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In the vein of THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY, Chinese director Hao Ning captures a similar theme in MONGOLIAN PING PONG, but instead of a coke bottle this time it's a ping pong ball.

Seven-year-old Bilike lives on the Great Mongolian Steppe in a landscape of vast plains ruled by nomads-of-ol'. He survives with his family and friends in a fairly mundane cycle of life until one day he discovers a strange, white ball floating down a nearby river. He quickly grasps it and sets himself on an adventure. No one has ever seen anything like this ball. His bewitching grandmother tells him it's a good-luck item from the gods. Others think it might be a magical pearl. Bilike and his friends are enchanted and try to figure it out on their own. Traveling to wise monks, policeman, and eventually to Beijing, Bilike eventually finds out the truth about this rather ordinary object as he is forced to grow up.

Although similar in plotting to The Gods Must Be Crazy, Mongolian Ping Pong has better usage of camera, lighting and landscape. The panoramic vistas of the Mongolian Steppe are, without a doubt, absolutely magnificent. The location plays perhaps a more central character than the characters themselves. Which caused a few problems. Hao Ning (director) lets the camera linger on these beautiful shots too often and for too long, making the pacing agonizingly slow (although beautiful, one can only watch so much of this before it gets a bit tiring). Employing no-name actors is fairly common in films such as this, but it's very evident that none of these people (kids and adults alike) have very little if any acting experience, making many character sequences fall flat or wooden.

The initial quality of the filming, too, leant itself to a slightly documentary-style feel, which isn't horrible but something that detracts a little.

But even with these flaws, the story is quaint enough and infused with childlike wonder that most viewers probably won't mind. Be forewarned, though, as mentioned earlier, it is a sloooow film but shot with art-like dedication when looking at it overall.

I went to this movie with school today. But pff, what a piece of crap! I don't understand why this movie is rated a 6.5 !?! Way overrated!

No storyline, no action, no drama, no nothing. I think they don't even had a budget for this film.

The boy, finds a ball, floating down the river, but he never saw that before. After two hours the boy finds out that a ping-p0ng-ball isn't a holy egg. But before that; he licked the ball first and then he urinated on it. (?)

note: Strange thing is that the plot line says: the family has no electricity. But there is a part in the movie showing a TV. There is also a little boy on a scooter. (But how does he tank his gas?) The movie isn't correct.

Please don't waste your time!

I can't be objective about this one, simply because I'm a sucker for movies that immerse the viewer into another cultural world, stories rich with color and atmosphere and local customs, stories sometimes told without a good deal of central plot, but with a view towards capturing the inherit beauty of a region--films such as Behind The Sun, Moolaade and Respiro.

Mongolian Ping Pong is an elementary story that will drive action fans out of the room, as nothing much seems to happen very quickly--but the patient viewer is immersed in a colorful and distinctive Mongolian culture fast disappearing as Television and Motorbikes invade the vast grassy plains; a child finds a ping-pong ball floating down the local stream and thereby hangs the tale, a simple story somewhat like a BBC Nature Video with kids involved; often very funny, sometimes puzzling, but a loving, slightly anthropological take on the way humans act when driven by an ingrained culture.

This is one of the best ever art films from China (which I consider one of the two cinema superpowers of the last two decades together with Iran) and the best film I have seen so far this summer in Washington.

Its story is very sweet and continuously interesting, the characters are very realistic acted convincingly by amateurs (they practically play themselves in a very real way), has very fine humor, has magnificently photographed Mongolian landscapes, and is directed flawlessly. It could also be considered very interesting as a fiction-documentary of the Mongolian country life and culture displayed in detail.

Sets an excellent example of film-making with an honest heart and endless talent. Strongly recommended to all non-Hollywood film-goers.

'Mongolian Ping Pong' is an enjoyable film which tells the story of a young boy called Bilike, who finds a ping-pong ball in the river near his house. He lives on the Mongolian steppe, fairly secluded from industrial society, and his family and friends all have their own amusing opinions of what the ping-pong ball is or is used for.

As other viewers have mentioned, the film feels a lot like "The Gods Must Be Crazy" (and I would draw comparisons to the darker Icelandic film, "Noi the Albino") and contains the trademark flourishes of these documentary-ish steppe films. This means there are tons of drawn-out shots of the landscape, lots of time where nothing is happening or nothing is being said, and a lot of time traveling from location to location. This is interesting here because the elapsed time and expansive terrain lend the events of the story more gravity. Some of the drawn-out scenes are slightly monotonous, but without this lengthy pacing the same events would not be very significant.

Still, the characters and interactions prove to be endearing and this is one of the better "steppe films" I've seen (a haha, I've only seen three or so!). The themes involve the contrast of a nomadic life against a modern industrial one, materialism in the steppes, and the significance of family and hard work. There are some beautiful shots of the plains, mountains and deserts of Mongolia and we are treated to some charming segments with various locals. It is generally what some would call a "heart-warming family film" though the subtitles and slow pace would probably alienate most children.