Reviewed by: Gaijin84 Date: 10/14/2022 Summary: Donnie's first starring role with the awesome Yuen Clan... A showcase for a young Donnie Yen, Drunken Tai Chi is a top notch kung fu comedy from the Yuen Clan. Donnie plays Ching Do, a young, brash oldest son of a small family. His brother, Yu Ping (Yuen Yat-Choh) takes the majority of the abuse from his father and does all the work for their business while Ching Do generally plays about town and messes with bullies from rival families. A prank turns a powerful town leader’s son into a drooling mess and leads the father (Don Wong Tao) to hire an assassin to eliminate Do’s family. Although Ching Do escapes, both his father and brother are killed. He hides out with a local puppeteer (Yuen Cheung-Yan) who teaches him tai chi in exchange for working around the house. When he’s skilled enough, he takes on the assassin (Yuen Shun-Yi). Drunken Tai Chi is very much in the vein of Miracle Fighters and Shaolin Drunkard in that it combines quality and inventive kung fu choreography with slapstick comedy. There isn’t much “drunken” style of tai chi, it is more of a reference to Cheung-Yan’s character constantly drinking. However, the fights are absolutely great and Donnie Yen is superb in all scenes. Even the opening credits form is worth watching multiple times. This must have been a revelation for Yuen Wo-Ping to witness what he could do and the level he had achieved at the age of 21. It is no wonder they collaborated on another 7 films over the next decade. You also get to see Donnie popping and locking during a funny skit in which he plays a puppet. His final fight with the assassin “KIller Bird” (Yuen Shun-Yi), who is basically the killer from Dreadnought, is fantastic as well. Don’t miss this one, especially if you can find the original Cantonese with English subs. Well worth the search. 8.5/10 Reviewer Score: 9

Reviewed by: Beat TG Date: 03/04/2010 Summary: Very goofy but very entertaining I really enjoyed this one. The humor, the characters, the silliness (it goes too far at times but I'm fine with that), the pacing, the simple message; gotta love that. I have to admit that I normally don't enjoy Yuen Woo Ping's movies (even some of the comic ones) as much as I hope I would but DRUNKEN TAI CHI really stood out for me for many reasons. I feel there's something that he didn't quite grasp in most of his movies but he gets right few times in other movies. Despite the goofy and slap-sticky tone (I've seen worse than this though, even from Woo Ping himself), things here were more appreciating and there were many occasions where I was laughing and enjoying the jokes and situations. Yuen Woo Ping isn't flawless, of course, but he knows his comedy (it's up to the viewers to decide if the humor is good or bad). This, MISMATCHED COUPLES and TIGER CAGE II (all with Donnie Yen in them). They are something that defines his style and himself as a person. Most of the fights here are quite basic as they don't stretch to anything imaginative like so many other old kung fu pieces from the past (this movie was one of the last movies that were made before the genre met its' end which might explain this) though they are highly fun to watch as we get to see Donnie unleash old school style of kung fu. But the most interesting aspect of the action is the fact that the style of action centers on the tai chi style. Woo Ping and his crew did a marvelous job making the tai chi look practical, convincing, powerful, and philosophical through the various training and dialogue scenes, and it doesn't better when Donnie Yen is the star of the movie (the way he adapts to any style on film makes him exceptional to arguably everyone in the Hong Kong film industry). The impact of these little touches are unmatched and, honestly, I haven't seen anything that comes close to the movie when it comes to that aspect (Woo Ping's THE TAI CHI MASTER could've been an equal if it weren't for the hideous wirework and undercranking). Reviewer Score: 7

Reviewed by: Frank Lakatos Date: 03/27/2006 Summary: Excellent Yuen brothers movie This is the last old school/gimmicky Yuen movie and it is second best to Dreadnaught(1982) thanks to the use of Yuen Cheung Yan, who plays a maniac again. I don't like Donnie Yen as an actor, but he really gives a great performance in this movie, which matches the quality of the production, and Yen's action scenes are phenomenal as always. Great fight scenes and acting. The English dubb is excellent, and cheaply available on DVD. 4/5

Reviewed by: mrblue Date: 09/25/2003 Donnie Yen's first film role. The film is similar to Yuen Woo-Ping's Drunken Master, in that Yen plays a ne'er-do-well who turns serious and stars learning martial arts from a crazy old master after he gets his ass beat. Most of the film has a really silly vibe going through it -- Yuen plays a puppeteer who uses his puppets to beat up on people and Donnie loses a fight early in the movie to a fat woman. And even though the film is supposed to take place a couple of hundred years ago, modern BMX bikes can be seen and one scene has Yen breakdancing. However, the martial arts sequences are done well and make the film worth watching at least once for fans of the genre.

Reviewed by: Inner Strength Date: 04/30/2002 Summary: Average Though usually I favour these comedy kung fu films, this one is not so good. Unlike most of the ones made in the 70’s, this one concentrates a lot more on jokes instead of a story, let alone Kung Fu! Unfortunately though, most of the jokes are stupid and ruins the film. You can expect the usual ‘fat jokes’ involving Lydia Shum as usual too. Still it’s not too bad if you’re in the mood for watching mindless fun (like a mixture between Magnificent Butcher and the Lucky Stars!). Perhaps the most weird scenes of the film (and very stupid) is Donnie Yen doing the ‘Electronic Boogaloo’ (if you know your hip hop you will know what I mean!!) Not sure how easily this one is available these days though, but if you do find it, it's worth checking out I guess. Rating: [2.5/5]

Reviewed by: MrBooth Date: 05/27/2001 Summary: Semi-old school, most enjoyable DRUNKEN TAI CHI - I like the film - it has a really nice explanation of the principles of Tai Chi, and some interesting Yuen clan action sequences that are a curious blend of old school choreography with wires & gimmicks & some nasty speed up. Donnie Yen has never looked more like a chipmunk than he does in his debut either, which may or may not be considered a selling point, depending on taste :-)

Reviewed by: hellboy Date: 09/10/2000 Summary: get drunk and watch it! This movie skips back and forth from serious to comedic at an exhausting frenetic pace but DTC is never tiring. It's a period piece but you would never guess that from all the BMX freestyling and breakdancing going on in the film. It's great! A lot of fancy moves from Donnie Yen which really show us his true acrobatic skill. I watched the dubbed version and I lot of the comedy came from the translation itself. "Goddamn" and "bastard" appear in DTC with more frequency than usual for a dubbed old school kung fu film. 8/10 Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: hokazak Date: 12/09/1999 Funny "Yuen Clan" period piece comedy in the tradition of the original "Drunken Master" (also directed by Yuen Woo Ping). This is the film that launched the career of American-born Chinese martial artist Donnie Yen - one of the best in the business, in my opinion! Yen had been training in Wu Shu in Beijing (with the same group that Jet Li trained in) and on his way back stateside he auditioned with Yuen Woo Ping, and history was made... This film has all sorts of amusing gags and outrageous stunts...

Reviewed by: hkcinema Date: 12/08/1999 Great Yuen Woo-Ping kung fu film of the early 80s, fast-paced andcomedic. It's also undoubtedly one of Donnie Yen's best films. There is a particularly memorable "breakdancing" scene and the Taiji is pretty good, at least by cinema standards. One memorable scene, of many: the deranged, spoilt son sticks a sword in his father's neck, and his father's last words are: "You're not allowed to skip school any more!" [Reviewed by Iain Sinclair]