Le Temple de Shaolin 2: Les Enfants du temple

Like the first Jet Li's movie, the Shaolin Temple (1979), this movie is also excellent in that all actors are professional martial arts athletes of Chinese national and provincial teams, including the boys and girls from the national/provincial junior teams. Hence, all moves are realistic and there is no stunts, no cranes, no cable, no fakes, and no special effects like Jet Li's later works such as Lethal Weapon 4. As martial arts flicks in China developed, it inevitably took the similar road to that of Hong Kong and Taiwan with increasing fakes, and earlier flicks like this is thus really a masterpiece in comparison.

This film lives up to the Shaolin Temple series and again Pan delivers and amazing performance, I mean how great of a guy is he. He is genuine top class wushu material. What can I say, I just love the guy, almost as much as Q-tip's "Vivrant Thing." I hope to see another film of his soon.

Whereas "Shaolin Temple" had exciting action throughout the whole film and paced itself accordingly, this film had virtually no plot and waited until the very end for any real suspenceful action.

Don't get me wrong. The last fight scene was amazing and worth waiting for. It's just that the rest of the film left a lot to be desired. The competition between the boy artists and the girl artists was interesting at first, but after 45 minutes of no plot other than both sides taunting each other, I found myself tempted to hit the fast-forward button.

The fight scene at the end, as well as a few others in the film, show some serious artistry. Jet Li proves once again that he's one of the best artists in Hong Kong Cinema, and Master Pan (I forgot his first name) make a formidable villan.

The film is worth seeing for the action, but if you want to hit your fast fwd button a few times, you won't miss much.

The problem with so very many Chinese martial arts films is their tendency to be cheapo junk. Kids of Shaolin, starring Jet Li back when he was a Chinese action film star is not cheap looking at all! Honestly though, nobody sees a martial arts film for the production value. They see it for the martial arts. This film's emphasis isn't so much on people beating the living daylights out of each other. Instead it's the acrobatics that are most on display. Of course, Jet Li as the oldest brother is a brilliant athlete, but he isn't the main attraction by far! The kids in the title are DAZZLING!!! There are a few scenes where the clan of Shaolin boys compete with the clan of Wu-Tang girls, trying to show each other up. These scenes are some of THE MOST IMPRESSIVE acrobatics I've seen anywhere. During these scenes, the background is filled with the beautiful and dramatic steep mountains and winding rivers of China. I really can't say enough about these scenes, which easily make the movie great. Don't get me wrong, it's not a perfect film by a long shot, but these kids are so impressive that they make this film a must-see.

What this film lacks in plot, cunning script and subtlety, it more than makes up for in stunning Kung Fu action and amazing acrobatics from every member of the cast (however young). It's 'Romeo & Juliet'-esque storyline is cliched and quite predictable but the the film is worth a watch simply in order to wonder 'How did Jet Li do that?'.