Shaolin Basket

If you go looking on Netflix or Hulu you can watch this sports movie Kung Fu Dunk. It stars Jay Chou. You might remember Jay Chou from the movie The Green Hornet. Jay Chou plays a orphaned boy that grew up at a kung fu school and eventually becomes a talented basketball player. This movie is mixture of basketball, kung fu and a love story.

Many people have compared this movie to Shaolin Soccer and may have thought it wasn't as good. I actually like this movie. There are parts of this movie that were really funny. In the beginning the kids master dies trying to alter the universe. He ends up being frozen. I don't know if I should be laughing or crying. There are elements that you won't find in most sports movies. This movie doesn't follow the usual formula for most sports movies.

Parts of this movie did feel disjointed. There is the kung fu, the basketball, a love story and the kid trying to reunite with his parents. I feel like there is something that could have made it better. If you can get around the flaws this is a good movie.

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

Clearly inspired by the success of Stephen Chow's Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Dunk, starring Jay Chou, is another slick sports/martial arts mix-up full of wire-enhanced action and CGI; but where Chow's film regularly bangs 'em in the back of the net, Dunk is far less reliable, the ball frequently rolling around the rim but failing to go in.

The 'pure' basketball scenes work well enough—expertly choreographed and hyper-energetic, they are the highlight of the film; likewise, the kung fu is fairly impressive when it happens. However, unlike Shaolin Soccer, which effectively combined its sports action with its crazy comic-book fantasy fighting, Kung Fu Dunk fails to make the two elements gel, the result being a film which switches awkwardly from one genre to the other. Similarly, the film's dramatic content lacks fluidity, director Yen-ping Chu clumsily juggling his over-sentimental themes of unrequited love, petty rivalry, and the importance of friendship and team spirit over individual wealth and success.

On a purely aesthetic note, the special effects are absolutely dazzling (standout scene; the players and crowd at a basketball match are quite literally frozen in time), and Charlene Choi is as appealing as ever, but some well rendered icicles and one cute-as-a-button 'twin' isn't quite enough to make this a winner.

5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

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 can't believe I watched this movie. It was bad... really really bad. Bad story, bad acting, bad characters, bad SFX, bad action, bad chemistry, just a really bad day after watching this junk.

Anything good? The part where Eric Tsang was trying to throw the can in the bin but kept missing maybe?

Everything else just didn't work. I'm really glad this isn't a complete work of the classic Anime Slam Dunk, it really would have tainted the series.

Steer clear, whether you are Jay fans or not, you will be embarrassed...