Shaolin Soccer (2001)

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sharonapple (Kiasukid) on Monday, July 16, 2001 -10:31 am

"SHAOLIN SOCCER" - REVIEW

I've never been a huge Stephen Chow fan. I'm quite selective when it comes to his films. I love "A Chinese Odyssey I & II" because I thought it was an unsually emotional comedy. I enjoyed "Hail the Judge" mostly because the last half is trully funny and also includes good performances from Yuen King-tan and Ada Choi. And I also liked "Forbidden City Cop," a funny parody of spy films set in the days of the emperor.

Yet this lastest Chow offering actually had me rolling in my seat with laughter. It's perhaps the least HK of his comedies since it doesn't have much "moleitau" humour.

The basic storyline is about a somewhat simple Mainlander (Chow) who's extremely skilled in a form of Shaolin martial arts (perhaps Chow's fav onscreen persona.) His greatest hope is to bring Shaolin kung-fu to the world. Ng Man-tat plays a soccer coach who was betrayed by the evil Patrick Tse (it's great to see him again on the big screen.) Ng meets Chow and convinces him that he can make Shaolin kung-fu more attractive if he combined it with soccer. Chow enlists his other "brothers" who are all skilled in different forms of Shaolin kung-fu and they form a team to compete in a competition runned by Patrick Tse.

The score by Raymond Wong Ying-wah is good. Wong also scored the fabulous sounding "Running Out of Time" and "A Hero Never Dies."

There are a two things that makes this brisk Chow film one of the best things to come out of HK this year. Firstly, it is trully funny. You don't have to like HK comedy to like this film, there is lots of physical humour and most of them work.

Secondly, the use of CGI here is fabulous and comic-booky. You'll watch a soccer ball transform into a puma (?) before transforming into a fiery ball etc. People fly up into the sky or are flung here there and everywhere, soccer balls fly here there and everywhere, a bun maker uses kung-fu to spin her dough etc. It's really hard to describe the chaos that unfolds except that it's quite a sight to behold.

Ching Siu-tung is the action director here.

I couldn't quite catch the name but I think the guys who do the CGI are the guys from Centro whom I think also did the CGI for "The Stormriders."

Cameos include delightful appearances by Vincent Kuk, Cecilia Cheung and Karen Mok.

Chow and the rest of the cast is good. Even Vicki Zhao whom I've disliked in all her Taiwanese and Mainland series put in a sensitive performance here and I now forgive her for being Xiao Yan-zi. 
 
enjoy