Shi-Jie (Jay Chou), grew up in a martial arts school and is well-trained in kung-fu. With his kung-fu skills and good reflexes, Shi-Jie excels in basketball by mastering the slam dunk technique. Wang-Li (Eric Tsang), who is trying to locate Shi-Jie's real family, invites him to join the university's basketball team in hope of making some money. Shi-Jie faces new challenges while trying to blend in with the basketball team members Ting-Wei (Chen Bo-Lin) and Xiao-Lan (Baron Chen). With the upcoming basketball championship and the appearance of Li-Li (Charlene Choi), will the team members set aside their differences and personal feelings for the love of the game?
by perc_yew_rox
on 13/05/2009 1 of 3 people found this review helpful
Catch it (if u are a fan of jay chou) to see him rarely being so cute and innocent in the movie.Or if u a an avid basketball fan..the competition scenes are quite engaging as well.
One small memorable part at the beginning of the movie where Jacky wu appeared for a while---he really sparked the audience off laughing =)
Overall,the movie is quite worthy to catch! =))
"Kung Fu Dunk" revolves around Shi-Jie (Jay Chou), an orphan who grew up in a Martial Arts School. With his nifty Kung-fu skills, he is spotted by Wang-Li (Eric Tsang) who invites him to join the university's basketball team in the hope of making money from him. There, Shi-Jie finds out that Li-li (Charlene Choi), whom he has been admiring, is the sister of the team's captain. She, however, idolises Xiao-Lan (Baron Chen), one of the other players on the team and it is this love triangle that throws the team off course initially before they gather their wits about them and focus on the real competition on the courts.
Director Kevin Chu works on a fail-proof formula of a tried-and-tested storyline and casting of superstar Jay Chou in the lead role. Supported by well known faces in the likes of Charlene Choi and Eric Tsang, this movie is a confirmed blockbuster during this Chinese New Year season. The director also cleverly keeps Jay Chou's role simple and boyish and the love/hate, romance and other themes that the movie introduces and then deftly hidden from view, so that the attention consistently stays on the courts.
A comparison between this movie and other like movies such as "Shaolin Soccer", "Kung Fu Hustle" and the same-date 2008 release of Stephen Chow's "CJ7" will be inevitable. Yet this movie should be able to hold its own simply by Jay Chou's drawing power. Fans will be eager to see his kung fu skills and to see him in action playing his favourite sport - basketball. In addition, Jay Chou in "Kung Fu Dunk", compared to his earlier movies, attempts a 'slam dunk' in this movie by dappling with the deeper emotional stuff which his earlier works had largely avoided.
With Tony Ching, photographer of "Curse of the Golden Flower" and sound engineer Shirley Chan, who is a Golden Horse winner of best sound effects in Taiwan, who are amongst a host of other well known names who held the fort in the post production phase of this movie, it is little wonder that this movie clocks up the title of biggest production with its $10million budget. However, fans will agree that the slew of action from the cast coupled with the special effects is what will make this movie of great entertainment value and worth every sen spent. While the movie may not go down into the annals of Great Movies, it nevertheless fulfils its role as a great long weekend movie.
Lastly, look out for Baron Chen and Chen Bo-Lin as together they make great eye candy - that is if you are able to draw your attention away from Jay Chou for just a second. Expect a cameo appearance by Liu Geng Hong as well.
Production Photos - Click thumbnail for larger photos
Premiere Photos - Click thumbnail for larger photos