Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen (1981)

Peter Ustinov should have stuck with playing Belgian detectives., 19 July 2006

I'm almost embarrassed to admit to having seen Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen in the theater during its original run. I hadn't seen it since and when I found the DVD on sale for less than the price of a rental, I decided to give it another chance. Big mistake! It's as bad as I remembered. I suppose that the movie was an attempt to cash-in the success of Murder by Death, another comedy featuring fictional but famous detectives as its central characters. By that's where the comparisons end. Murder by Death was brilliant. That movie was intelligent, witty, and filled with biting dialogue as its comedic base. In contract, Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen relies on juvenile slapstick to get a laugh. While there are a few moments that brought a smile to my face, as a whole, it's just not funny. And, there's nothing intelligent about any of it. What a wasted opportunity!

3/10