Shaolin Soccer
(2001)
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| Watch Trailer 0Share... |
Shaolin Soccer
(2001)
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| Watch Trailer 0Share... |
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Stephen Chow | ... | ||
| Wei Zhao | ... |
Mui
(as Zhou Wei)
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Man Tat Ng | ... |
Golden Leg Fung
(as Ng Mang Tat)
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Yin Tse | ... |
Team Evil Coach Hung
(as Patrick Tse Yin)
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Cecilia Cheung | ... |
Team Dragon Player #7
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| Karen Mok | ... |
Team Dragon Player #11
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Vincent Kok | ... |
Team Puma Leader
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Hui Li | ... |
Banana Peel Girl
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Yat-fei Wong | ... | |
| Kai Man Tin | ... |
Iron Shirt (Third Brother)
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Chi Chung Lam | ... |
Light Weight Vest (Small Brother)
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| Kwok-Kwan Chan | ... |
Lightning Hands (Fourth Brother)
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Mei Lin Mo | ... | |
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Ming Ming Zhang | ... |
Little Hung
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Pu Ye Dong | ... |
Little Fung
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After a fateful mistake costing his career, an ex-soccer player bum meets a shaolin kung fu student trying to spread the word of kung fu. The ex-soccer player helps reconcile with his five brothers, and teaches them soccer, adding shaolin kung fu as a twist. Written by ravedragon
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-Chinese 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.