Shaolin Soccer

[DevilMonkey]

Shaolin Soccer (2003)

http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0286112/poster.jpg

Director -

Stephen Chow

Screenwriters-

Stephen Chow
Kan-Cheung Tsang

Starring-

Stephen Chow
Vicki Zhao
Man Tat Ng
Yin Tse
Sarondar Li
Yut Fei Wong
Cecilia Cheung
Karen Mok
Kar-Ying Law


MPAA-

Rated PG for martial arts action and some thematic elements

Release Date-

August 15, 2003

Plot-

A shaolin kung-fu practitioner is seeking a way to spread the word about his chosen art. He meets a down-on-his-luck lame ex-football player who trains him and his five brothers to play football. They form a team, and are soon entered in a prestigious tournament with a 1 million dollar prize.

Genre-

Action, Comedy, Hong Kong, Martial Arts, Soccer

My thoughts-

This movie looks really bad. Maybe because it’s from Asia or because it looks silly.

http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0286112/shaolin_soccer_2.jpg

What do you guys think?

[RickySlade]

C'mon you've never heard of soccer players doing kung-fu?!

God this movie looks horrible. May appeal to kids though, but I don't expect anything big.

[dh1989]

This movie looks really bad. Maybe because it’s from Asia

What the hell do you mean by that? Asia turns out many great films, and many awful films, just like any other place in the world...

Anywho, this is a GREAT movie. One of my favorite sports films ever! I'll definitely give it another viewing on the big screen! It's a witty, fresh, and gut-bustingly hilarious viewing experience. Everyone should see it! Pity, the American marketing campaign sucks royal ass, which will, without a doubt, turn MANY people off. :(

[Fisting Ackbar]

Thought it was a cool movie in it's original Asian format, and I have no desire to see what Miramax turned it into.

[Chippie]

This movie is great.
Don't diss it until you actually see it. It's a bit weird in places but really funny if you like it

[vexu]

Yeah, the movie is great after it gets really soing and worth watching. Saw the original version on DVD about 1½ years ago.

[Schatten]

This movie will be great.

[movies35]

Sorry, but I do not want to see this movie AT ALL. Everyone also said how great Crounching Tiger Hidden Dragon was. And that sucked really bad.

[Mike]

I saw the trailer and it sucked! It reminds me of KUNG POW!, which I didn't see, but actually do plan on checking out since a friend of mine loves it. However, I think SHAOLIN SOCCER looks dumb. Is it supposed to be obviously dubbed so poorly? Was it a spoof or something like KUNG POW? If it's not done on purpose, then I must say, the dubbing looks so fucking AWFUL. What's the deal with this movie? I don't understand what it's trying to be. For the most part, it looks like a spoof like KUNG POW.

[Psychocandy]

This movie is very fucking funny and highly entertaining from start to finish. There were too many jaw-dropping, side-splitting moments in this movie to count.

Oh...and for those who are worried that it may disappoint them because they didn't like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. This is NOTHING like that movie. This is one of the finest beer and pizza movies i've had the pleasure of watching in the last 5 years.

BTW...DevilMonkey. This movie looks bad because it's from Asia? WTF?

[BannerXXX]

I'm an with Pychocandy on this one.

Now Wait! Do not judge this movie by its Trailer. Okay? I've seen the American trailer and it does not do teh movie its proper justice.

Shaolin Soccer is one of the funniest, most over the top flicks I've seen in a really long time, and its NOTHING (and I stress NOTHING) like Kung Pow (SNORE) and has no relation to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

Having seen it let me do a brief synopsis (no spoilers, sorry.) An ex-champoin soccer player decided to team up with a man trying to bring Shaolin martials arts back to popularity. The Shaolin master has a bunch of brothers who gave up the practice for various lifestyles, and the duo convince these brothers to form a soccer team using Shoalin techniques. To borrow from Joblo: over the top soccer matches ensue.

Its not Shakespear, its not a Neil Simon comedy - its, as I said before, an over the top action/comedy that has some sequences in it I promise you will be talking about for a while. It was the most original movie I have come accross in a long time, and that's saying something. The bad guy was formula, and like any "sports" movie it builds up to the last game (which is a total MUST SEE.) They have a Bruce Lee look-a-like (I swear, the dude could play him better then Brandon did.) But what this movie has is completely original action - and I mean original. For the American Pie gross comedy fans, it has one of the grossest comedy scenes in movies today (though it does not top the Scary Movie gym teacher scene for complete grossness).

I give this movie a 4.5/5, and highly reccommend it. When I saw it , it was not dubbed in English, and I still enjoyed the heck out of it. Many of my friends who saw the trailer discounted it until I showed them a copy - and I had to pick every jaw off the floor at the end of this one. The matches alone are worth the price of admission. I would not put this on your first see list, but if you're wondering around looking for something a little bit different - check this out.

This movie will totally be part of my DVD collection.

One question: I see that some people make things like rating and movie title bold within their posts. How do you do that?

[bob]

According to Dark Horizons, Miramax has pulled the release date for the dubbed version and is releasing the subtitled version in a limited run on September 5. I might go see it if it's not dubbed.

[Psychocandy]

Originally posted by BannerXXX
One question: I see that some people make things like rating and movie title bold within their posts. How do you do that?

Just put [/b] at the end of the text you want bold and [b] at the start.

[Sad man]

Will never see this movie...

[SteveSzyk]

This was actually a pretty damn fun movie. I hate both soccer and Kung fu, yet really enjoyed this one. Smart, funny, and very clever. I didn't ssee it dubbed, and we all now what a bad dub job can do to a movie - I recommend it, although try to see it with the subtitles - so maybe a rental would be better .

[movies35]

Very sudden release date change from upcomingmovies.com

Release Date: September 5th, 2003 (LA/NY); expands to other cities at later dates

Release Date Note: (7/19/02) This was originally scheduled to open on April 5th, 2002, then, August 30th, 2002, and now sometime in the 1st quarter of 2003. (8/16/02) This has been pushed back a little bit again, now to April 11th, 2003. (1/31/03) Miramax has bumped this back another four months to August 8th, 2003. That's 16 months after its first target date. (6/23/03) Miramax has adjusted this movie a week, from August 8th to August 15th. (8/8/03) Miramax has dumped their plans on giving this film a wide release, going with a platform release starting on September 5th instead. As KungFuCinema.com reports, this decision comes with the news that Miramax has decided to go with the original dialogue (with subtitles) rather than doing an English dub.

[Psychocandy]

Originally posted by Sad man
Will never see this movie...

I've never understood anyone saying this about a movie that hasn't been slated right across the boards. If you wander over to imdb.com (currently sitting at 7.6 with 2000+ reviews) and check out the external reviews you will discover that the critical response has been overwhelmingly positive so far and I reckon that upon release stateside this will continue.

[Fisting Ackbar]

Originally posted by Mike
Is it supposed to be obviously dubbed so poorly? Was it a spoof or something like KUNG POW? If it's not done on purpose, then I must say, the dubbing looks so fucking AWFUL. What's the deal with this movie? I don't understand what it's trying to be. For the most part, it looks like a spoof like KUNG POW.

It's an Asian comedy made without any knowledge of KUNG POW (which was horrendous unlike this movie). We can blame Miramax for the fact that the dubbing is awful, but luckily they are releasing it now with subs, although they still might have edited the movie somehow.

[chans]

Bump
http://www.miramax.com/shaolin_soccer/

[chans]

No one care this one?

[Kim_EZ]

This was a good movie, but I saw it years ago. It's very funny even if the story isn't that strong. There are some great action scenes as well. Stephen Chow is hilarious.

This movie looks really bad. Maybe because it’s from Asia

Um, watch the movie first before making a rather rude generalization.

[Lylandra]

This movie was sooooo funny!!! Just watch it and don't think too much, it'll be hilarious.

[The Engraved]

9/10

This is without a doubt one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. I went to see this movie over the weekend with my brother and sister in Times Square (one of the few places that actually show the movie in the whole country). DO NOT judge this move by any trailer or because you think it is another Kung Pow. This movie is nothing like that film. If you love out of the world comedy, special effects and foreign films then see this movie. It is truly more superior than most comedies released in the USA.

BTW Soccer rules!!!!:D

[HanasaMO]

That's the funniest sports film I've ever seen.It made me laugh all through the run time.

[Moosem216]

To the guy who said it looks bad because its from Asia, congratulations on being a Racist. I hope that works out for you. Have you never heard of Kurosawa? Wong Kar Wai? John Wu?

And for everyone else- As other people have already said, this movie is a great deal of fun. As long as you can suspend all belief of reality, you'll have a blast. But one thing though.... I highly recommend tracking down the older dvd release. The dubbing on the new one was horrible, it's alot better with the original language track, and I think they edited it some for the American release.

Either way though, I recommend seeing this movie.