Magic of Spell (1988)

Magic of Spell (1988)
Aka Child of Peach 2
Chinese Title: 桃太郎大顯神威
Translation: Momotaro’s Power

 

Starring: Lin Hsiao-Lan, Chen Shan, Yeung Hung
Director: Chiu Chung-Hing
Action Director: Chiu Chung-Hing

 

Magic of Spell is the second in a trilogy of Taiwanese fantasy films based on the Japanese folk tale of Momotaro, or the Peach Boy. According to the story, an old, childless couple receive a giant peach that was sent from Heaven. While opening the peach, a little boy is discovered inside who declares himself to be their new son. The boy is named Momotaro, or “Peach Taro” (Taro being a common boy’s name), and he’s raised by the old couple. Meanwhile, the region is being terrorized by an army of oni, or demons. So Peach Boy teams up with a trio of talking animals—a monkey, a dog and a pheasant—and invades the demon fort. He defeats them, brings back their plundered treasure, and lives happily ever after with his family. I personally find it odd that the Taiwanese would mine Japanese folklore for their bizarre fantasy excursions, but I can only assume that the story had shown up in Taiwan in the form of manga or anime and were popular with younger audiences who lacked the WW2-era anti-Japanese baggage that older Taiwanese people would have no doubt had.

This story continues the adventures of Peach Boy (played by actress Lin Hsiao-Lan of Heroic Fight and Kung Fu Wonder Child) and his animal comrades. There’s an evil old man named Elder (Chen Shan?) who wants his youth and power restored. For the record, the old, wrinkly mask the actor wears is simultaneously goofy and creepy. So he sends his faux-Taoist sorcerer son to procure the ingredients necessary to make a youth-restoring bath. Said ingredients include the blood of virgin boys, and the flesh/pulp of the 1,000-year-old Ginseng King (played by a kid dressed as root), or the flesh of Peach Boy. The sorcerer tries to get Peach Boy, but only succeeds in killing his mother instead. The sorcerer and his cohorts—a white lady ghost (apparently played by a man), a gill man, and a strong guy carrying a boulder—then try to kidnap the Ginseng King. It flees and finds protection with Peach Boy. Peach Boy and his friends, Dog Boy, Chicken Boy (played by an adolescent girl) and Monkey Boy, invade the Elder’s palace and lots of magic and fighting ensues.

One of the weird things about Asian movies is how violent they are, even when the target audience is obviously children. Early on, the Elder’s army of samurai ghosts are kidnapping children to use their blood for the youth-restoring ritual. The mothers try to plead with the soldiers for their children, but are mercilessly cut down onscreen by the bad guys. In an American movie, the plot would deal with the attempt to save the children before being exsanguinated, with them being rescued in the end by the heroes. No such luck for the poor souls in this movie. Exit children, stage left. That’s like if the witches in Hocus Pocus successfully drained all the children’s lifeforce at the end. Can you imagine how traumatizing that would be? And this film doesn’t even bat an eye at this horrible atrocity (which is portrayed offscreen, but heavily implied). Lots of people die on both sides, sometimes even gratuitously, which you’d never get in a children’s film made in this hemisphere. Try showing this in a theater today. Those hysterical mom’s organizations—those same people who wanted to ban sweatshirts with snowmen imprinted on them because they thought it was some secret cocaine lingo—would have their heads explode after having a heart attack.

Fans of the supernatural and outright bizarre will find a lot to enjoy here. You have laser-shooting Buddha statues, a bazooka-wielding fish man, gender-bending on an epic scale, an evil albino ghost who almost literally screws the life out of one of the good guys, bathing in blood, ginseng-powered kung fu, a giant boulder monster, a Pheasant Boy (played by a girl) whose arm turns into a pheasant head which pecks the eyes out of its enemies, and all sorts of other crazy stuff. There’s a fair helping of kung fu, including some katana action from Lin Hsiao Lan, choreographed by the director himself, Chiu Chung-Hing, and his Stuntman Team. I looked up his credits on the HKMDB and he had done some assistant action director work on Yuen Woo-Ping’s Miracle Fighters. I think that particular experience inspired him to make this trilogy in Taiwan, since he choreographs the weirdness with similar verve to that seen in those Yuen Clan sorcery films. The fighting is frequently sped up and wired-up, but in the context of the film, it sort of works. We’ve definitely seen better—Yuen Woo-Ping and his brothers did a better job of balancing utter weirdness with some excellent fight choreography-- but there’s just so much going on, that either you get caught up in the strangeness, or dismiss the film outright.