The Owl Vs Dumbo

Director: Sammo Hung

Starring: Sammo Hung, George Lam, Deannie Yip, Michelle Yeoh, Season Ma, James Tien and Stanley Fung.

Plot: The Owl (George Lam) is a retired criminal, who is contacted by a mysterious ex-cop (Stanley Fung) who also contacts another retired criminal Dumbo (Sammo Hung). The police officer knows all about their past and has the evidence to send them to jail, instead he uses them to run two errands. The first being to help out at a youth probation centre and the second to expose the crimes of Au Gun (James Tien), a land developer.

Review: The plot is stupid, which makes this film all the more fun to watch, Sammo Hung blends together the comedy and action well. Sadly this has minimal action sequences, it plays more with comedy and even some drama, which is wonderfully preformed by Season Ma and Ronald Wong who both play troubled students.

The first scene is a bank robbery in the same vein as Aces Go Places which was released a year earlier, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s where Sammo got his inspiration from. The scene is funny and features a few decent reaction stunts by Sammo’s regular team.

The film stops dead about half way through to allow for a slickly choreographed dance scene involving Deannie Yip and Sammo Hung, complete with a tap dancing finale performed by Sammo. This shows that Sammo can put together an entertaining dance scene as well as choreography great looking fights.

Sammo leads the cast, he shows that he has great comic timing and even though he is an everyday man, he can fight seriously well. He seems to easily cope with the multiple jobs of directing, starring, action directing and even singing the theme song.
George Lam will also bring a smile to the viewers face, his character is far more intelligent than Sammo’s, and he can fight too, though the actor is heavily doubled.

It was weird seeing Michelle Yeoh is a non-action role, I’m so use to seeing her kicking butt it didn’t feel right watching her being abused by the students. This was her first starring film in Hong Kong, before she had been discovered as an action star. The assistant action director on this film, Lam Ching Ying, would later train Michelle to become the deadly screen fighter she is. Deannie Yip and Season Ma are both capable actresses and they get a lengthy amount of screen time to prove this. James Tein is in a typical bad guy role and Stanley Fung is also his usual boring self.

The violent final reel showdown features a gripping fight between Sammo Hung and Dick Wei, in which the villain is wiped out in a brutal manner. Dick Wei is already flying through the air from a knock he took and at the same time he is receiving a kick to the head by Sammo which changes the direction of his fall. Though this is achieved with multiple angles, editing and stunt doubles, it happens so fast that you almost think it was a single take.

There are plenty of guest appearances to look out for throughout including; Yuen Mao as the first security guard, Chin Kar Lok and Fung Lee as fighters, Teddy Yip as a waiter, Lee Chi Git, Billy Chan, San Kuai, Wellson Chin, Dick Wei and Tai Sei as heavies, Tai Bo and Fung King Man as triads, Charlie Cho as the bank manager, Ronald Wong as a student, Wu Ma as a café owner and Phillip Chan as a police officer. Behind the cameras were Lam Ching Ying and Yuen Wah as action directors and Arthur Wong was the cinematographer.

Overall this is a decent Sammo Hung film that has been sadly neglected, though its not his best work (not his worst either), this is still worthy of a viewing. Its often called “The Owl Vs Bumbo” or “The Owl Vs Bombo” due to the Disney character Dumbo. it’s a fun packed and entertaining ninety or so minutes.

Rating: 6.7 out of 10.0