Siu lam juk kau (2001)

Director:

Stephen Chow

Writers:

Stephen Chow (writer)
Kan-Cheung Tsang (writer)

Release Date:

12 July 2001 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Sport

Tagline:

Kick some grass!

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Bizarre | Bruce Lee | Football Team | Martial Arts | Monk

Awards:

13 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Stephen Chow	...	Mighty Steel Leg Sing
Man Tat Ng	...	Golden Leg Fung (as Ng Man Tat)
Wei Zhao	...	Mui
Yin Tse	...	Team Evil Coach Hung (as Patrick Tse Yin)
Hui Li	...	Banana Peel Girl
Cecilia Cheung	...	Team Moustache Player 1
Karen Mok	...	Team Moustache Player 2
Vincent Kok	...	Team Puma Leader
Kai Man Tin	...	Iron Shirt Tin (Third Brother)
Lam Tze Chung	...	Light Weight (Small Brother)
Kwok-Kwan Chan	...	Lightning Hands (Fourth Brother)
Mo Mei Lin	...	Hooking Leg (Second Brother)
Ming Ming Zhang	...	Little Hung
Pu Ye Dong	...	Little Fung
Shi Zi Yun	...	Team Evil Center

Also Known As:

Shao lin zu qiu (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)
Shaolin Soccer (International: English title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for martial arts action and some thematic elements.

Runtime:

113 min | Hong Kong:102 min (DVD version) | USA:87 min | Argentina:89 min

Country:

Hong Kong | China

Language:

Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS (US version) | DTS (US version) | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Malaysia:U | Iceland:12 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Zurich) | South Korea:15 (re-rating) | South Korea:All (original rating) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:12 | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:PG | Norway:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12A | USA:PG-13 (re-rating) (2004) | USA:PG (original rating) | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Shanghai, China

Company:

Star Overseas

Trivia:

Banned in mainland China because it did not await certification before being released in Hong Kong.

Quotes:

Sing: [singing] Tai Chi Kung Fu used to make steamed buns, what a brilliant notion. Fill the pot from heaven with sweet buns; fantastic when done. You're a Kung Fu master, I can see. And your homemade treats look so tasty.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Weeds: Free Goat (#1.2)" (2005)

Soundtrack:

Mens' Courage

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-Cantonese 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.