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I regularly watch the Western Union World Football show and they had a short segment on Stephen Chow and the movie Shaolin Soccer. Knowing his other movies, this one looks great! During the interview, it sounded like this was a project that Chow wanted to do for a while and he really enjoyed making it.

His first step was to do research on combining soccer and kung fu, to see what had been done before. He was surprised and pleased to find out that nothing had been done before, he had a clean slate to do what he wanted.

I can only hope that it will be released in the US. It sounds like it is doing very well in Hong Kong, which bodes well for it's release in the US.

I saw the movie in a theater during a Martial Arts HK movie festival and like the other reviewer, couldn't stop laughing! It's silly, fun, not historically accurate, there are some creative "side bits", i.e. the academy award scene mentioned in the other comment, but everything that happens in the movie drives the plot and fits with the style of the movie.

It's the one movie I always look for when I go to rent videos. It's hard to find, (there's only one place in Seattle that has it, as a DVD)but if you see it at the store, or playing during a movie festival, go see it!