Kung Fu Dunk (2008) Reviews

Traditional basketball and the practice of kung fu intersect with startling and surprisingly humorous results in Chu Yin Ping's martial arts comedy Kung Fu Dunk. Jay Chou stars as Shi-Jie, a child bereft by his parents as an infant but ceremoniously adopted by the master of the local kung fu school. Unsurprisingly, growing up in this environment, Shi-Jie trains aggressively in kung fu and develops an intuitive ability to predict his opponents' moves before they occur - an ability that translates effortlessly to skills on the basketball court. In time the youth catches the eye of Chen-Li, a businessman who sees Shi-Jie's potential for monetary exploitation and convinces him to play basketball for a nearby college. Chen-Li buries his real motives beneath his phony expressed desire to help the young man regain contact with his family, and unfortunately, Shi-Jie fails to see through it. He's far more fixated on achieving team stardom for personal reasons that involve wooing the sister of team captain Ting-Wei. Meanwhile, the entire team must face the prospect of squaring off against a rival team so vicious and brutal that their on-court tactics have caused them to be banned in the United States. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi