"Dancing Lion" sums up everything that one needs to know about the lion dance because the movie starts off with a brief history of the dance and how it is introduced to the Chinese custom as well as the reason for holding such a dance during special occasions like the heralding of the new year or opening of a new company.

In the movie, Francis Ng plays Ah Kai who works in a junk food company. One day the company decides to lay-off its workers, keeping only the employees who have special talents. Ah Kai and Ah Kao (Lam Tze Chung) decide to form a duet, but they're hopeless. Uncle Tenth (Anthony Wong) then suggests that they learn up their family's legacy - The "Lion Dance".

Before they are able to show off what they've learnt, they are sacked. Standing in the streets in their lion costumes, they suddenly become instant celebrities surrounded by an eager crowd.

Uncle Tenth's sister, Sam Mui (Teresa Mo), a snobbish divorcee and an enterprising opportunist, decides to use Ah Kai's accidental popularity to run a business. She creates a "Super Lion Dance" which Ah Kai has to perform in a bar. She also opens other businesses like "Lion Dance for Kids" and "Weight Losing Lion Dance". All of them result in huge profits. She even asks Uncle Tenth to perform "Dead Lion Dance" at a funeral.

The computer-generated effects in "Dancing Lion" are just so-so as most of them do not make sense to me. Even though I found the movie ridiculous, I still can stomach it but only if I were to compare it with all the other equally silly Hong Kong movies like the "Kung Fu Mahjong" series. Other than its asinine side, "Dancing Lion" is a movie that tells about the importance of unity among family members and friends.

The entire cast of "Dancing Lion" play their parts as well as can be expected for a movie such as this. Francis who plays the so-called general manager of a junk food company, only has a small role in the enterprise. His experience in acting has made it a small problem for him to act, both as an 18-year-old boy and as an inexperienced lion dancer. As for Anthony, he looks a bit unnatural playing the typical Chinese who is very fond of Chinese arts and who is extremely talented in Chinese Southern Opera.

All in all, "Dancing Lion" (which sounds more like a Chinese New Year movie to me), is a straightforward comedy that tells the message of family togetherness as well as the history and culture behind lion dancing.