Imaginative action sequences (particularly the clash of two robots, and one involving a flying motorcycle), impressive special effects (mostly just good old-fashioned mechanical stuff), and Sally Yeh's incredible beauty and solid acting make up for a less-than-engaging story in this bizarre Hong Kong action-fantasy-comedy, which I would recommend mostly to experienced HK viewers, and maybe comic book fans. The first 40 minutes or so are kind of hard to sit through, but then some of the jokes start working, the action becomes more frequent, and Sally Yeh begins to play a bigger part in the movie. Actually, she plays TWO parts: a vicious villainess, and a robot that's made by the bad guys to look just like her and eventually gets re-programmed by the good guys to help them out. It also starts developing human emotions, and it's to Sally Yeh's credit that, using only a few expressions, she manages to give this robot a human soul and make you care about her. And did I mention she is just incredibly, pause-the-DVD-to-admire-her-face beautiful? (**1/2)

The hardest thing to understand about this movie is what on earth Tsui Hark, responsible for some of the best films to come out of Hong Kong over the last 30 years was doing acting in this terrible science fiction "comedy".Even though the special effects are pretty ropey, that's not what makes this such a bland movie. Far worse is the confused story where it's hard to tell whether we should be rooting for the Hero Gang (odd choice of name for baddies) or the cops, who seem even worse than the villains.Not Hong Kong cinema's finest hour, by a long shot.

(SPOILERS!!!!)Man,this film have great action and superb special effects!! Hong Kong rules in actions movies! The dubbed version is ridiculous, and the characters are dumb, one of them is whisky(Tsui Hark), a dumb-ass drunk its look like a junkie retard! I like this film, have plenty of action and a stupid humor, and great special effects (special the giant Robot)...The characters are constantly repeating "I love Maria"!!! Which make this movie even more dumb than the original Chinese version. What a hell kind of Robot is named "Maria"!

Martial arts action with robots. It's like a live action anime from Hong Kong. Strong plot, strong story, cool robots.ON A SCALE OF 1-10 (10 BEING BEST)I GIVE "I LOVE MARIA"9 1/2 STARSON THE POSITIVE SIDE (+ SIDE)1) COOL STORY (It never wavered)2) COOL ROBOTS (Perfect designed)3) LIKEABLE HUMAN CHARACTERS (The lead characters are very funny and likeable)ON THE NEGATIVE SIDE (- SIDE)1) NO DUBBED VERSION (It only has subtitles and that gets in the way of watching the story)