SHAOLIN SOCCER

Shaolin Soccer is mostly harmless fun built around a wonderfully strange idea: what happens when kung fu moves enter a soccer game? The jokes often work, the pace stays upbeat, and the campy style borrows from The Matrix, 1970s kung fu movies, and Broadway musicals.

The movie does carry a light false religious element, presenting kung fu as an answer to everything. But the review finds it more a plot device than a solicitation, and the content concerns remain relatively light. Good and true persevere against literal evil, even within the movie’s unusual worldview.

If your family enjoys offbeat action comedy, this is worth the trip for middle schoolers and up, with parents using discernment for younger children.

Sing is a master of Shaolin kung fu who wants others to recognize its usefulness and beauty. Fung, a retired soccer player and over-the-hill coach, is searching for decent players. When the two meet, they see potential in each other.

With help from Sing’s Shaolin brothers, they form a soccer team and enter a lucrative tournament, hoping to defeat Fung’s arch rival. The result combines martial arts, soccer, campy comedy, and wildly exaggerated action.

Three stars means an entertaining film with clear limitations. Much of the fun comes from watching sensational flips, kicks, and camerawork worked into a soccer game. The movie maintains an upbeat pace, and its jokes often land.

The story itself sounds trite, but the intentionally campy presentation gives it energy. Its styles borrow from The Matrix, 1970s kung fu movies, and Broadway-style musicals. Some of those jokes may feel old hat to American viewers, but the movie’s strange combination of styles remains lively and inventive.

The movie presents kung fu as a philosophy and, in the content review’s words, “the answer to everything.” That is a false religious outlook, although the kung fu functions more as a plot device than as a serious solicitation. The story also presents good and true characters persevering to triumph over literal evil.

The Chinese culture that embraces kung fu as a philosophy is so far removed from contemporary Western culture that few audience members will see it as anything more than a fighting style. Still, Christian viewers should recognize that the film places ultimate confidence in kung fu rather than in God.

The movie’s better theme is perseverance: people with unusual gifts work together, endure difficulty, and stand against evil. Scripture points perseverance beyond human strength: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

With lively action, unusual humor, and an upbeat pace, Shaolin Soccer offers mostly harmless fun for older children, teenagers, and adults. Its light false religious outlook calls for discernment, but the movie’s overall content remains manageable for its intended audience. WORTH THE TRIP — MIDDLE SCHOOL AND UP.