Princess Iron Fan (1966)

Sun Wukong and the gang continue on their journey to the west, finding their way is blocked by a region of fire. In order to clear the way they need a magical fan kept by the aptly named Princess Iron Fan, but the princess has a grudge against the Monkey King and is not willingly going to lend it to them.

PRINCESS IRON FAN continues the story that began in Monkey Goes West, with the film covering two essentially separate "episodes". The encounter with Princess Iron Fan (Pat Ting Hung) takes up the first half, whilst in the second half the obstacle is a pair of monstrous sisters (Cheng Pei-Pei and Lily Ho) who want to eat Tripitaka's flesh, and trick him into sending Wukong away so that he can't prevent them doing so.

This sequel isn't quite as much fun as the first film, but but Yueh Hua is still a great Monkey King and there's lots of cute babes around. The visuals are sumptuous and the special effects are creative, and quite impressive for the time. Whilst it is definitely not a musical there are a few musical numbers, and the influence of Chinese opera is apparent in the aesthetic and the action.

Everything is a bit... mild, perhaps, but I like the fact that all these deities are represented as being quite immature and a bit useless.