Dear Reader: Miramax has scheduled Shaolin Soccer for release — and then pulled it from the schedule, or opened it only in a couple of "test markets," — more times than I can count. It was to be called Kung Fu Soccer, and then it wasn't. It was to be edited for a PG rating, and then it wasn't. It was to be subtitled, then it was to be dubbed, et cetera. As I write this (3/28/04), Miramax says this will be released April 2, 2004, in "selected" cities, with a PG-13 rating. I think this is good news. The following review was written early last year and, based on new information about the upcoming release, I've edited it slightly to remove a couple of criticisms of the way Miramax was (not) handling the release.

Hong Kong actor-turned-director Stephen Chow scored a major hit at home with Shaolin Soccer — a completely crazy idea for a movie that mixes misfit sports comedy (think The Bad News Bears and its endless Hollywood progeny) with CGI-assisted martial-arts action (think The Matrix, or any of the multitude of wire-fu films that inspired it). Despite some detours into sub-Three Stooges physical farce, at its best the film recaptures the essence of delirious, fantastic action that made Hong Kong the capital of cool through the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Hip to such stuff (and probably still smarting from the success of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the kind of film that the studio used to pride itself on championing), Miramax picked this up, along with three other Stephen Chow comedies, at Cannes a few years ago. With something more than the usual perfunctory marketing campaign, this could wind up being a major cult success. Certainly it's the kind of movie that will continue to funnel revenue into studio coffers for years to come, as generations of new audiences discover its singular goofy charm on video.

Chow plays Sing, a street-smart Shaolin expert who is discovered by Fung, a former soccer star who was betrayed by a teammate who had Fung' s legs broken and then went on to greater soccer glory. That old rival, Hung, now manages Evil Team, a virtually untouchable soccer dynasty. Fung trains Sing and his five brothers — erstwhile Shaolin advocates, all — to play a mean game of soccer, and eventually takes on Hung at a prestigious tournament. Inserted rather awkwardly into the story is Mui, a young steamed-bun-maker (and tai-chi expert) suffering from a skin condition, low self-esteem. Zaniness ensues.

The worst thing I can say about Shaolin Soccer is that it relies on cartoonish, computer-generated effects work for its action. One of the great pleasures of Asian action cinema has been the physicality of the fight choreography and the imaginative stuntwork, the sense that even if the characters are suspended in mid-air on a complicated system of wires and pulleys, the acrobatics that take place remain thrilling. That sense is mitigated somewhat by the feeling that nothing physical is at stake in Shaolin Soccer, whose tournament games take place in a parallel universe governed by the physics of computer processors and graphics workstations rather than earth and oxygen. What saves it—and makes computer-aided Hollywood blockbusters look positively moribund in comparison—is the Looney-Tunes level of playfulness and invention that dominates almost every scene. Like The Matrix, Shaolin Soccer is loath to use the same effect twice, opting instead for a fresh idea that will rouse its audience anew. Players whip around in circles, sprint through mid-air to intercept wayward balls, and pull the ball close to their gut as though it were drawn there by a magnet. A soccer ball kicked at blistering speed toward an opponent' s goal develops flame trails as it races through the air, burning red, orange and blue, finally morphing into a fiery wild animal before being stopped dead by the goalie. The action is literally explosive, likely to tear the very clothes off the player on the receiving end of a particularly ferocious kick.

Less successful are the attempts at slapstick humor, which may have played better in Hong Kong but are a bit grating by Western standards. One running gag, involving Sing's fat brother and his fetish for raw eggs, pretty much redefines lowbrow. It may well be missing from the film by the time Miramax releases it — or maybe not, depending on how they see the U.S. market.

On the whole, though, Shaolin Soccer is incredibly entertaining: funny, exciting, and innovative. What' s more, it has a charming subtext. Sing wants to do more than win soccer games; he wants to bring Shaolin arts back into the fabric of everyday life. Early in the film, he delivers a monologue about how martial arts could help people parallel park, trim a tree, etc., and there's a scene at the end of the film that suggests his utopian vision for modern Hong Kong may yet come true. In this way, as well as in its relentless digitization of the everyday world, Shaolin Soccer does Amélie one better. Simultaneously playful and earnest, Chow's film is a small miracle of action moviemaking; finally, something new under the sun.