Shaolin Soccer Reviews

Funniest film I've ever seen

Me and my flatmate were crying with laughter at this, and still talk about some of the scenes to this day! The trick is not to take it too seriously. Even still, it has some amazing special effects, and is a film I could watch again and again. Wonderful stuff!

Where's the Original Version?

I returned this disk unwatched as, to my horror, I popped the film into my DVD player only to be presented with the dubbed, Miramax-hacked International version. I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than suffer the pain of a dubbed film.

Where's the original cut, with 20 (read 'em: 20) extra minutes? The answer is, of course: on the retail disk.

Great Stuff

This is a comedy and it is funny. It has OTT action, with a band of former Shaolin martial artists re-banding to use their martial arts skills to try & win a football journament. Sheer genius!

Funniest film I've ever seen

Me and my flatmate were crying with laughter at this, and still talk about some of the scenes to this day! The trick is not to take it too seriously. Even still, it has some amazing special effects, and is a film I could watch again and again. Wonderful stuff!

Utter crap!

A steaming turd of a movie! Whose idea was this? It's neither funny or spectacular! Waste of time!!

Kung Fu football

I am not a football follower and usually avoid football related movies, but

this is a very clever and funny movie about an underdog football team

using kung fu during matches to win a tournament.

SFX are OTT and suit this style of movie. Stephen Chow is a master of this kind of comedy/romance.

I viewed it on an import with subs, but the UK release should

have an English dub.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Entertaining but DVD leaves a lot to be desired - no original Cantonese, no extras, half-hour missing

This is one of those 'bad movies' that is entertaining because it's so bad. The acting is awful, the dubbing is even worse, and the story is implausible. Stephen Chow dubs himself into English, but most of the other Chinese characters are dubbed by white Americans putting on really bad Chinese accents, which is probably terrible if you were a native Chinese speaker! Well the premise of this film is ridiculous, but I knew that before I rented it - these former monks and kung fu masters try and win a football tournament by incorporating kung fu techniques with the beautiful game. Some of the effects are quite good, and you'll see where a lot of TV commercials get their inspiration (is it Continental tyres? I think so).

However, this DVD is seriously lacking. THIS FILM IS DUBBED INTO ENGLISH and there is NO ORIGINAL CANTONESE OPTION which is criminal in my view ... who wants to see something badly dubbed into English when you can watch it in the original? - or at least provide both as an option! HALF AN HOUR HAS BEEN CHOPPED OUT eek, the original Cantonese movie is almost two hours long, and this version is less than an hour and a half! But the criminal thing is, THEY ARE NOT OFFERED AS EXTRAS meaning that we do not see the deleted scenes. Why not? Criminal, again. There are not even any subtitles for the English hard of hearing - a pain since I watched this film at 2 in the morning and could have done with making it a little softer so as not to wake up the neighbourhood. If none of these things bother you, go ahead. You'll laugh a couple of times, and you may be impressed by some of the effects. But if you are a purist like me, avoid this DVD like the plague. There, I can't put it fairer than that can I! Hope this review has helped someone make up their minds as to whether or not to rent this.

Inspiring

It has Kung Fu, Soccer, action and a script so bad that it is almost good. There was almost somebody acting in it as well but I think that was a mistake. Despite all this it has some funny moments in it and the special effects where good except I don?t think the director was quite sure where to put them so you get them just pop up for no apparent reason along with them some seriously dodgy dance routines. If you like bad films to laugh at, and I do mean at not with this is the film for you.

The four stars are for the sheer bottle at producing it.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Hilarioius homage and parody

If you like Quentin Tarantino, Airplane, Kung Fu flicks, Hong Kong cinema, exploitation flicks and film in general I can't see how you wouldn't enjoy this film.

Hilarious stupid fun

Great film. Totally irreverent, silly, slapstick fun. This is a HK film taking the 'michael' out of kung fu movies. It so daft that it's great. I laughed so much I almost cried. It will make you cringe it is so cheesy, but so very funny.