Magic to Win

开心魔法

Hong Kong/China, 2011, colour, 2.35:1, 100 mins.

Director: Ye Weixin 叶伟信 [Wilson Yip].

Rating: 3/10.

Lame college fantasy involving a girls’ volleyball team and battling “magicians”.

STORY

Hong Kong, the present day. At Pegasus University, Cheng Meisi (Wu Qianyu) is the leader of the hopeless girls’ volleyball team. After being trounced in a match against Dong Shan University, college head Gao (Liu Zhaoming) warns trainer Liu Lihua (Yan Ni), who is up for the job of deputy head, that the girls must not lose again. Meanwhile, a Fire Magician called Bi Yewu (Wu Jing) is attempting to harness the powers of the four other elements for his own purposes, and first celestially imprisons Wood Magician Gu Xinyue (Gu Tianle), an alcoholic novelist, followed by Ling Feng (Wu Zun), a young Earth Magician. When Cheng Meisi accidentally bumps into college professor Kang Sengui (Huang Baiming), who is also a Water Magician, she inherits his magical powers and leads her team to victory in a subsequent match against Dong Shan. She is also the only one who can still see Ling Feng, who’s been rendered invisible. Meanwhile, Bi Yewu continues his quest for the power of the other two elements, water and metal.

REVIEW

Trailed as a re-tread of the Happy Ghost 开心鬼 series that Hong Kong comedian Huang Baiming 黄百鸣 [Raymond Wong] produced and starred in during 1984-91, Magic to Win 开心魔法 actually has little in common with them, apart from its school setting, the mixture of the everyday and supernatural (but here magician-sorcerers, not ghosts) and one sequence in which an invisible magician keeps sabotaging a fat athlete’s attempts to win. Lazily directed by Ye Weixin 叶伟信 [Wilson Yip] (Ip Man 叶问, 2008; A Chinese Ghost Story 倩女幽魂, 2011) as if he was chained to the camera and had better things to do with his weekend, it’s a lame shot at a youth comedy attempting to appeal to both the China and Hong Kong markets with its mixed cast, and seems a strangely local title for China Lion to push into international distribution.

The five Happy Ghost films, very much of their time and very Hong Kong in their humour, were mostly notable for launching the career of Gao Zhisen 高志森 [Clifton Ko] as a hit comedy director – with him directing three and Du Qifeng 杜琪峰 [Johnnie To] one of the remainder – as well as introducing a series of scantily clad cuties (like Li Lizhen 李丽珍 [Loletta Lee] and Yuan Jieying 袁洁莹 [Fennie Yuen]) in each movie. On the cutie side, Magic to Win has a bevy of young models/starlets in supporting roles, East Asian girl group i Me as their foxier sports opponents, and 17-year-old newcomer Wu Qianyu 吴千语 as the female lead who gets caught up in a battle between magicians representing the Five Elements.

Anchoring the movie between the girls’ teasy volleyball matches, there’s Gu Tianle 古天乐 [Louis Koo] coasting in a guest role as an alcoholic magician-cum-novelist, Mainland martial artist Wu Jing 吴京 okay as a low-key villain, his compatriot Yan Ni 闫妮  clocking in as the girls’ trainer, Brunei-born Taiwan boybander Wu Zun 吴尊 looking lost as the putative romantic lead, and Huang himself in a weird wig and glasses as a professor-cum-magician. With no comic rhythm to the direction, Magic strolls episodically along, with one after another sequence of power-palming and a so-what final plot revelation. Wu shows some signs of a distinctive personality that could lead to a career. For the rest, it’s a wonder anyone thought the film was worth making.

CREDITS

Presented by Pegasus Motion Pictures (HK), Shanghai Ex-Media (CN), Huayi Brothers Media (CN). Produced by Pegasus Motion Pictures (HK), Tin Tin Film Production (HK).

Script: Huang Zihuan [Edmond Wong], Chen Dali. Photography: Zhang Wenbao. Editing: Zhang Jiahui [Cheung Ka-fai]. Music: Zhao Zengxi [Chiu Tsang-hei], Zhang Renjie. Art direction: Wang Huiyin. Costumes: Huang Jiabao [Stephanie Wong]. Stylist: Yu Jia’an [Bruce Yu]. Sound: Li Yaoqiang, Zeng Jingxiang [Kinson Tsang]. Action: Huang Weiliang [Jack Wong]. Visual effects: Digital Studio 2L. Animation: Huang Zhiheng [Henri Wong].

Cast: Huang Baiming [Raymond Wong] (Kang Sengui, professor, Water Magician), Wu Zun (Ling Feng, Earth Magician), Wu Jing (Bi Yewu, Fire Magician), Yan Ni (Liu Lihua, volleyball trainer), Wu Qianyu (Cheng Meisi/Macy), Gu Tianle [Louis Koo] (Gu Xinyue, Wood Magician), Song Ming (Charlie, Metal Magician), i Me (Dong Shan volleyball team), Gu Dezhao [Vincent Kok] (Dong Shan trainer), Bao Qijing [Paw Hee-ching] (cleaner), Tan Li’na (Cheng Meisi’s teammate), Chen Jiabao (Princess, Cheng Meisi’s teammate), Pan Jiening (Sharla, Cheng Meisi’s teammate), He Siyan (Xiaogao, Cheng Meisi’s teammate), Liu Zhaoming (Gao, university head), Li Manying (Bobo), Guo Shanheng (GaGa), Tan Kaiting (He Futing), Huang Zhiheng (Wang Zhijian), Xian Ziwen, Li Zhenlong (university students), Chen Dali (volleyball referee), Lin Junxi (Xiaowu), Li Lizhen [Loletta Lee], Ye Shirong.

Release: Hong Kong, 1 Dec 2011; China, 1 Dec 2011.

(Review originally published on Film Business Asia, 26 Dec 2011.)