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The unusually
titled “Shaolin Soccer” comes
to the US from Hong Kong, where it was somewhat
of a sensation. Honestly, I had never heard
of it, and once I had, wasn’t sure
I really wanted to see it. Even though I
am a fan of a good comedy, I’m not
so much of a fan of Hong Kong martial arts
films. There are a few that I like, but
as a whole I’m not a fan of the genre.
When I heard the premise of “Shaolin
Soccer”, which involved a martial
arts master who becomes a soccer player,
I kind of rolled my eyes and put it aside.
I knew I was going to watch it eventually
or at least pass it on for someone else
to review. As it turns out, my wife and
I had to drive out to Fort Worth (we live
outside of Dallas) with our rambunctious
son and two of his rambunctious friends.
We brought the movie along, thinking it
would placate them during the long drive
and since I wasn’t driving I could
glance over every now and then. Instead,
I was immediately sucked into the movie,
first by the gorgeous cinematography of
the opening scenes, then by the outrageousness
of the imagery as it continued.
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The film’s director, Stephen Chow, also
stars as Sing, a Kung Fu Master whose sole dream
is to make Kung Fu popular again to everyone.
He meets up with a man named Fung (Man Tat Ng),
who used to be a soccer legend known as “Golden
Legs.” Fung wishes to coach his own soccer
team to retaliate against the owner of Team Evil,
who many years ago was responsible for Fung’s
legs being broken, thus ending his career. The
two agree to work together to form a soccer team,
most of which is to be made up of Sing’s
many brothers, most of which who have lost their
‘kung fu.’ It’s up to Sing to
pull everything together and help his brothers
regain their mojo, and Fung reclaim his honor.
Going back and reading that description, I realize
it just doesn’t do justice to this movie.
It makes it sound all serious and “Shaolin
Soccer” is anything but. There are moments
of drama, but for the most part, it is better
described as a highly imaginative and zany comedy.
All of Sing’s brothers have become buffoons,
and in their attempts to get back their ‘powers’,
the film starts to looks like a cross between
“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”,
“The Bad News Bears” and any Tex Avery
cartoon you can name. Everything about this movie
is a lesson in extreme. Sing can kick the ball
hard enough to knock down a wall and his brothers
can grab the ball with their stomachs or fly through
the air to deliver massive kicks. Visually it
is as much a cartoon as any animated film out
there, except it is all live action.
Chow has a keen sense of childlike humor, which
is evident in scenes where the people in a shop
area can suddenly break into dance, or a test
soccer game becomes a war zone… literally.
I found myself laughing extremely hard at much
of what I was seeing, no matter how over the top
it went.
There are two versions of the film on this new
Miramax DVD release; one is the Americanized version
while the other is the original Hong Kong version.
I’m not sure why they did this, but I guess
this way it will appeal to everyone depending
on their individual tastes. The American version
is much shorter than the original and is the only
one with an English dub. This will appeal to those
who don’t like to read subtitles (you know…
people in Texas…), but unfortunately it
is a very chopped up version. And if you choose
to watch it in English with the English subtitles
(which we did in the car so we wouldn’t
miss anything), the subtitles often don’t
match up to the dub. Very strange.
I later watched the Original Hong Kong version
in Cantonese with English subtitles, and that
is where I learned how chopped up the other one
was. This version is much better, with a more
even flow. I laughed just as hard, and enjoyed
it all the more. This is the version I recommend
watching.
There are no extra features to speak of, which
was very disappointing, considering all the whacked
out special effects in the film. A behind the
scenes featurette would have been very welcome.
Aside from this lack of features, I still highly
recommend “Shaolin Soccer”, which
at first I never thought I’d do. Let it
surprise you as much as it did me.
Directed by: Stephen Chow
Starring: Stephen Chow, Vicki Zhao, Ng Man Tat,
Patrick Tse Yin
Extras: Both U.S Theatrical Version and Original
Hong Kong Version
Specifications: Widescreen (1:85.1) Enhanced for
16x9 Televisions, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Studio: Miramax
Release Date: 8/24/2004
Region 1
MPAA Rating: US Version - PG (For Martial Arts
Action and Some Thematic Elements), Hong Kong
Version - NR
Website
We'll give Shaolin Soccer an A. |
