Particularly revealing is the scene where theevil Jade Fox (veteran kung-fu movie star Cheng Pei-pei) decries the fact that she couldn't read, while her student Jen could and therefore surpassed the teacher in achievement and skill.
But he is taken for a ride by the unscrupulous Cat and Fox, almost eaten up by an evil giant, swallowed up in the belly of a whale, before eventually escaping from his wooden shell to become a real person.