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:

Shaolin | Kung Fu | Soccer | Martial Arts | Evil

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)
Chi Chung Lam	...	Light Weight (Small Brother)
Kwok-Kwan Chan	...	Lightning Hands (Fourth Brother)
Chi Ling Chiu	...	Hooking Leg - Second Brother
Ming Ming Zhang	...	Little Hung
Pu Ye Dong	...	Little Fung
Shi Zi Yun	...	Team Evil Center
Cao Hua	...	Team Evil Goalie
Li Bin Hong	...	Team Evil Player 1
Zhao Yong	...	Team Evil Player 2
Shi Heng Jiang	...	Team Evil Player 3
Shi Heng Jie	...	Team Evil Player 4
Hu Shao Qi	...	Team Evil Player 5
Lam Tsz Sin	...	Team Gangster Player 1
Yuan Xiao Long	...	Team Gangster Player 2
Wong So Hing Kin	...	Team Gangster Player 3
Lo Hoi Ying	...	Team Gangster Player 4
Xian Jian Rong	...	Team Gangster Player 5
Ma Jun Long	...	Team Gangster Player 6
Yao Xu	...	Team Gangster Player 7
Kin-Yan Lee	...	Manny
Min Hun Fung	...	Rebellion team leader
Tsui Na	...	Sweetie
Mok Wai Man	...	Hung's Driver
Sun Chang Meng	...	Hung's Assistant
Lun Yeung	...	Butcher
Wen Hui He	...	Street Singer
Lu Wei	...	Reporter
Tse Chi Wah	...	General Manager of Karaoke
Sun Chi Wing	...	Manager
Wong Yan Kit	...	Referee
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ling Bai	...	Mui (voice)
Tom Romero	...	Iron Head (voice)
Yut Fei Wong	...	Iron Head (First Brother)
Nicholas Tse	...	Young Hung (uncredited)

Directed by
Stephen Chow

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Stephen Chow		writer
Kan-Cheung Tsang		writer

Produced by
Kwok-fai Yeung	....	producer

Original Music by
Jacky Chan
Lowell Lo
Ying-Wah Wong		(as Raymond Wong)

Cinematography by
Pak-huen Kwen
Ting Wo Kwong

Film Editing by
Kit-Wai Kai

Art Direction by
Cyrus Ho		(as Kim Hung Ho)

Costume Design by
Yim Man Choy

Production Management
Lik-Chi Lee	....	production supervisor
Kai Man Tin	....	production supervisor
Connie Wong	....	production manager

Sound Department
Nelson Ferreira	....	sound editor
Thanos Kazakos	....	adr recordist: English dubbing
Chi-tat Leung	....	sound
Colin McLellan	....	sound re-recording mixer
Jason Perreira	....	sound re-recording assistant
Nathan Robitaille	....	assistant sound editor

Visual Effects by
Erik Dehkhoda	....	digital compositor
Mark Dick Danger Devlin	....	digital compositor
Christopher Dusendschon	....	digital imaging supervisor: iO FILM (english version)
Chris Ervin	....	digital effects artist
John Follmer	....	head of production: MetroLight Studios
Adam Hawkey	....	digital compositor: iOFilm
James W. Kristoff	....	executive in charge of production: MetroLight Studios
Ken Law	....	CG technical director
Dobbie Schiff	....	executive producer: MetroLight Studios
Mike Uguccioni	....	digital compositor

Other crew
Siu-Tung Ching	....	action director
Oli Laperal Jr.	....	equipment coordinator
Ailen Sit	....	martial arts director
Ming-kin Wong	....	martial arts director
Ron Yuan	....	voice
Stephen Chow	....	additional action director (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Star Overseas
• Universe Entertainment

Distributors

• Universe Films Distribution Company (2001) (worldwide) (all media)
• Buena Vista International Italia (2003) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Buena Vista International (2004) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Filmcoopi Zürich (2004) (Switzerland) (theatrical) (German speaking region)
• Optimum Releasing (2004) (UK) (theatrical)
• Star Overseas (2001) (Hong Kong) (theatrical)
• United International Pictures (UIP) (2003) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Alliance Atlantis Communications (2003) (Canada) (as "Shaolin Soccer") (dubbed)
• Buena Vista Home Entertainment (2005) (Brazil) (all media)
• Buena Vista Home Entertainment (2004) (Switzerland) (DVD)
• Buena Vista International (2005) (Argentina) (all media)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2003) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• GAGA
• Gativideo (2005) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Gativideo (2005) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Humax Pictures
• Klock Worx Company, The
• Laurenfilm (Spain)
• Metropolitan Filmexport (2002) (France) (all media)
• Miramax Films (2004) (USA) (all media)
• Optimum Releasing (2005) (UK) (DVD)
• Talpa (2006) (Netherlands) (TV) (first national airing)
• Universe Laser & Video Co. Ltd. (2001) (Hong Kong) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Centro Digital Pictures Ltd.
• MetroLight Studios

Other Companies

• Centro Digital Pictures Ltd.  motion control equipment provided by
• Cinerent  camera equipment provided by (scenes in Guangzhou)
• Cinerent  grip and lighting equipment (scenes in Guangzhou)
• Mandarin Laboratory (International) Ltd.  subtitles
• Media Business Service Limited  sound post-production
• Toplight Engineering  camera equipment provided by
• Union Film Laboratory  film processing

Also Known As:

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

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

Certification:

Switzerland:12 (canton of Zurich) | Iceland:12 | Malaysia:U | 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:

One of three Chinese films acquired by Miramax in 2002 for major U.S. distribution following the success of Wo hu cang long (2000). The other films were Ying xiong (2002) (Hero), and Shu shan zheng zhuan (2001) (Zu Warriors). In April 2004, this film was given a limited U.S. theatrical release. Hero was given a successful wide release in September 2004. Zu Warriors was released straight-to-DVD in August 2005.

Quotes:

Sing: What are you going you look like ET?
Mui: Trust me, I can do it.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Troldspejlet: (#30.5)" (2003)

Soundtrack:

Mens' Courage

If you don't enjoy this movie, you are a bad person

Throughout the nearly two hour running time of this movie, the room was a glow with merriment, excitement, and remarks of "Holy crap, that is the coolest thing ever!" Indeed, for this movie is filled with amazing visuals, fantastic fun, and all around goodness. Shaolin Soccer is a harmless movie, the type that mentions the normal morals you might find in a children's movie (work in teams, don't let success go to your head, cheating is bad, etc.), without preaching them.

Some Shaolin-trained, but for the most part poor and unhappy men get organized in a soccer team with a coach who was crippled in a soccer riot after losing the big game twenty years ago. You've got a variety of misfits--the spunky young'n with the steel leg, the obese convenience store clerk who can nearly fly, the plutocratic salary man who uses a style reminiscent of Flying Chimpanzee's Cotton Belly in Wing Chun. It's an odd little band, stretching from barely-post adolescent to nearly retirement age. This rag-tag band is quite endearing and it works so well.

Sure, there are a few instances of cheap humor, but you've got to expect this. The visuals are fantastic, the characterization competent (even if you probably have seen the archetypes before), and it's a lot of fun, whether it's the parody of a war movie (which my friend called scant instants before it happened) or the somewhat unusual tribute to Bruce Lee (hint: it's all in the sunglasses).

Should you see this movie? Yes. I'd say this movie deserves 4 1/2 stars out of five based on technical merits, etc. But on fun? That's right, it gets a million billion stars. Now let's see what Miramax cut out--25 minutes? Crap.