[ship horn blowing]
[Noggin] I believe in America.
America is where we will make our future, so...
-[laughing maniacally] -Okay.
-[man gasps] -[thuds]
-[snarls] -Focus!
Bite less, smile more.
San Francisco is our species' chance
for a new beginning.
To stop living in the shadow like monsters and start living like people.
And for my own fresh start,
my name shall now be...
Algernon.
[loud thud]
[dramatic music playing]
-[mogwai cackling] -Land ho!
-[all shouting] Land ho! -Ow!
No!
[mogwai cackling]
[Noggin] Stop! Sundown is--
[all scream]
[splashes]
Alas, my poor spawn.
Impatience always was their Achilles' heel.
Die, you big freak.
-Argh! -Oh!
-My name is Algernon! -[man screaming]
[growls in anger]
[theme music playing]
[Elle] You left Alcatraz for this?
At least prison had lights.
Chinatown used to have lights.
Chinatown used to have everything and everyone at all hours.
I'd eat there at midnight, gamble there at 2:00 a.m.
And then get my suit dry cleaned here at dawn.
And the Chinatown Benevolent Society
would never allow public property to be defaced like this.
Something is very wrong.
Vandalism. No bright lights.
That feeling that everyone who lives here is hiding in fear.
All signs of bad mogwai, right, Gizmo?
Mmm-hmm. Oh!
[Lucky and Bobo chittering]
[scolds]
You think a bunch of teddy bears tore up Chinatown?
[Sam] What's a teddy bear?
Uh, an American thing, apparently.
Look, what I'm saying is your little critters might have messed up Shanghai,
but Chinatown wouldn't fold that easy.
[laughing] Cho, my best gal.
-What happened? -You died!
-What? No, I didn't. -[smacks]
-Ow! -[Cho scoffs]
That's not what I heard.
Ow! Ow!
As my pain shows, I'm very much alive.
Um... Elle?
[smacking continues]
Elle. You know, if you want to go
check on that place from your dreams, go.
This is your mom.
What? I... [sighs]
Okay. Yes, I do wanna go.
Alone.
You got bad mogwai to look for.
I'll meet you back here at noon.
[Gizmo whimpers]
[back cracking] Not exactly the warm welcome I was picturing. [sighs]
It seems like everyone made themselves scarce, including your friend.
-Where'd she go? -Elle is dealing with her own...
situation.
But there is one thing about this that feels off.
It's quiet, and mogwai are never quiet.
-No offense. -[Lucky and Bobo muttering]
[Gizmo scolds, sighs wearily]
Okay, okay, okay.
I know who will know everything and believe I'm alive.
My father, Boss Chang, the king of Chinatown.
[Sam] Chinatown is a monarchy?
Well, not formally, but the Chinatown Benevolent Society runs Chinatown,
and my father runs that, and someday I will, too.
And we Changs love Chinatown, and Chinatown loves us.
[ominous music plays]
And here's my father's place. [exhales in satisfaction]
He'll be able to tell us exactly what's going on.
After, of course, he celebrates my safe return
by busting open our special rum reserves.
-I'm only 11. -So sip it slowly.
Father, here I...
Where is everybody?
My father eats here every night.
[Lucky and Bobo chittering]
[Lucky and Bobo protesting]
It's his second office. If he's not...
What?
[somber music playing]
No.
Baba.
No!
If my father's photo is hanging at a funeral altar,
then who's the new boss of Chinatown?
-Ugh! What is-- -[Sam] He's the boss here?
How?
[clears throat] Table for one, please.
[screams]
-[suspenseful music playing] -[silverware clattering]
My name is Algernon. Yes.
My appearance is hideous
because I was at sea for weeks. [chuckles nervously]
Anyone else here from China?
[Noggin grunts]
[grunts]
Get out! This place is for people.
-[Noggin growling] -[man screaming]
-[both grunting] -[diners exclaiming]
[Noggin snarling]
-[snarls] -[groans]
[Boss Chang] Everybody,
please take a seat.
But, Boss, this thing--
This gentleman came over from China.
Just like me.
Two, Warren.
And let me tell you, I have never been hungrier in my life,
than on the day I stepped off the boat.
I'd have been ready to eat Peng, too. [laughs boisterously]
'Course, when I got here,
the first restaurant I walked into didn't feed me.
No, that place tried to toss me on a boat back to China!
Ah, don't worry.
I'm still here.
And that restaurant burned down a few weeks later.
Right after I joined
the Chinatown Benevolent Society.
They welcome me.
Chinatown welcome me when San Francisco did not.
Chinatown welcome you too, right, Peng?
You remember how we met?
I caught you taking a day-old bao out of the trash
and you told me...
[both] "Not as good as China's day-old bao."
[both laugh]
Algernon, was it?
The name is Boss Chang.
Join my associates and I for a meal.
Tell me, what brings you to my Chinatown?
Well, I came here for a fresh start.
But what I really want now is your suit.
So I suppose I came here to be you.
-[man growls] Huh? -[laughs heartily]
-[Boss Chang continues laughing] -[chuckling]
Boss Noggin.
-Huh? -That's what it says here.
My father was murdered by some...
some thing called Noggin!
-[glass shatters] -Maybe?
-[Gizmo mumbles] -Okay, yeah, probably.
But, hey, at least now we know which bad mogwai escaped Shanghai,
and it is the one who can talk,
-so we can negotiate-- -No!
No.
-I was supposed to be the next boss! -[glass shatters]
[inhales]
Ah! Excuse me.
Now, let's walk into my dad's old office and do what must be done.
Kill Noggin.
[both gasp]
[Lucky and Bobo cackling]
[growling]
[exclaiming, grunting]
[Sam gasps]
-[grunts] -[shatters]
Oh, no.
-Get back here. -[both chuckling]
Gizmo, you really need to name them.
[Chang] What the...
-[Sam grunting] -What is going on here?
[grunting]
[dramatic music playing]
[humming]
[chuckling gleefully]
[sighs in relief]
-[grunts] -Ha!
[both grunting]
-[gasps, screams] -You!
-[Gizmo exclaiming] -[screaming]
-[Sam] Gizmo, no! -[gasps]
[Gizmo whimpers]
[Bobo whimpering]
[Gizmo whimpering]
[Bobo crying]
Um, Gizmo?
And I ask this as your friend,
-should I-- -Huh?
-[mogwai cackling] -[Gizmo whimpers]
Are those the teddy bears you were talking about?
Uh-huh.
[cackling growing louder]
[knocking at door]
[Sam] I wish we went with Elle.
You must find me, Elle, in America.
[pensive music playing]
[sighs] Is this gonna be a waste of time?
It's not like I ever jumped off a building,
just 'cause I dreamt I could fly.
Here's the dessert you ordered.
But, Mom did love stealing from fancy hotels.
If her ghost was gonna haunt anywhere...
[indistinct conversation]
[woman sipping]
Maman?
[slurping]
- Maman? -What?
No! I despise the poor.
[Boss Chang] Family.
When you work for me,
think of Chinatown as your family.
We take care of each other here.
That sounds lovely.
I do need a new family.
My spawn exploded at sea.
[Boss Chang chuckling]
I cannot tell where your jokes end
and your tragedy begins.
Oh, it was no tragedy.
My offsprings and I were never close.
They mocked my dreams, my ambitions,
my raison d'etre.
[scoffs] I get it.
Family is a double-edged sword with no hilt that's always on fire.
[sighs wearily]
I love my son, too.
But he only had dreams.
That's Junior.
Handsome, eh?
Almost clever.
But lazier than a cat full of fish in the sun.
[chuckles]
Still, I miss that boy.
[coughing]
-[man gasps] -[hacking]
Boss.
[clears throat] Thanks.
You've got real kindness behind that spiky mug of yours.
[coughing heavily]
[chuckles]
I need to see a man about a watch.
-Hello, Wang -Boss Chang.
How's Mei feeling?
-I was just-- -Coming to see me?
People are always coming to see me.
But sometimes people are late.
And late's no good.
Late makes tea get cold.
Makes people assume the worst.
That's why I wanted to see you.
I know I didn't pay up last week,
but... [screams]
If you must disrespect Boss Chang with lies,
at least be creative and do so without a tongue.
[hisses, snarls]
[Boss Chang cries out]
-[grunts] -Boss! You okay?
[all gasp]
[crowd gasping]
Nobody touches the Boss!
I'm fine.
You're fine. We are all fine.
Nothing to see here.
[coughs] Sorry about that one. New employees.
Always so eager to impress, right?
-Of course. -[Boss Chang] As I was saying,
late makes people assume the worst,
like I did about your dear wife's health.
Which is why my Benevolent Society
paid all of Mei's doctor bills.
[mumbling] Oh, thank you, Boss Chang.
Algernon, a word.
You go wait in the restaurant. [speaks in Cantonese]
[in English] Take care of your wife.
[Wang mumbling] Thank you, sir.
[sighs]
[exclaims]
What was all that tongue business?
That man was disrespecting you,
the boss of the Chinatown Triad.
Whoa! We do not say that in America.
My apologies.
But your society is simply a more acceptable name
for Triad, yes?
The signs are all there.
Secret gambling dens, gentlemen with nicknames like No-Neck.
No, no, that is our business.
Splendid.
I am well suited for your racketeering business.
Underneath this prodigious vocabulary
is a delightful propensity for violence.
[chuckles] I can feel that.
But just because we're in this business of ours
doesn't mean we gotta be bad guys.
There are two ways to do this.
Love or fear.
I know not everyone is smiling at you yet.
But if you choose love, Chinatown will, too.
How'd you even learn of the Triad? [chuckles]
Oh, once I mauled a member of the Axe Gang for his three piece suit.
[Boss Chang] You and your fashion.
I do not get what the boss sees
in that lousy, dirty, bad mogwai.
[mogwai snarling, snickering]
[suspenseful music playing]
[Gizmo whimpers]
[chuckles] I see how it is.
Noggin took out my dad, so now he's gunning for me.
All right, you're up, monster hunter.
Me? No, no, I'm a monster hunting apprentice at best.
[scoffs] You saved Shanghai from these things.
-Do what you did last time. -Last time I had a magic knife.
Now I only have Gizmo, who's going crazy,
and you, who probably can't name one of the mogwai rules,
even though I told you all three on the boat!
Don't make them mad?
-[knocking at window] -[mogwai] Knock, knock.
Knock, knock! [cackling]
-Ugh. -Ooh.
-Oh, I am not ready for this. -Oh, you're not ready for this?
What about me, huh?
Today was supposed to be a great day.
I finally get out of jail and go home,
but find my home's empty, my dad's dead,
and teddy bears are trying to kill me!
I'm not ready for that!
But, kid, nobody is ready in America.
You don't have any magic? Then make your own.
My father always said that anyone can be whatever they want to be here.
And that includes you, monster hunter.
If you know how to fix this, then fix it.
Or you can let those things tear you apart while I have a stiff drink.
Your call.
Wait, this place serves alcohol?
Uh, it's Chinatown.
Give me an alcohol, please.
No, no. No?
No.
Sorry about your decanter, but water and I do not get along.
No, please accept my apology, sir.
How may I help Boss Chang?
You can help me surprise the Boss.
Hualien was his favorite fish growing up in Shanghai.
So I wanted to bring him one for his birthday.
[fishmonger] Please give Boss Chang my best.
And this, too.
- ♪ Happy birthday to-- ♪ -[Boss Chang coughing]
Boss Chang?
[hacking, coughing]
Algernon.
Is that Hualien?
I love, love Hualien.
[coughs]
[gasps] No-Neck.
Get Chef Chen to prepare it for...
[gasps, coughs]
On second thought,
serve it at my funeral. [coughs]
Algernon. My goons. Sit.
[grunts, coughs]
Time to reveal
the second worst kept secret in Chinatown,
after how I cheat at cards. [chuckles]
[coughs, sighs] I'm dying.
Hell, my doc says I'm already mostly dead.
So tonight, I got a gift to give.
-[gasps] -You is gonna
name your successor?
[gasping]
This baton was created back in the old country.
Boss Chun brought it over.
And when he gave it to me,
he told me to put Chinatown first.
I always, always aimed to do that...
[gasps] ...and expect the next boss will, too.
[sighs, exclaims softly]
In a perfect world,
I would be handing this to Chang Junior.
But all he ever did was chase easy scores.
So, even if he was still alive,
he was never going to be the next boss.
[scoffs, sighs]
You four lugs are my four right hands.
I love you,
but you're in this racket for yourselves.
[all gasp]
But you! [chuckles]
Only you appreciate the importance of Chinatown.
Of having a place where everyone is welcome.
Your kindness will keep it alive.
Boss...
-Algernon. -[gasps]
[growls]
[Boss Chang] Protect Chinatown.
Even from itself.
[panting]
And enjoy the fish.
[groans]
[melancholy music playing]
-[slams hand] -Oh.
So many emotions in the room--
-[grunts] -[smacks]
[cackling]
-Welcome... -...to...
...Chinatown.
Stop! I am Sam Wing, hero of Shanghai,
and you shall not dine here.
[all cackling]
-[dramatic music playing] -[mogwai continue laughing]
-[thudding] -[shushing]
-[clinking] -Huh?
Now!
Those definitely aren't teddy bears.
[grunting]
[mogwai screaming]
Not bad, kid.
[Sam] Thanks, but the fire is the real hero and we'll need more to go outside.
-[sighs] -[Bobo and Lucky whimper]
[sighs]
[singing]
-[hissing] -Huh?
[scraping]
[screams]
-[glass shatters] -[gasps] Gizmo? Gizmo!
Gizmo's nameless kid brothers!
They took him.
[indistinct conversation]
[pensive music playing]
[sighs wearily] And like always,
my dream didn't come true.
Why did I think it would be different in America?
[woman] Ah, pardon-moi.
Yeah, pardon me too, lady.
-All over the place. -My little magpie?
[Elle gasps]
Elle!
Maman?
Uh, this... This must be a dream, or--
It's no dream, Elle. Not anymore.
[sobs]
[poignant music playing]
[Elle sobbing]
Oh, look, Chang's pet is waking up.
Huh? What? [gasps]
[ominous music playing]
We put in years with Boss Chang.
We ain't about to let your ugly noggin swoop in
with a bunch of fancy butt-kissing words
to take what's ours.
Butt-kissing? It's called proper etiquette, heathen.
[No-Neck] You ain't Chinese. You ain't human.
You ain't never gonna be boss.
[splashes]
[all laughing]
-[all gasping] -[No-Neck] What's going on?
What's happening?
Whoa!
-[mogwai cackling] -[gasps]
I can respect a power grab,
but, "You ain't never gonna be boss,"?
[scoffs]
That's a double negative.
-[exclaims] -[Noggin] Boss Chang was wise
in many areas.
The ins and outs of extortion,
where to get the best hot pot, fashion in general.
But he was very wrong about one thing,
it is better to rule through fear.
-[roaring] -[No-Neck screaming]
[No-Neck screaming]
-[screaming] -[chomping]
[woman] Forgive us, Boss Algernon.
-[snaps fingers] -[both scream]
The name is Boss Noggin.
[woman screaming]
Anyway, that's what I've been up to you.
How have you been?
Breeding, I see.
I loathe having to do it again myself.
But, alas, our species does need numbers
if we want a piece of the American pie.
Speaking of, let's discuss your future, dear ancestor.
[Gizmo whimpering]
[Bobo and Lucky gasp]
-No. [snarls] -[mogwai grunts]
[Gizmo yelps, pants]
[yelps, grunts]
[whimpers]
[both clamoring]
[Gizmo] No! No, no, no!
[both gasp]
[both cackling]
Oh, no!
[Gizmo screaming]
[ending theme music playing]