Shaolin Soccer

2001 [CANTONESE]

Action / Comedy / Family / Fantasy / Sport

133
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 84% · 93 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 84% · 50K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.3/10 10 95835 95.8K

martial arts kung fu sports steel helmet stadium champion

Plot summary

A young Shaolin follower reunites with his discouraged brothers to form a soccer team using their martial art skills to their advantage.

Director

Stephen Chow Photo
Stephen Chow

Top cast

Ron Yuan Photo
Ron Yuan as Referee
Stephen Chow Photo
Stephen Chow as Mighty Steel Leg Sing
Bridget Hoffman Photo
Bridget Hoffman as Mui's Boss
Elisa Gabrielli Photo
Elisa Gabrielli as Team Moustache Players
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
939.11 MB
1280*714
Cantonese 2.0
NR
Subtitles cn  
23.976 fps
1 hr 27 min
Seeds 43
1.78 GB
1920*1072
Cantonese 2.0
NR
Subtitles cn  
23.976 fps
1 hr 27 min
Seeds 100

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by ww_sketcher 8 / 10

Chow's Best film Yet

Although the Sports Comedy genre is often plagued with cliché and is usually only for the most strict of fans, you definitely don't have to be a Soccer/Football fan to enjoy Shaolin Soccer, It helps if you enjoy the idea of a silly (but not stupid or bad) Martial Arts Flick.Compared to films of director Stephen Chow's past (King of Comedy, God of Cookery), Shaolin Soccer is a much greater visual treat. Although he's not exactly from brilliant yet, the direction has improved vastly. And the new CG scenes are often amusing and visually interesting demanding repetitive viewings.While the film is fun and generally smart, it falls prey to a bit of an obvious story, of course this is one of those little-plot high-laugh comedies, One can't help be feel bogged down by some of the love plot, which unlike a lot of the soccer field action, it's totally predictable and at times is a bore.If you must see Shaolin Soccer, be sure to watch it with it's original language and subtitles. The American English version had many of the films funniest scenes cut to make the film more PG-13 rating. Watch it in it's uncut version to see one of the funniest and most enjoyable Sports-Martial Arts-Comedy of the 2000's.
Reviewed by Mike Astill 8 / 10

Great entertainment

Stephen Chow writes, directs and stars in probably his funniest and most accessible (to Western audiences, at least) film to date.Sing (Chow) is trying to find a way to encourage his countrymen to re-embrace their Shaolin kung fu heritage. When he meets down-at-heel ex-soccer coach Fung (Ng), the pair hatch a plan to form a soccer team with Sing's Shaolin brothers. Unfortunately, these guys have lost their kung fu skills. Sing resolves to help his brothers regain their dignity, then lead them into a championship showdown with the seemingly unstoppable Evil Team. He also finds time to fall in love with Tai-Chi baker Mui (the usually lovely Vicki Zhao), who gets some of the funniest scenes in the movie.As a non-Chinese speaker, my experience with Chow's previous films is patchy, his wordplay humour rarely making a decent transition to subtitles. The comedy here though is mostly physical, possibly even deliberately geared more towards a Western market. The plot - however clichéd - is a pleasing tale of underdogs made good, and the movie has a definite feelgood feel and uplifting ending. Even the CG is impressive and well used. It's the most entertaining movie I've seen in ages.I was watching the Universe DVD. Subs are decent enough, without too many typos, and the 'making of' and other extras have English subs also.
Reviewed by rbverhoef 6 / 10

Goofy fun

'Shaolin Soccer' is a film probably unlike you have ever seen, it is goofy fun, totally ridiculous, but entertaining all the way through. Discussing the plot would be as silly as the film itself, but I will say a couple of things to give you an idea. The soccer competition is in the hand of one man named Hung (Yin Tse). He leads a team called Team Evil, winning the competition every year. Now Golden Leg Fung (Man Tat Ng), a man made cripple by Hung a long time ago, ensembles his own team which exists out of Shaolin kung-fu fighters, lead by Sing (Stephen Chow). There is also a girl involved, of course.What you can expect is a lot of fun and funny moments. To give you an example, Sing can kick the ball so hard he can disable four opponents with one shot. Other can defy gravity the way the characters did it in 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'. From time to time the ball changes into a ball of fire, causes strong winds or the earth to tremble. Of course the Shaolin team will face Team Evil in the final game and of course it is a big surprise who will win. What does it matter? By then you have laughed a lot, you have seen some pretty images, you are really entertained.
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