Let the fight for the crown begins! In Star Cinema’s Kung Fu Divas, Charlotte (Ai Ai de las Alas) is from a family of beauty queens, but she has yet to win a title of her own. Her final chance is the Hiyas ng Dalampasigan Pageant, and her mother has taken steps to make sure that she wins. But her chances are dashed when the mysterious Samantha (Marian Rivera) suddenly joins the contest. The two become bitter enemies following the contest, but they are soon forced by destiny to team up. It turns out the two have a hidden connection to a mystical past, and must work together to discover the truth about their heritage.
Being the co-producers of this film, I can see that Marian Rivera and Ai-Ai de las Alas gave their all. I didn’t have any problems on their portrayal. For me, they did a great job by being fully committed.
On the technical side, the cinematography is gorgeous with its choice of colors. It reminded me of Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles. I was searching for the film’s cinematographer online but I can’t seem to find his name. Whoever he is he deserves credit for doing an impressive job. For its visual effects, I must admit that it is certainly an improvement considering it was made here in the Philippines.
In the beginning of the film, there were some hilarious sequences like the desperate plan of Charlotte’s mother for her to win the pageant and the pageant itself. I like the satiric take on the clichés of being a beauty queen. The use of “Thank you for that very wonderful question…” even worked as a joke. It was a funny start. When it moves toward its Kung Fu adventure, it becomes less funny and went to the path of being corny. The only part that I enjoyed in this section is Samantha’s backstory of her hidden past. The rest of it didn’t work for me. For instance, I didn’t like the secret super powers of Samantha and Charlotte. Other flashbacks also dragged despite being essential for the story. The climactic fight scenes didn’t benefit from the CGI background. It just made it looked cartoony. It would have been better if they just did it practically. In fairness to the writers, they tried to add an unpredictable last minute twist in the end. Unfortunately, it didn’t contribute much to elevate an already corny film at this point. Too bad, it got potential at the start.
Verdict:
Is Kung Fu Divas a good film? Thank you for that very wonderful question! I believe that both Marian Rivera and Ai-Ai de las Alas did a great job and there were noticeable improvements in cinematography and effects but there was so much corniness that these aspects didn’t salvage it.
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About the movie reviewer:
Orange Magazine TV‘s newest film critic is a self-confessed movie geek. John Albert Villanueva loves movies so much, he watch every movies from the big screen and collects DVDs of classic movies. Read his other review here.
