Shaolin Soccer (2001)

Having a Ball

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy Shaolin Soccer on DVD.

In this variation on the "assemble-the-team" film, writer/director/star Stephen Chow recruits a handful of former comrades -- each with their own supernatural specialty -- to play soccer and beat the evil bad guy team. That's about it for plot. The actual soccer matches are the film's highlight, with a mix of real-life stuntwork and some excellent -- if low-budget -- computer effects. And director Chow's smooth camera work and clean editing highlight the action rather than obscuring it. After shattering Hong Kong box office records and winning several awards, Miramax snapped up this extremely cool kung-fu soccer film and promptly sat on it for three years. During that time, they chopped it up, dubbed it into English, translated it back into Chinese, gave it tentative release dates all through 2003 and kept changing their minds. Finally it sees the light of day. Honestly, I have to say that though I haven't seen the full-length version (112 minutes), the U.S. release version (89 minutes) seems to be the perfect length for this very slight and fast-moving story. For once, maybe Harvey did the right thing by cutting it down. Ng Man-tat, Vicky Zhou Wei and Patrick Tse Yin also star. A 102-minute version is available on the Hong Kong import DVD.

DVD Details: Boy was I wrong. I had assumed that because Shaolin Soccer was a comedy that the 89-minute American version would be preferable to the full-length 112-minute Chinese version simply because of speed. I finally had the chance to see the Chinese version, and -- of course -- there was so much more at stake. Miramax's butchering killed a lot of the timing and rhythym merely but cutting certain scenes short before they had a chance to breathe. Ironically, Miramax has also made up for their colossal mishandling of the film by releasing on DVD both their blundered American cut and the original Chinese cut with subtitles. There are no extras, but viewers who have only seen the dubbed version should definitely take the time to watch the real thing. I've upped my original rating to compensate.

Starring: Stephen Chow, Vicki Zhao, Ng Man-tat, Patrick Tse Yin, Karen Mok, Vincent Kok, Li Hui
Written by: Stephen Chow, Tsang Kan Cheong
Directed by: Stephen Chow
Language: Cantonese with English subtitles
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for action violence and thematic elements
Running Time: 89 minutes/112 minutes
Date: April 2, 2004