7 xiao fu

Seven children, all martial arts experts, are running loose unsupervised in Hong Kong. They check into a hotel then go out to dinner at a fancy restaurant. They all order steak and then act like they never saw a steak before. There is also a diamond transaction going on at this restaurant. Eventually one of the kids ends up in possession of the diamond and all the troubles associated with it.

This is a nonsense comedy for lack of a more precise category. Nonsense comedy can be defined by humor derived from situations that are unlikely, impossible or ridiculous. In this movie the most impossible situation is seven children running around without adult supervision. Yet, how times have changed, because in 1986 I doubt that was even out of the ordinary in that culture.

Whenever I review a comedy I am always careful to say "I found it funny" rather than something like "This movie is funny". What makes one person laugh can cause no reaction in the next person and be offensive to the following person. Only the transvestite scene made me laugh out loud and I am sure it also offended others.

I did like the action even though every fight was essentially the same. These kids had amazing martial arts and acrobatic skills. I was surprised to find they all had few other acting roles beyond this one movie.

I first bought this film on videocassette around 1990 for a couple of quid from a market stall. My friends and I were around 12 years old at the time and were already huge fans of the chop-socky genre. We'd already chalked up viewings of such Chan/Hung classics as 'Project A' (Parts I & II), 'Dragons Forever', 'Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars' and 'Wheels On Meals' (?! I know it's the wrong way round?!) in addition to lesser known cult classics as 'Mad Mission' AKA 'Aces Go Places' and 'Legend Of The Golden Pearl'.

The confused, muddled plots and badly translated dubbing were THE cornerstones of an enjoyable summer's afternoon back then - before we became more 'sophisticated' hoodlum teenagers. we used to re-wind sequences of dialogue. Again and again and again.

And again. And again until we almost wet ourselves with laughter.

This is no Kubrick classic. BUT it has a place in my heart simply because we used to laugh so hard over it. It's basically a kind of a pre-dated kung-fu 'Goonies'. But just SO much more ridiculous.

They have the most ridiculous names - Dum Dum, Pepper, Rocky, Fatty and, on my original VHS cover, one was even named Bulls**t (?!)

Their costume changes allow constant amusement. In one restaurant scene they are all decked out in some kind of bizarre cobalt coloured knickerbockers/beret combo.

Also they have a constant need to put their arms around each other's shoulders and chant "Seven Lucky Kids All For One!!! Yeaaaah!!" This is always filmed by an upward camera shot from the centre of their circle.

The other reviewer is right about the music. Like a lot of Hong Kong flicks it just fades in and out abruptly.

Check it out. If the idea of kids and adults, wearing ridiculous garments, knocking seven bells out of one another after saying things that do not make sense whilst wearing ridiculous costumes is your idea of fun - you will not be disappointed.

Feisty Little Chilli (Chiao Pei) rounds up her childhood friends Fatty (Yang Wei-De), Bumpkin (Hsu Yu-Ta), Little Elf (Lin Tung-An), Hsiao-Mao (Chang Chai-Ming) and Two-Teeth (Wang Chi-Cheng) to greet their pal Rocky (Cheng Wei-Pai) when he flies home from the United States. When Rocky treats the kids to a slap-up meal at a fancy restaurant, Chilli stumbles onto a robbery-murder. A dying man entrusts Chilli with a valuable diamond asking her to pass it on to his partner, Helen Ching (Siu Hung-Mui). The only clues he gives to her identity are that she will be wearing a flower and has a mole on her upper thigh. As the kids bumble into one mess after another in search of the elusive woman, an evil one-eyed gangster (Choi Chung-Chau) has his clumsy but brutal thugs dog their every move. What they don't realize is these seemingly ordinary children are in fact the Seven Lucky Stars, a lethal bunch of super-skilled kung fu kids no crook would ever want to mess with.

As this is a sprog-centric film I didn't expect to like it, but the sprogs ( the kids) are amazing with their Kung-fu moves, as good as their adult counterparts. They are small and light so their movement would be vastly nimble. It's really impressive. They do get hurt, though, so it's not totally aimed for children. There's some violence, but it's mainly of the slapstick kind - it sort of a send-up/tribute of Sammy Hung's Lucky Stars, a touch of the red-hand gang, which I loved, Bugsy Malone and the Goonies. The plot is simple, but that doesn't make this any less enjoyable. It's great escapist fun. A 1980's jukebox delight 'Burning Heart' by Survivor features. The adult female fights really well.

I first saw this film in about 1986 and I thought it was great ( I was a big Bruce Lee fan at the time ) The lip sync in this film is awful, as was expected. The whole story is very thin ( which I wont go into though ). A few years ago I moved out of my parents house and my mother sold the video at a market. Horrified, I thought I would never see it again. I would love to know what other film's these child actors have been in. A few weeks ago I went to pick my 17 month old boy up from my mother's and Lucky Seven was sitting there and the dinning room table, she had found another copy. I went home, put my son to bed and relived my youth with this Funny, athletic if a bit lacking in story film. Check eBay, check your local market's and car boot sale's, if you get the chance to own this film then grab it with both hand's !!!

I remember watching this as a kid and thought it was amazing and funny. Nearly 30 years later I've randomly come across it again online and watched it and as it plays I can remember every little detail. Just a great memory of watching this during school holidays.