Film

Shaolin Soccer

Name: Shaolin Soccer
Genre: Action, Comedy
Released: 2001
Cast: Stephen Chow, Richard Ng Man-Tat, Zhao Wei, Patrick Tse Yin, Karen Mok Man-Wai

Stephen Chow's gloriously stupid, gorgeously silly martial-arts sports comedy about washed-up Shaolin monks who rediscover kung fu through football, complete with fireball free-kicks and a goalkeeper built like a tank. It's slapstick, wire-fu, and genuine sweetness stitched together with early-2000s CGI that somehow still charms rather than dates. Watch it for pure, unfiltered joy — this is not a film that takes itself seriously, and neither should you.

TMDb rating

7.2

If you liked this

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Chow's very next film, and if anything it's even more inventive — a slum full of secret kung fu masters facing down a gang in a cartoonishly violent, gorgeously choreographed comedy. Same DNA, bigger canvas.

But Less of an underdog structure, more anthology of set pieces — some miss the sports-movie shape Shaolin Soccer gives you.

DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story2004

A ragtag gym team using absurd trick shots to win a tournament against impossible odds — the sports-underdog engine of Shaolin Soccer transplanted into American gym-class chaos, with Vince Vaughn's deadpan holding it together.

But Broader, cruder humour and no martial arts flair — the jokes lean on American sitcom rhythms rather than visual invention.

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The purest version of the formula stripped of irony: hopeless misfits, a reluctant coach, a triumphant final match. If you want to feel the underdog beats land sincerely rather than absurdly, start here.

But Completely earnest where Shaolin Soccer is winking — no martial arts, no CGI mayhem, just a straightforward family sports film.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

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Same skeleton as Shaolin Soccer — a scrappy, mismatched team pulling off impossible plays in a climactic match — but played as tense wartime drama instead of slapstick, with a real World Cup legend doing the trick shots instead of CGI.

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But It's a straight drama with wartime tension, not a comedy — the tone is sincere and occasionally grim rather than gleeful.

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An animated underdog finds his inner warrior through ridiculous, physics-defying kung fu — the same comic reverence for martial arts as spectacle, aimed at all ages and packed with genuine visual wit.

But Aimed more squarely at kids, and the humour is gentler — none of Shaolin Soccer's gross-out gags or slapstick violence.

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Jackie Chan at his most electric, blending comedy and jaw-dropping technique in a way that clearly influenced Chow's whole approach — this is where kung-fu-as-comedy really got its footing.

But No sport, no team, and a slower, more traditional structure — this is martial arts comedy in its classic form, not a sports movie.

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Will Ferrell and Jon Heder as disgraced figure skaters forced into an absurd partnership — the same commitment to gleeful, over-the-top spectacle in service of a ridiculous competition.

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A martial-arts-flavoured ping pong comedy that leans just as hard into ridiculous exaggerated sporting feats and cartoonish villains — proof the Shaolin Soccer formula travels well to other games.

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A gentle, quietly funny film about young Tibetan Buddhist monks in exile desperate to watch the 1998 World Cup final, made with real monks in a real monastery. It finds the same tender comedy in sport-obsessed devotion, just at a whisper instead of a shout.

But Slow, low-key, and almost entirely dialogue-driven — no martial arts, no spectacle, and a pace that's the polar opposite of Chow's manic energy.