Robin-B-Hood

2006 "This September! Crawl Baby crawl!"
6.6| 2h16m| en
Details

For never-do-well compulsive gambler Fong, there's only one thing more fearsome than debtors at his doorstep - having to coax a crying baby. But what if the baby becomes his golden goose to fend off his debtors? Can he overcome his phobia of diapers, milk bottles, and cloying lullabies?

Director

Producted By

China Film Co-Production Corp.

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Reviews

Evengyny Thanks for the memories!
Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film
Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
OllieSuave-007 This action comedy flick starring Jackie Chan and Louis Koo as burglars Thongs and Octopus, whose job is to kidnap a baby. Later on, the baby develops strong paternal feelings to the two crooks, leading them to play the role of father.There are plenty of good-old-fashion Jackie Chan action and slapstick humor. While the story has an intriguing concept, it is overloaded with multiple subplots, which dragged the film at times. The "protecting the baby from the triads" storyline is quite appealing, however, and it does create some suspense. There is also a little good mixture of drama, especially the touching scenes involving Thongs' father (Feng Ku). The acting was also OK, but I thought Chan and Koo playing the two father figures together was a bit odd.There is a large cast of characters in the movie, but it was especially nice to see comic veteran Michael Hui return to film, as well as martial artist Yuen Biao.Overall, it is an average action comedy flick - not too bad.Grade C+
Shawn McKenna I did not enjoy the previous effort of a Benny Chan directed Jackie Chan film in "New Police Story" that I was definitely worried about a "Three Men and a Baby" inspired effort. The result was mixed, but going in with low expectations I was pleasantly surprised. "Rob-B-Hood" (US release name is a bizarre name change to "Robin-B-Hood" though in this movie there is no stealing from the rich to give to the poor; neither title is very good) is the third film in the collaboration between Benny Chan and Jackie Chan and Benny's first attempt at a comedic action film. While this film was successful in Asia it was not theatrically released in North America and most of Europe.Jackie Chan and Louis Koo Tin-Lok star as mediocre bad guys Thongs and Octopus. Jackie Chan tired of stereotypical nice guy roles wanted to play a criminal, though his character Thongs is a burglar and compulsive gambler, the "good guy" nature of his character comes through quite clearly and his performance does not veer far from most of Jackie's previous personae. This role is a good step in broadening his experience as an actor. Octopus is a married womanizer who works with Thongs. He married very young to Pak Yin (the terminally cute Charlene Choi) and is doing his best to woo wealthy young women while avoiding his wife. Thongs and Octopus both work under the guidance of the Landlord (Michael Hui) a conservative criminal who hoards his theft while the other two spend their "earnings".The Landlord has had his loot stolen by another criminal (he suspects everyone after this) so he allows himself to get contracted to a nefarious case to kidnap a baby for seven million dollars and give the infant to the possible grandfather to test if the baby is his sons (the son is dead and currently frozen in a very expensive decorated freezer). Thongs and Octopus both need the money so they acquiesce and help the Landlord with the felony. Of course, Thongs and Octopus, through a partially botched kidnapping attempt, are forced to take care of the cute defecating infant until they can reestablish getting the kid to who hired them. And, of course, they get attached to the baby (I cannot believe the baby got nominated for Hong Kong Film Award's Best New Performer category).Some of the negatives of this film include the ill-defined female characters (it seems they would have been better characterization in the original three-hour workprint, but that meant a whole lot more exposition); especially Gao Yuan-Yuan's Melody character who I had trouble figuring out what her relationship with Thongs was the first time I watched this. Some of the baby poop jokes were overdone as well as some of the infant's scenes in general (reportedly the child was an infant terrible on the set; delaying shooting and helping push the film over budget). There is only so much you can do with a babbling, spitting, crying child with flatulence. Yuen Biao's Inspector Steve Mok character is definitely underused (as well as Michael Hui), though at least he gets more than a cameo in this film. And then there is the horrible overuse of Pepsi advertising including one scene where Jackie slides down a pole revealing the largest Pepsi graffiti I have ever seen.I did end up liking this film though. There is a certain congenial innocence with the lead characters that works well in this comedic action hybrid. In most Jackie Chan movies there are little stunts that sometimes seem as throwaways but are quite dangerous and are done with Keatonesque ease. In this movie Jackie slides down a staircase column and props himself up with ease at the end. If he fell on the wrong side he could have been seriously injured, but since it is so effortlessly it seems so simple. Jackie Chan has used more wires in his stunts and it definitely shows in this film, but I do not fault him for it, since his body cannot handle the punishment like it used to. The stunt where he jumps from air conditioner to air conditioner to the bottom of the street is impressive (even if a wire was used) and his and Louis Koo's stunts in the amusement park owned by the grandfather (location was Ocean Park) were quite good. In fact Jackie was said to be impressed of Koo who was willing to do many of his own stunts in the movie.There could have been more fighting in this movie but there is a good scene in the apartment of Jackie between Jackie, Yuen Biao, Ken Lo and more. It is inspired by a similar scene in Project A (this is also mentioned in the Benny Chan commentary), but still pleasant. While there are many faults in this film and I think that many action purists will not like this film, I found much that was enjoyable from the comedy to the action and stunts. Now please Jackie no more movies with babies.
Erucolindo I think the best way to sum up this film is with the simple description: 'Raising Arizona' in Cantonese. What it lacks in Coen Brothers-esquire snappy dialogue (which it really doesn't lack that much; Jackie Chan again proving to be a talented writer), it makes up for with clever, funny set pieces that any other man over 50 would probably find quite hard to pull off. You've got to admire him for that, even if you don't like his films. But, I do. So, I admire him a lot. What we've got here is your basic 'Burglars-capture-baby-and-learn-to-love-him' with martial arts and stunts to put CGI animation to shame. Jackie Chan still has it. Let's just pray that he continues to have it for a good long while to come.To sum it up, I'd rather watch this film one hundred times than most of the drivel of the equivalent 'budget' that comes out of Hollywood. Adam Sandler, eat your heart out. You're not Jackie Chan.
Stskyshaker I really wanted to give it a positive rate as I really like Jackie Chen, but unfortunately, after watching it I can't, if being objective..The plot is weak, none of the characters are genuinely developed into real depth, and many of them just make you wonder where the heck is his/her place in the whole plot!?? The storyline is always being dragged and the fight scenes feel so redundant, I kept saying "please, please just use a gun to skip these!"I give Rob-B-Hood two more stars one for the lovely baby(he may be the most vivid character in this movie), one for the respectable dedication by Jackie(the overall failure should not be blamed on him). I'll be expecting Jackie Chen's next performance, and I'll also try to avoid the production from others in the crew..