Chinese director blends comedy, kung fu

Before those who have been keeping up with the Asian film series begin to think that all Asian movies are brutally violent and depressing affairs where nothing but terrible things happen to people, it might be good to highlight some lighter fare, such as the work of director Stephen Chow.

Chow is responsible for this year’s “Kung Fu Hustle,” a wild martial-arts comedy that got a positive reception in the States. People who enjoyed this film will love the movie that introduced Chow to American audiences, “Shaolin Soccer.”

“Shaolin Soccer” is another example of the ability of Asian cinema to blend genres. This film works as a sports movie, martial arts flick and a comedy all rolled into one.

Fung was once known as the great soccer star “Golden Leg.” No goalie could stop his kicks. Then one day, his envious brother and fellow teammate Fung bribes him to miss a goal and lose a game on purpose. Fung does, and the crowd turns on him and breaks his leg, crippling him for life.

Fast-forward to the future, and Hung has become a star soccer coach in charge of the unbeatable Team Evil. Fung is now just his pitiful errand boy.

When Fung asks if he can coach his own team, Hung just laughs in his face. Downtrodden, Fung leaves his brother and starts to wander the city.

There he meets the vagrant Sing, played by director Stephen Chow. Sing is a kung fu master whose life goal is to spread the word of kung fu. He feels if everyone learned kung fu it would help them immensely in their everyday lives. He contends that people could use it to park their cars in tight spaces and to avoid slipping on banana peels.

Fung laughs at this until he sees Sing beat up a group of thugs by simply kicking a soccer ball at them. This gives Fung an idea: If he can harness Sing’s power and apply it to soccer, he might be able to create a team to beat his evil brother.

Sing thinks this is a great idea and recruits his five kung fu brothers to join the team. Along with the help of the homely tai-chi baker Mui, the group sets out to defeat Team Evil and win the championship. The sizable amount of cash they stand to receive also provides a little incentive.

“Shaolin Soccer” combines clever dialogue, slapstick comedy and complete randomness to create some big laughs, as in a scene where Sing and a bunch of people on the street spontaneously break out into a choreographed dance.

The strange cast of characters provide a lot of amusement too. There is brother Weight Vest, a portly fellow who can dance around light as a feather and a goalie who dresses like Bruce Lee.

The most interesting character is Mui, the shy bun baker that Sing befriends when he tries to talk her into giving him free food. She isn’t the prettiest of girls and her efforts to dress up to impress Sing are some of the most comical moments in the film.

Chow himself is strong as he always is. His martial arts stylings are impressive and his comedic timing works so well that it manages to cross the language barrier.

This movie doesn’t take itself too seriously and is pretty screwy for its entire length, but like “Kung Fu Hustle,” it has a warm heart at its center and makes for feel-good entertainment.

“Shaolin Soccer” got a terrible U.S. release in 2001 from Miramax, who ended up cutting out 20 minutes of the film and supplying an awful English dubbing. The best way to enjoy this film is to watch the original Chinese version on the DVD.