Chandni Chowk to China
2009; directed by Nikhil Advani

A mash-up of a Bollywood musical and Hong Kong kung fu film, Chandni Chowk to China initially holds some promise, but ultimately suffers from a dearth of dopey comedy, far too many musical numbers, some extremely obvious wire and computer effects during the fights, and most blatantly: it's just way too damn long.

To begin this review, I must say that musicals are about my least favorite type of movie -- yes, even lower on the cinematic totem pole than the latest lame Kate Hudson romantic comedy. And, as I have only seen a handful of Bollywood pictures, I honestly don't know what designates a good movie from a bad one in the genre. But, even taking that into account. of course, I do know what I like and don't when it comes to films, and, in this reviewer's humble opinion, Chandni Chowk to China is simply not that enjoyable to watch, especially considering it runs over two and a half hours.

From beginning to end, Chandni Chowk to China just feels overstuffed. What should really be a simple story of a man from India who is mistaken as the descendant of a heroic Chinese warrior and heads off to defend a village is lummoxed up with just about every lame plot twist in the book, from separated identical twins to amnesiac fathers. When you throw in a musical number every ten minutes or so, it soon becomes very clear that this movie badly needed some more work in the editing room.

There is a bit of fun to be found with Chandni Chowk to China, mostly from Hong Kong veteran Gordon Liu's (36th Chamber of Shaolin) performance as the villain, and the eye candy brought forth by the absolutely gorgeous Deepika Padukone. But after 154 minutes of incessant mugging from the movie's star, Akshay Kumar, and far too many badly choreographed musical numbers featuring songs that bordered on the annoying, I was more than ready for the film to end. Die-hard Hong Kong movie fans might want to check out Chandni Chowk to China as an oddity, but be forewared that you'll need a comfortable chair and probably a handful of aspirin to get through it.

RATING: 4