Shaolin Soccer (DVD)

Shaolin Soccer had built itself quite a reputation and following before it had even seen any form of official release outside of Asia, with it's unique blend of comedy,martial arts and sport attracting fans, and intoxicating almost everyone who viewed it via some form of bootleg or import DVD. It's finally recieved a UK DVD release, and given that it combines two of my favourite interests: football and Martial Arts movies, I naturally didn't hold back from splashing out the full £16.99 RRP. Actually made way back in 2001, before football hysteria hit Asia with the 2002 World Cup, as I say, the movie has only recently made the trip from it's native continent ...  Read the complete review

Shaolin Soccer finally reached these shores in 2005 after becoming a massive success all throughout Asia back in 2001. Quite why it has taken so long to get here I don't know but with the releases of Hero and House of Flying Daggers, maybe the time is right for something other than horror and heroic fantasy to arrive from Asia. As far as I know this was the first out and out comedy to come from the major Asian film making countries (Though Thailand's 'Iron Ladies', another sporting comedy did make it to cinemas around three years ago). This is surprising considering the success of Jackie Chan and his comedic style but maybe the distributors think Asian comedy just ...  Read the complete review

(film only review) Introduction Shaolin Soccer was originally released in 2001 but was not released in UK cinemas until the end of 2004. The film is in the Cantonese language which is a form of Chinese spoken commonly in Hong Kong where this film originally came from. Stephen Chow (a superstar in Hong Kong) was involved in writing and directing the film and also stars in it. It is classed as a comedy film and combines martial arts and kung fu style action with the sport of soccer (football). The film was met with mainly positive reviews from film critics and currently has a rating of 7.3/10 from 21,701 votes on IMDB. Plot After ...  Read the complete review

This is another in the line of kung-fu films by writer/director/actor Stephen Chow Chow stars as Sing, a kung-fu master turned pauper who spends his life just trying to get by and attempting to get people to pay for kung-fu lessons from him. He firsts meets Mui(Zhao Wei), a shy pastry chef who uses her command of martial arts to make sweet cakes. Then, after a fight in which Sing displays his considerable mastery of the “steel leg” discipline, he meets the legendary “Golden Leg”(Man Tat Ng), a washed up former football star who was to convinced to miss a vital penalty which ruined his career. He suggests that Sing applies his talents to the game of ...  Read the complete review

Wow all I can say is wow.Stephen Chow is playing the main lead in the movie and has done a splendid job.This is how the story goes,a former soccer player who is rewarded for missing a crucial penalty by getting his leg broken goes out to assemble a soccer team for a major competition,one day he meets Stephen Chow on the streets and is amazed by the strength in his legs and gives him an invitation to join his soccer team.Stephen Chow is a Shaolin Devotee and he agrees,now the problem is how will they get the other members for their team,so Stephen Chow gives him a suggestion to include his brothers in the team who are also trained in Shaolin,but for some reason have lost ...  Read the complete review