Shaolin Soccer (2001)

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

Director:

Stephen Chow

Writers:

Stephen Chow, Kan-Cheung Tsang (as Tsang Kan Cheong)

Stars:

Stephen Chow, Wei Zhao, Yat-Fei Wong

12 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Stephen Chow	...	Mighty Steel Leg Sing
Man-Tat Ng	...	Golden Leg Fung (as Ng Mang Tat) (as Mang Tat Ng)
Wei Zhao	...	Mui (as Vicki Zhao)
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)
Yat-Fei Wong	...	Iron Head (First Brother) (as Wong Kai Yue)
Tze Chung Lam	...	Light Weight (Small Brother) (as Lam Tze Chung)
Kwok-Kwan Chan	...	Lightning Hands (Fourth Brother) (as Chan Kwon Kwan)
Mei Lin Mo	...	Hooking Leg (Second Brother)
Ming Ming Zhang	...	Little Hung
Pu Ye Dong	...	Little Fung

Storyline

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.

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Taglines:

Kick some grass!

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Fantasy | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for martial arts action and some thematic elements

Details

Official Sites:

metrofilms.com [France] miramax.com [United States]

Country:

Hong Kong China

Language:

Cantonese Mandarin

Release Date:

12 July 2001 (Hong Kong)

Also Known As:

Shaolin Soccer

Filming Locations:

Shanghai, China

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$39,167, 4 April 2004

Gross USA:

$489,600

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$42,776,760

Company Credits

Production Co:

Star Overseas, Universe Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min 102 min (DVD) 85 min (original U.S. theatrical release)

Sound Mix:

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

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film's U.S. release date was scheduled and rescheduled numerous times over a year and a half.

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Quotes

Iron Shirt Tin (Third Brother): Time is money, don't you know that? I've lost a fortune just talking to you!

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Crazy Credits

Outtakes are shown before the credits.

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Alternate Versions

Some of the changes to "Shaolin Soccer" found in the new Miramax U.S. cut:

• The film has been shortened from 102 minutes to just over 80
• The opening titles have been deleted. Replaced by main title over generic "Asian" background.
• The opening B&W bribery scene between Golden Leg and Hung has been deleted.
• A musical sequence with Sing and the gang outside of Mui's sweet roll shop has been reinstated.
• Dialog has been removed between Sing and Iron Head during the club scenes, and the song they perform is in a major key, rather than the original minor key.
• Also gone are some of the bottle-to-head smashes on Iron Head.
• The vomit and fart gags have been deleted from Sing's first soccer attack in the streets.
• All the initial meetings with the Brothers have been shortened.
• The film is dubbed into English, thus not allowing time for the true translation of the screenplay. Dialog is often without the meaning the original version contained.
• Sing's apartment scene is deleted.
• The first of the two iterations of the "egg" joke with Little Brother and Iron Short during soccer training remains in the Miramax cut.
• Golf course scene between Hung and Golden Leg has been cut out.
• The final soccer match has a variety of cuts in it, mostly to take out the more extreme visuals featuring blood and violence.
• A cover version of "Kung Fu Fighting" is used over the last scene of the film and the end credits, removing the score entirely.
• References to Team Evil's use of illegal American drugs have been replaced with references to "training."

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Connections

Spoofs Saving Private Ryan (1998)

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Soundtracks

Celebration-RMX
Remixed and Produced by Chris "The Greek" Panaghi

User Reviews

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-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.