (Bad relationship, nasty memories? No worries! Have a "Love Eraser" potion. Why isn't this product on the market?!) Will Seasonal be able to win his wife back now that she has no memory of his existence?

To Joe Ma's (Funeral March, Love Undercover) credit, The Lion Roars harks back to the good old days of HK comedy genre: simple, entertaining, and with the right does of silliness. Again to Joe Ma's credit, he manages to extract good performances from the whole cast and keeps the whole affair from going belly flop from too many ideas and subplots. This is easier said than done as many recent HK flicks have suffered this fate, most notably Mighty Baby.

Far from smart or challenging, The Lion Roars revels in its silly "leave brain at door" sentiment and at least provides you with an amusing 1.5 hours to pass the time. This lion certainly doesn't roar but it doesn't whimper either; it gives a friendly snarl and goes into my list of HK films this year that just managed to weigh in on the positive scale.

7 "love eraser" potions out of 10

by Ching Yee - heroic-cinema.com