'The Touch' - Movie Review

Pak Yin Fay (Michelle Yeoh) and her brother Tong (Brandon Chang) are the stars of "The Touch," a circus act - since the death of their father, Yin has been in charge of the family business. In their childhood, their father took in a young caucasian boy who learned many of the acrobatic skills ... but now uses them for theft (Ben Chaplin's character). He returns to his adoptive family when he steals an 800 year old relic his adoptive father was interested in, but it brings a lot of trouble - mostly in the form of the ruthless Karl (Richard Roxburgh, having fun).

Could easily have been called "Tomb Raiders of the Lost Ark," but I guess that's a bit long - and directors rarely think of their work as being derivative. But this is, and not very good either. The dialogue is almost entirely in English - which is pretty odd given it's filmed in China with a mostly Chinese staff. The computer effects are pretty bad, which made it all the more amusing to read this on Wikipedia: "The film was generally panned by critics for its cliched storyline, overuse of English, and the sub-par visual effects in the original theatrical release before Miramax completed them for the 83-minute version now found on DVD." Seriously - this is the "good" version of the special effects?