Stephen Chow writes, directs and stars in probably his funniest and most accessible (to Western audiences, at least) film to date.

Sing (Chow) is trying to find a way to encourage his countrymen to re-embrace their Shaolin kung fu heritage. When he meets down-at-heel ex-soccer coach Fung (Ng), the pair hatch a plan to form a soccer team with Sing's Shaolin brothers. Unfortunately, these guys have lost their kung fu skills. Sing resolves to help his brothers regain their dignity, then lead them into a championship showdown with the seemingly unstoppable Evil Team. He also finds time to fall in love with Tai-Chi baker Mui (the usually lovely Vicki Zhao), who gets some of the funniest scenes in the movie.

As a non-Chinese speaker, my experience with Chow's previous films is patchy, his wordplay humour rarely making a decent transition to subtitles. The comedy here though is mostly physical, possibly even deliberately geared more towards a Western market. The plot - however clichéd - is a pleasing tale of underdogs made good, and the movie has a definite feelgood feel and uplifting ending. Even the CG is impressive and well used. It's the most entertaining movie I've seen in ages.

I was watching the Universe DVD. Subs are decent enough, without too many typos, and the 'making of' and other extras have English subs also.

'Shaolin Soccer' is a film probably unlike you have ever seen, it is goofy fun, totally ridiculous, but entertaining all the way through. Discussing the plot would be as silly as the film itself, but I will say a couple of things to give you an idea. The soccer competition is in the hand of one man named Hung (Yin Tse). He leads a team called Team Evil, winning the competition every year. Now Golden Leg Fung (Man Tat Ng), a man made cripple by Hung a long time ago, ensembles his own team which exists out of Shaolin kung-fu fighters, lead by Sing (Stephen Chow). There is also a girl involved, of course.

What you can expect is a lot of fun and funny moments. To give you an example, Sing can kick the ball so hard he can disable four opponents with one shot. Other can defy gravity the way the characters did it in 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'. From time to time the ball changes into a ball of fire, causes strong winds or the earth to tremble. Of course the Shaolin team will face Team Evil in the final game and of course it is a big surprise who will win. What does it matter? By then you have laughed a lot, you have seen some pretty images, you are really entertained.