[squarejawhero]

Brilliant.

I've said it before - the spirit of Chuck Jones and Tex Avery live on in the blood of a chinese guy called Stephen Chow. Kung Fu Hustle is a work of total cartoon genius!

OK, OK, I'm getting known to possibly be a bit prone to hyperbole, but I sincerely think this guy is an incredible auteur talent. Following on from the frankly brilliant Shaolin Soccer, Stephen Chow has once again blended slapstick comedy, incredible phsyicality and well-implemented CGI into another great movie. There's not much plot but the characters are sympathetic and well-realised, the lines witty and sharp and the action fast, furious and totally OTT.

What I can't get over is how he appears to do so little yet make the films so effective. They're basically as complex as your average Bugs Bunny episode and yet just as clever. The spirit of that 'toon in particular seems vested into this somehow, although I can't place my finger on how.

There's also some brilliant lampooning of other films, mostly very subtle but with one Kubrick reference being a hilarious standout. One brief sequence is just SO funny I nearly wet myself - an extended chase scene where the characters almost become versions of Roadrunner.

As well as being a standout in comedy, Chow is a great director. The visuals are always splendid and well-framed, making for some really memorable compositions. He also doesn't refrain from violence, using it to set up the characters and divide them between Ying and Yang. Plus he can really build up moments, giving a palpable sense of danger whenever the Axe Gang or a couple of really vicious musicians appear(some brilliant invention on that bit).

It's currently on general release. If you love Looney Tunes, or dammit - if you love visual comedy and invention, then see this movie. It's one of the best cartoons I've seen recently, and its live-action! You can also pick it up on official Columbia Region 3 DVD with a great transfer and sound here.

Watch out for this Chow guy. I hope he stays in HK making these movies, though, Hollywood has a tendency of sapping something from directors from that part of the world... probably the weight of expectation plays too much with them? I don't know, but the quality and verve of this film is worthy of attention.

(from another forum I visit, can't be bothered to write it all again)

[Aj_]

I went to the cinema to see it 2 weeks ago, I enjoyed it.

[squarejawhero]

I got the DVD... I loved Shaolin Soccer, so I figured I was bound to like it. Certainly love the little jabs at the Matrix saga!

[Kolzig]

Shaolin Soccer was superb, when I saw it for the first time, I knew that I had to get that movie on dvd.

There was 2 versions of it at least, I had to get the R3 version, to get the better longer version... That still ain't a problem, because that version has english subtitles.

I have to see this newest Chow's creation, and soon.

Hey R3 and R1 have different aspect ratios, hmmMMM?

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Yeah, I had great fun with Shaolin Soccer. Kung Fu Hustle will definitely be on my Netflix queue very soon.

[SakSquash]

Has anyone seen Save the Green Planet? It looks to be pretty good. I want to see it, but living in a small hick town makes it hard to see Korean films.

[Ninth]

Very funny, but I thought the last 30 minutes weren't as good as the first hour.
The knife throwing scene almost killed me, though.

[pinkgothic]

I loved that movie! It was awesome. So funny! And even in the non-funny bits - fantastic. I'll never look at musical instruments the same way again...

[Ninja Dodo]

Hilarious. Absolutely brilliant. That landlady is too funny.

Temp: Save the Green Planet is a strange, strange film. I'm kind of not sure how I feel about it, but I'd say it's worth watching.

[SakSquash]

Originally Posted by Ninja Dodo

Hilarious. Absolutely brilliant. That landlady is too funny.

Temp: Save the Green Planet is a strange, strange film. I'm kind of not sure how I feel about it, but I'd say it's worth watching.

Yeah, I just have to find it first

Don't know if i'll like it, i've never seen any films from Asia.

[Ninja Dodo]

Well there's quite a range there... Save the Green Planet is very different from Kung Fu Hustle, which in turn is nothing like for example Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. So whether you like one film from the region isn't going to say a whole lot about whether you'll like the other ones.

[squarejawhero]

Kung Fu Hustle is about as different as Crouching Tiger as Piglets First Movie is from Akira.

[omloflump]

Ho hum. It had a very promising start, but then lost the plot (which is not always a bad thing; here it is). I have an issue with the 3D effects which, while they worked wonderfully in Shaolin Soccer, bog the film down substantially. I felt uneasy watching Kung Fu fight scenes that I knew weren't real – it takes the magic out of it. Sure, they're meant to be purposely over the top, but it certainly didn't make the film any funnier or any more enjoyable. Stephen Chow mastered the dangerous art of low-brow comedy with his previous films, but here the humour comes across as stale and tired. The style in the first half of the film made up for most of the flaws, while the second almost unbearably highlighted them. I liked Stephen Chow a lot before I saw this film, now I'm not so sure if I'd bother to watch another one of his films.

[Ninja Dodo]

I actually liked Kung Fu Hustle a lot more than Shaolin Soccer.

[squarejawhero]

Same here, especially stylistically and the use of CGI.

[Crunchy in milk]

Self depricating humor at its best. I felt the Zither scene went for too long before the wife finally stuck her nose in however. Trep you should appreciate the movie even more since you've played Jade Empire before hand, so much theft/homage by Bioware but then the movie is a huge cliche of much used stereotypes after all.