SHAOLIN SOCCER
PLOT-A young man with superhuman kicking ability combines soccer with kung-fu.
VIOLENCE-Lots of punching and kicking, but no gore that I can recall.
SEX/NUDITY-Don't recall seeing any of that either.
WHY I WATCHED IT-This movie was a huge box office hit in Asia, and nearly saw a theatrical release here in the states in the summer of 2002 (don't know what happened). I kept reading about how funny and crazy it was, and even saw a trailer for it in a local theater. A friend of mine found the DVD on ebay eventually.
THE DOPE-I was completely blown away by how great this film was. Its star, Stephen Chow, is a great martial artist but also very funny like a combination of Jackie Chan and Jim Carrey. But the appeal of the film lies in both its ensemble cast of soccer team misfits, and the completely cartoonish and kinetic way the whole movie was shot and edited. The use of CGI was largely incredible, for some of the more outlandish stunt pieces. It really is a shame this never came out (and as of this writing, has still not come out) in America. People would love it, especially kids. This is a very well-made and highly watchable flick. The comedy really comes across despite being subtitled in english, and the action is out of this world.
MEMORABLE SCENES-Before they decide to combine kung-fu with soccer, an attempt is made to combine kung-fu with karaoke. The results are hilarious and prove to be a disaster.
DVD NOTES-The DVD I saw had very very nice packaging and had some weird feature I didn't quite understand that kinda works like the New Line Infinifilm DVDs. Whenever you see a little kicking man icon on the screen, they go into detail about shaolin kung-fu.
(March 2003)