Gong fu guan lan (2008) Reviews

• Excellent entertainment - I don't understand all the negative reviews

  intelearts2009-06-15

  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.

• Chou's no Chow.

  BA_Harrison2011-11-22

  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.

• Cheap entertainment, silly plot, watch only if you run out of films to watch at your nearby theater

  comage2008-02-10

  Lot of silly plot holes in the film. First we see him watching his master practice kung-fu, and die in the midst of his practice. That's fine with me. And then at the end of the film, we see him use the kung-fu that he learned just by watching his master when he was still a kid. Is that even possible? I don't think so. This show is purely for Jay Chou fans, and the film lacks a depth in terms of character development, cinematography styles and unfolding of plot. Anybody notice that the captain of the basket team (forgot his name) and the idolized player Li Xiao look so similar to each other, to the extent that you'd think they were the one and same person? Long hair, sunshine-boy look, tall and strong. The two of them looked like they came out from a mass production factory designed to churn out products that makes teenage girls scream wild in orgasm. Not that those two actors had anything of value to contribute to the movie as a whole for the movie industry at all. The jokes were lame and not funny at all. The scene with regards to the 4 masters of Jay Chou coming back to help him out in the basketball court, degenerated into a pointless plot when they started bashing their opponents ala Royal Rumble style. Worse of all, when the 4 masters won the fight, the crowd began cheering, and the match continued. It was truly a WTF? moment. At the end of the show, when they win the match, all thanks to Jay Chou's excellent kung fu skills. How he acquired those kung-fu skills is a mystery, because the show somehow shows him acquiring the skills just by observing his master. And then his long-lost father comes out of the woodwork to acknowledge Jay Chou as his long-lost son seemed just a tad too quick of the director to wrap up the film. In short, this is a Jay Chou-flick (instead of the usual "chick flick"). Watch it only if Jay Chou is your fan. If you are one of those whose tastes in movies coincide greatly with those in the list of IMDb's top 250 films of all time, then this film is not for you.

• worst movie this year so far..

  sigu8282008-03-07

  this movie is made for Asian/Chinese market, targeting particularly fans of Jay Chou, one of the biggest music star in Asian. Jay Chou is a very talented song writer/singer. He is mediocre as an actor, although he did appear in several big-budget productions ("initial D", "Curse of the Golden Flower "). Amazingly, he won both golden horse (taiwan) and Hong Kong film awards for "initial D". The supporting cast are very well chosen, which appeals basically everyone from China. The cast including many famous movie/TV actors, singers, even sport commentator (Huang Jianxiang from China). However, they were not given enough time to show their talents. The biggest mistake is that Chu took over both director and writer position. He has a reputation of making shallow and brainless movies based off non-coherent scripts. With his poor directing and lam story, the whole talented cast, fancy vision effects and tones of production money was wasted. However, the terrible movie successfully cashed in over 10 million dollars, maybe even more in Asian, which made this one of the biggest box office success in Asian. The bottom line is: you can watch this movie only if you want to see how money and talents are wasted, or if you are simply accompanying your kids who are fans of Jay Chou.

• Kungfu Dunk failed to impress (even Jay's fans like me).

  allveen2008-02-06

  First, the plot was flat, his raise into famous in this movie was not explained how. From an orphan into famous basketball player. Second, the video effects was mediocre. The movie was concentrating in impossible style of basketball, die hard basketball fans wont happy to see this. No real basketball play in this film maybe (if you say its about kungfu, its not kungfu either, its too ridiculous). I'm a fans of Jay Chou but I sad to see him play a bad movie like this. Secret and Curse of the Golden Flower were a nice movie. I watched those and i'm impress by his acting skill (which is improving since Initial D, esp in Secret). THE ENDING? Jay release a kungfu aura to stop time to won the game against rival. What the? Was that a kungfu? Maybe for popcorn movie this is quite entertaining but for real movie, I'm sorry its not. Watch Secret and Curse of Golden Flower instead for Jay's fans.