Shaolin Basket

Well sometimes quite literally. Not in a way Basketball is supposed to be played. Then again, I sometimes dreamt of playing a few sports like the Shaw Brothers would have taught me. Flying through the air and all that. Might not be fair to be honest, but then again the bad guys don't play fair either, do they know? That was rhetorical, because they obviously don't.

Having said all that, this is quite cliche and you can actually see where this is going. If you don't mind that, go ahead and watch it and enjoy the romp for what it is. Some fantasy come through, with many flaws and predictable as can be ... but you know fun

A mess of genres but it's mainly based on Stephen Chow's genre mash-ups for it's inspiration. There's magic kung-fu, college romance, sports, gangster action and some weepy melodrama for a topping. The production is excellent and the pacing is fast so it's easy to get past the many flaws in this film.

A baby is abandoned next to a basketball court. A homeless man brings him to a Shaolin monastery that's in the middle of a city along with a special kung fu manual that the homeless man somehow has but can't read. The old monk teaches the boy but expires when he tries to master the special technique in the manual. The school is taken over by a phony kung fu master who is assisted by four wacky monks. The new master gets mad at the now 20+ year old boy for not pretending to be hurt by the master's weak punches and throws him out for the night. The boy is found throwing garbage into a basket from an incredible distance by a man who bring him to a gangster's club to play darts. This leads to a big fight, the boy's expulsion from the monastery and the man's decision to turn the boy into a college basketball sensation.

Al this happens in the first 20 minutes with most of it happening in the first 10 minutes. Aside from the extreme shorthand storytelling the first problem is how little we get to know the main character until way into the movie. The man who uses the boy is more sharply defined by the time the first third is over. The plot follows no new ground except for the insane action climax of the film. I'm sure you can easily imagine how the wacky monks will show up towards the end. The effects, photography and stunt work are all top- notch and make up for the uninspired plot.

Stephen Chow has a much better command of plot and comedy writing and this film will live in his shadow but that's not a good reason to ignore it. It's quite entertaining even with a scatter-shot ending. Recommended.

I don't know the stars, or modern Chinese teenage music - but I do know a thoroughly entertaining movie when I see one.

Kung Fu Dunk is pure Hollywood in its values - it's played for laughs, for love, and is a great blend of Kung Fu and basketball.

Everybody looks like they had a lot of fun making this - the production values are excellent - and modern China looks glossier than Los Angeles here.

The plot of the abandoned orphan who grows up in a kung fu school only to be kicked out and then discover superstardom as a basketball play (and love and more etc;) is great - this is fresh, fun, and immensely entertaining.

With great action and good dialogue this is one simply to enjoy - for all ages - and for our money was one of the best family movies we're seen in a long time.

Please ignore the negative reviews and give Dunk a chance - we were really glad we did - a GOOD sports comedy movie.

First of all, I have to say that the Cine Asia DVD cover promises more than the movie actually delivers. Which just goes to prove, don't judge a movie by its cover.

"Kung Fu Dunk" is a combination of basketball, Kung Fu and a semi-romantic love story thrown into the midst. The end result was entertaining enough. However, the movie didn't really fully get a chance to spread out its wings and be all that it could have been. The movie just brushed over the various topics on the storyline on the surface. And that was a shame, because if the director had delved more into the depths of some topics instead of trying to be everywhere at once, then the movie would have had much more impact, depth and meaning. Personally, I found the movie to be good entertainment, but it was a rather shallow story, because it never took time to go into depths with the topics.

The action scenes were nicely shot, and the Kung Fu scenes were really well choreographed and looked nice. The basketball scenes, however, well they were great, it was like you were there on the court with the players. One thing that really didn't fit well into the movie, despite it was amazing to look at and funny, was when the four Kung Fu masters entered the basketball court and started fighting the Fireball team. Sure it looked nice and there was a lot of nice effects, but come on, it was just too much.

Being a long-time fan of Asian cinema, then it was really nice to see some of the big guns from Hong Kong cinema appear in a Mandarin Chinese movie. I haven't seen Eric Tsang (playing Zhen Li) in a long, long time, so it was a nice treat to get to see him on the screen again. He always brings some comical charm with him to the movies he is in. And of course you had Hong Kong cutie, Charlene Choi (playing Lily), as well and despite having a minor role she actually did it great, because it was a step away from her usual sugar-coated late-teen love romance roles (and it was nice to see her in a movie without Gillian Chung around). Finally, in a small cameo role, you had huge Hong Kong movie star from back in the day, Kenneth Tsang (playing Wang Yiwuan). His role was very small, but still, just his presence there was awesome.

The movie's main actor, Jay Chou (playing Fang Shijie) was really carrying the movie mostly by himself. He was really well-cast for this role and he did a great job with his character.

"Kung Fu Dunk" suffered from a half-hearted storyline that never explored its potential, and that was a shame, because the movie really had potential for so much more.

If you liked "Shaolin Soccer", then the chances are that you will like "Kung Fu Dunk" as well, though this movie is not as good as "Shaolin Soccer". But still, it is entertaining and fun to watch.

Tagline: A much lesser attempt at recapturing the spirit of Shaolin Soccer… Review by Neo: Kung Fu Dunk follows the same route as one of HK's biggest movie in Shaolin Soccer, but the results is totally another story. While the aforementioned flick starred the arguable the biggest Hong Kong superstar, Kung Fu Dunk have Taiwan's own favourite son in singer turned actor, Jay Chow. Combining kung fu with sports is no longer something new and the result providing the audience with an average mindless entertainment. While Shaolin Soccer is a classic three act underdog story, Kung Fu Dunk goes like a roller-coaster rides but without the thrills in between. Sure, some fun can be had and the duo chemistry in Eric Tsang and Jay Chow is even at times touching, but this is by no means a great movie at all.

Jay Chow is a stoic actor and in other words he is like a piece of wood. His face is expressionless and while he once claimed that he wanted to be become the next Jet Li, it is fast becoming more of a dream than reality. Li is a stoic actor, but not one without emotions, one classic example is Li performance in Hero. On the outlook his performance is that of wooden, but looking closely his eyes contained deeper motivations as he confronted the King. Needless to say, Li is now a Best Actor in his acclaimed role in Warlords, and if Chow wants to become anywhere near his ambition, he will need to learn and reflect upon his method of acting. Despite sharing the same surname as Stephen Chow, Jay is no comedian and while he is easily likable, he does not oozes the same level of charisma as say Li or the much more famous Chow counterpart.

Perhaps the film unlikely saving grace comes in the form of veteran Eric Tsang, in what is most likely his best role since Infernal Affairs. Tsang is a flawed character, yet he is sympathetic and probably the only person in the whole movie that seemed human and real. He is greedy, selfish, but deep down he is sentimental and his belief in Jay till the very end allows the audience to relate to his human character, rather than special effects. Tsang lifts up this film from bad to average and for that Mr. Tsang take a bow. While the cover of the atrocious Dangerous Games claimed that his performance there was better than Comrades: A Love Story, maybe the cover designer was referring to this movie.

Charlene Choi also appears in the flick, but in the end, she really has nothing to do other than look cute, promote that style of glasses, act cute and be cute. With her counterpart Gillian now in seclusion, it is now up to Charlene to stand up by herself. It is disappointing to witness Choi in such an insignificant role, especially after her Hong Kong Film Critics award winning performance in Simply Actors.

At the end of the day, the real reason why Kung Fu Dunk did not work is really pointing at the producers and director. The overuse of crappy special effects is one huge downfall and adding to the mix is the unrealistic script based on a manga. Without forgetting, it is ultimately the director's (Kevin Chu) fault in filming such crappy basketball sequences. As a basketball player for almost 14 years (despite the fact that Neo is not a good player still), the film lack any sort of tactical awareness or the "never give up" spirit that is required in competitive basketball. Without being a big head, this movie did reminded Neo of a little over 7 years ago that he was once in the school basketball team which reached the State Grand Final. In the final, Neo lifted up his game and played the best basketball he has ever played. Despite losing in the final, Neo holds no regrets, as we played our best as a team and as an individual. Even though 7 years on, he may never have another chance to reach those heights again, that feeling and emotion of playing in a grand final is priceless.

All in all, Kung Fu Dunk is at best, a mindless entertainment, but even so, it is just an average one. It is a shame that it cannot be what it intended to be (namely Shaolin Soccer), and with technology 7 years on since that little Stephen Chow movie, it is just not good enough. Jay Chow has done extremely well as a debutant director in Secret, but here his acting has become all too familiar. There is no doubt that he did not deserve the Best New Artist Award for Initial D, where Anthony Wong commented so strongly. Still, it is really just yet another average Hong Kong movie, but once again, it is really the case of what could have been. So what's next on the menu? Kung Fu Tennis sounds utterly original… (Neo 2008)

I rate it 5.5/10

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