Shaolin Soccer (2001) on Netflix

PG20011h 53mAction Comedy Sport

Sing, a Shaolin kung fu master, wants to bring kung fu to the world. A limping former soccer star, Fung, offers to coach him, and Sing's five brothers join the team.

Netflix3.8/5
IMDb7.3/1098,746 votes
Rotten Tomatoes89%

Trailer

Plot summary

Sing has trained in Shaolin kung fu and wants people to see what the martial art can do. No one takes his classes, and he steals steamed buns from Mui, a baker who cooks with tai chi. Fung was a soccer star in the 1980s. He missed a penalty in a crucial match after his teammate Hung paid him to lose, and angry spectators broke his leg. Twenty years on he walks with a limp and Hung, now a businessman, treats him as a lackey. Hung mocks Fung when he asks to coach a squad. Drinking in the street, Fung meets Sing, feels the power in his leg, and offers to coach him. Sing asks his five Shaolin brothers to join a team. Fung arranges a test match against a team known for cheating.

Cast

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Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Shaolin Soccer (2001)

Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.

In 2001 Stephen Chow clashed with mainland China's film bureau after the Shaolin Temple complained that pairing "soccer" with "Shaolin" would insult Buddhists; he refused to retitle the film "Kung Fu Soccer", and its producer was banned from shooting on the mainland for one year.
Chow stocked Shaolin Soccer with people from his own entourage who had never acted before, among them his screenwriter Lam Chi Chung, cast as Light Weight, and Danny Chan Kwok-kwan, the choreographer hired for the film's Michael Jackson dance number, who played goalkeeper Empty Hand.
Zhao Wei was cast as Mui after Stephen Chow saw her performance in the mainland television series My Fair Princess.
Shaolin Soccer grossed HK$60,739,847 in Hong Kong, making it the highest-grossing film in the region's history at the time; the record lasted until 2004, when Stephen Chow's own Kung Fu Hustle passed it.
The 2004 US DVD release by Miramax deleted 23 minutes of footage from the original cut of Shaolin Soccer, including "Golden Leg" Fung's flashback opening sequence and Sing's interactions with Mui.
The co-creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, said the effects in Shaolin Soccer helped inspire how "bending" might look on their show.
One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda had opposed a live-action adaptation of his manga until he saw Shaolin Soccer, which convinced him it was feasible; he then took an active role overseeing Netflix's live-action series.