SHAOLIN SOCCER

SYNOPSIS:
In 1981, striker Fung (Man Tat Ng) misses a crucial penalty kick and his team loses the national soccer championship. More than 20 years later his life is in ruins, and the man responsible for his misery [he bribed Fung to miss and had his leg broken by paid thugs], Hung (Patrick Tse) is now a rich celebrity coach. When Fung sees young Sing (Stephen Chow) practice Shaolin Kung Fu in the street, he is amazed. Also watching Sing is Mui (Wei Zhao), a shy and heavily acned martial arts expert who makes exceptional sweet dumplings. Sing befriends her, and encourages her to be confident. Similarly, Fung encourages Sing to combine his Kung Fu with soccer and forms a ragtag team, which eventually aims to win the championship - against every obstacle.

Review by Andrew L. Urban
There is not a moment that this film takes itself seriously, and yet it comes off as a totally un-self-conscious piece of entertainment with laugh out loud moments of pure comedy.

While there is plenty of parody - both of martial arts films and of physical comedies - the film also scores a goal in its elaborately inventive special effects routines (an early morphing sequence is especially brilliant and memorable) that pay tribute to the great comic inventions of silent cinema. The visual gags far outweigh the film's plot, but there is also a decent smattering of dialogue jokes.

The best part is that these dialogue jokes are in English: the whole film is dubbed. And it's dubbed with reckless abandon, as if to heighten the humour by the absurdity of mis-synching lip synching. I know I'm a bit weird, but I love it.

Although not quite in the Blake Edwards or Mel Brooks school of zany comedy, Shaolin Soccer is nevertheless a laugh a minute affair of silliness played with enough pain to make it shtick. You'll get a kick out of this one. Scores a goal. Doesn't drop the ball. And it's over at half time!