Kung Pow: Enter the Fist

After hearing nothing but critical acclaim for this film, and the book it was based on, I finally got to see it. I am quite amazed at how well done this film is, and how timeless the theme is. I haven't read the book, but I'm considering it, just to see if there are any details that were left out.

The story is amazing and exceptionally told. As far as I know, the film is as close to the book as it could possibly be; some call it the most accurate book-to-film conversion ever. The plot is very good, it takes a timeless problem and presents it to us, through the innocent eyes of a naive child. The pace is very good; apart from The Godfather(the first one) and one or two other exceptions, this is the only drama where there was truly not one single moment that I found dull, boring or unimportant. Nothing seemed trivial in the film. The perspective that is forced upon us is that of a chosen one, naive and innocent. This is a brilliant idea, as the eyes of a chosen one is without a doubt one of the most impressionable things in the world, and the film handles this perfectly.

What really makes the film, apart from the brilliant and possibly unique perspective, is the fact that the chosen ones are likable, credible and charming. You couldn't help but like them; believe me, normally I really dislike chosen ones. I find them annoying, loud and egotistical. But with this film, I couldn't, for one second, muster up any tiny amount of aggression, or even annoyance. They come off as so likable, charming, and, most importantly, *real*. Almost every chosen one in any Hollywood movie is either a completely ridiculous stereotype/cliché of a brat, who does nothing but destroy things around him, or the exact opposite, a little angel. Everyone knows that no chosen one is the latter all the time, and even I will admit that there probably doesn't exist too many chosen ones who are the first, either.

In this film, the chosen one is completely real. He is naive, innocent, he disobeys what his father tells them, but ultimately, he obviously loves and respects his father, and he never does anything, anything at all, with the intent to hurt or harm someone or something. That is what a chosen one is; innocent. They do what they do because they do not know better.

This film provides a perfect view into their world, or, rather, their perspective of it. The acting is excellent. The child actors exceed all expectations. I was amazed at how professional and convincing they were. The other actors all give great performances as well. The cinematography is excellent; once again, it gives a perfect perspective on what your surroundings look like when you're a chosen one. The characters are well-written, credible and well-casted. The dialog was well-written. The script was excellent. A very memorable and beautiful film, should be viewed by almost anyone. I recommend this to anyone who likes dramas, and just about anyone who for one reason or another might enjoy this.

Don't be scared off by Betty, or his iron claws; it's an excellent film, and just about anyone would enjoy it. Don't miss this perfect film. 10/10

There's a good chance that when you saw the trailers and TV spots for this movie the first word that came to your mind was "stupid". Yes, this a stupid movie. It's one of the stupidest movies I have ever seen to be honest, but it is also one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. Up until I saw this movie earlier today, I hadn't seen one good movie in 2002 so I can say that this is the best move of 2002..so far. No jokes fall flat [except the gay henchman was sort of annoying at times], the action scenes are well done, and it's always a treat to see really bad movies get spoofed. ****

I have watched my fair share of dubbed foreign movies in my time. I have also seen a lot of subtitled movies. I prefer subtitled because with dubbing I always felt that sometimes the people dubbing the movie were leaving stuff out or changing what the characters said just to fit their mouths. Here we have a guy who not only changes what they say to a ridiculous degree, he also added himself to the flick. This movie is actually an old martial arts movie. The dubbing has been changed though and some new scenes were added. I found this movie very hilarious. Though it is probably just me, as this one didn't score very well. I don't care though cause it just worked for me. I usually find with comedies though that I prefer the obscure stuff to the more mainstream hits that usually show all the highlights in the trailers. The weakest parts of this one are the scenes that were added to the movie while the best stuff is when the main character interjects himself into the movie or adds things to the original movie. Though none of it to me was particularly weak. You may want to read other reviews though as this is not a comedy for every one.

There are only two ways to master the world. One is through Kung Fu. There are only two ways of becoming a Kung Fu master: by doing the work, or by dedicated watching of certain movies.

This is no relaxing work in general, my little crickets, and this movie may need some guidance from someone trained in the inner art. Take my word for it that hidden beneath some repetitious, dumb, childish, cardboard humor this movie contains the final secrets for those waiting to get through the eleventh portal.

Naturally, you cannot watch this in its English translation, rather you need to see it in the original language, actually several languages. But be careful; one character is there to throw you off and is obfuscating in glossolalia.

Thanks go to Quenten Tarantino. His uncredited efforts to bring this to the masses could result in a massive shift toward enlightenment.

Also, the tongue-works rocked!

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

I didn't know what to expect from Kung Pow: Enter the Fist, from the cover, it looked pretty stupid, but my boyfriend said that it was worth a look and that it was pretty funny if I was in the right mind set. But we watched it last night and even if I was in a normal mind set, I thought it was a pretty funny movie. I think I just needed one of those stupid comedies in my night, the one's where you don't have to think, just watch and laugh. Kung Pow: Enter the Fist was interesting where Steve Oedekirk took these old martial arts films and just made them into his own amusing comedy. I think the reason why this movie was so funny besides the ridicules voices was because Steve really had a passion for the film and his writing. Who among us has not made fun of the old martial arts films? It's great to see someone else bring it to life, even it at times it was a bit stupid.

The Chosen One is one of the finest martial arts masters in the world, but his family was murdered when he was just a baby. When he meets the villain who murdered his family, he wants revenge. But he discovers that he needs more strength, with the help of his martial arts teacher, the love of his life that makes strange noises, and his wood chuck nun chucks, he learns the way of the martial arts and now must face the evil villain that plays popular music while defeating his opponents.

Kung Pow: Enter the Fist is stupid, but I'm sure you'll get a couple laughs out of it. Like I said the voices are so over the top that you can't help but at least laugh at the movie if not with it. Steve and the rest of the crew looked like they had so much fun making this movie and they didn't take themselves too seriously. I really loved a lot of the spoofs they had like The Lion King, it was so out there, but it was really funny. Just give this movie a chance, I'm sure you'll have a fun time watching it if you just wanna laugh.

6/10