History Film / ShaolinSoccer

** Sing believes that kung fu is relevant in this modern age because you can use chi blasts to help [[ParallelParking parallel park]]. [[spoiler:The movie ends with a woman doing just that, as well as other people using Wuxia-style Kung-fu in their daily lives. In the American release, this last scene is set to a remix of "[[EverybodyWasKungFuFighting Kung-Fu Fighting".]]

** Sing believes that kung fu is relevant in this modern age because you can use chi blasts to help [[ParallelParking parallel park]]. [[spoiler:The movie ends with a woman doing just that, as well as other people using Wuxia-style Kung-fu in their daily lives. In the American release, this last scene is set to a remix of "EverybodyWasKungFuFighting".]]

** The film contains plenty of Shout Outs to Hong Kong TV and film. For example, Team Dragon's obviously mustachioed female star players are a parody of countless comedies where pretty females don a fake mustache and everyone thinks she's a guy; at the end the lady who slips but then does a handstand flip back onto her feet and flicks her long hair before walking past Sing has the exact slowmotion-fastmotion-slowmotion take as a well-known shampoo commercial from the 90s.

** Hung would have kept his cushy job and Team Evil would still be superior had Hung not foolishly allow Team Shaolin to compete and even pay for their entry fees as a joke. Literally, that was Team Shaolin's only real obstacle and neither Fung nor any member had the means to sign up and pay.

Sing is a young Shaolin master who wants to promote and spread the benefits of kung fu to the modern world -- with little success (even with a song-and-dance routine). He then meets a disgraced and crippled former soccer star, "Golden Leg" Fung, who is now working as an errand boy for Hung, his ex-teammate responsible for the GameBreakingInjury that cut short his promising career. Initially unimpressed by Sing, Fung soon discovers Sing's unique trait: a leg strong enough to bring down a brick wall and send a beer can flying miles into the air.

Hong Kong superstar Creator/StephenChow directed the movie and played the main character Sing. The movie became the highest-grossing film in Hong Kong's history in 2001 and won the Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards. Funny, over the top, slapstick, and filled with amazing CGI effects, it was the first Stephen Chow film that gained the attention of mainstream Western audiences.

* ExtremityExtremist: The premise of Mighty Steel Leg and Hooking Leg's styles. Mighty Steel Leg is exactly what it sounds like, allowing Sing to deliver kicks of superhuman power, speed and accuracy. Hooking Leg is basically like breakdancing or capoeira. Empty Hand also specializes in using his hands.

** ''Anime/CaptainTsubasa'': Stephen Chow openly acknowledges this anime as his chief inspiration for the film.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou Stephen Chow is About to Kick a Flaming Soccer Ball into Your Face]]. ]]

* VomitIndiscretionShot: The first time a guy takes one of Sing's shoots to the gut. It takes the live action equivalent of a BeatPanel to take effect, too.

** Hung would have kept his cushy job and Team Evil would still be superior had Hung not foolishly allow Team Shaolin to compete and even pay for their entry fees as a joke. Literally, that was team Shaolin's only real obstacle, and neither Fung nor any member had the means to sign up and pay.

** The Lady who was Mui's boss started with her hard attitude on Sing when he couldn't find her, and even claimed she killed him. When Sing shows off his strength, she changed her tune immediately and dropped any sort of brashness and entered a professional attitude.

** Team Rebellion's entire playing style is built around simply beating up the Shaolin team. The captain even has wrenches hidden in his shorts, which keep falling out before the game even begins.

* YouShallNotPass: [[spoiler:Empty Hand, and later Iron Vest as goalie towards the end.]]

Both men reach a consensus to form a soccer team specializing in shaolin, each with a mutual purpose: Fung seeks revenge against Hung, while Sing uses the sport as both a vessel for his discipline and a way to promote kung fu to the world. To this end, the latter sets about finding his five brothers (not biological brothers, but his fellow disciple brothers that all studied under the same master), all possessors of unique physical abilities. All of his brothers have since given up on shaolin and are in similarly disgraced predicaments as Fung. After initially rejecting Sing's pleas, the brothers get together to form Team Shaolin. When it's revealed that Sing and the rest of the team barely knows anything about soccer and that Sing is the only one that retained his shaolin abilities, Fung just about gives up with them. However, during their [[CurbStompBattle first match against Team Rebellion]], the remaining five brothers re-awaken their shaolin powers, quickly turning the match in their favour. They also proceed to wow the members of Team Rebellion, a gang of bullies led by a member of the mob. The defeated members of Team Rebellion requested to join Team Shaolin, to which they happily obliged. They would go on to recruit more members from other teams along the way.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Zigzagged. Fung puts Sing in a situation where his martial arts powers prove to be too powerful to be put to practical use, but with the proper training Sing turns into a force of awesomeness both in asskicking ''and'' on the field.

* BareFistedMonk: Technically they ''all'' are, but Empty Hand fits this trope best.

* BeautifulAllAlong: DoubleSubverted. Mui, originally a [[{{Gonk}} rather ugly girl]] with terrible acne, gets a makeover in hopes of attracting Sing. She ends up with streetwalker-thick makeup, hair straight out of TheEighties and shoulder pads. [[spoiler:Eventually she goes through a second transformation where she gives up the makeup, shaves her head bald... and looks better than ever, in time for a HeroicSecondWind against Team Evil.]]
* BerserkButton: Do not touch Little Brother's eggs, or bring attention to Hooking Leg's receding hairline, or mention Fung's leg injury.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Hung, president of the National Soccer League and manager of Team Evil, who ensures that all are [[DrugsAreBad drugged to maximum performance]].

* DramaticWind: Catches Empty Hand's old jacket and Iron Head's grubby bathrobe as if they were [[BadassLongcoat Badass Longcoats]]. As well as Little Brother's scarf (which is only there for this reason really), Iron Vest's tie and [[CrossesTheLineTwice Hooking Leg's combover.]]
* EverybodyWasKungFuFighting: Sing constantly points out a few people that would have less trouble with their lives if they just knew shaolin kung fu. [[spoiler:After defeating Team Evil, Sing is last seen walking amongst a crowd now [[MundaneUtility using kung fu to solve mundane problems]]. In the English dub, the song that plays in the background is a cover of "Kung Fu Fighting" by Carl Douglas]].
* EveryoneHasStandards: Fung is all too desperate to find his way back into glory in Soccer, but it's hinted that he's not about to put innocent lives in danger for it, which is why he forbids Sing from joining his brothers in soccer training until he can properly control his kicks within the limits of soccer, less he kicks the ball into a plane and causes it to crash.

* ExtremityExtremist: The premise of Mighty Steel Leg and Hooking Leg's styles. Mighty Steel Leg is exactly what it sounds like, allowing Sing to deliver kicks of superhuman power, speed, and accuracy. Hooking Leg is basically like breakdancing or capoeira. Empty Hand also specializes in using his hands.
* FacePalm: [[spoiler:When Mui first takes the field... only to wind up on Team Evil's goal position.]]
* FailedAttemptAtDrama: [[spoiler:Mui as the new goalie makes a dramatic entrance and walks into the goal post... of Team Evil.]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler:During the opening sequence, there's a conspicuous shot of a bat hitting Golden Leg's Golden Leg. Odd thing to bring to a soccer game, even if you're planning to riot. Present Hung outright admits he bribed the "rioters" who crippled his old rival.]]

* HardHead - "Iron Head", eldest of the Shaolin monks, gifted with a seemingly impervious cranium. His abusive boss repeatedly breaks bottles over his head to chastise his poor performance, with no effect.

* TheHopelessReplacement: [[spoiler:In the last few minutes of the final match against Team Evil, Team Shaolin is short of one goalie, and will be forced to forfeit unless they find a a replacement. Cue Mui, shaved bald and in tai chi robes, stopping an enemy strike and pulling off a CombinationAttack with Sing for the winning goal]].
* HumiliationConga: For Hung at film's end. [[spoiler: After Sing and Mui defeats Team Evil, the dust clears... to reveal Team Evil's previously smug goalie [[NakedPeopleAreFunny lying naked with his butt bared towards the entire stadium]], the news crew lying behind it all. Almost ALL the spectators then focus their eyes on Hung, who ends up tripping himself. Right after Fung deals long awaited revenge, Hung gets carried off, where he's removed from his position of power, losing his entire empire to the works of the very same man he crippled and controlled for years. Not to mention that mere minutes ago, he was laughing his face off at Team Shaolin's new replacement.]]

* ImagineSpot: A couple of times, from Sing's idea about the other uses for Shaolin kungfu to the practice match against the hoodlum team turning into ''a war zone''.
* ImportantHaircut: Mui gets two haircuts at critical points. First she tries to impress Sing, but she looks terrible. Then [[spoiler:she shaves her head when she joins Team Shaoling as replacement goalie. Somehow the makeover reveals that she's BeautifulAllAlong]]. Sing also gets to [[DeadpanSnarker make jokes about it.]]

* InstantCosplaySurprise: Fung ends up wearing Shaolin Monk gear and a beard during Sing's speech.

* MadeOfIron: It's called Iron Shirt style for a reason. [[spoiler: It takes Team Evil's ultimate technique to bring him down, ''and he still doesn't concede the goal''.]]

** Sing believes that kung fu is relevant in this modern age because you can use Chi Blasts to help [[ParallelParking parallel park]]. [[spoiler:The movie ends with a woman doing just that, as well as other people using Wuxia-style Kung-fu in their daily lives. In the American release, this last scene is set to a remix of "EverybodyWasKungFuFighting".]]

* RuleOfThree: The gag about Little Brother's eggs - Fung's demonstrating how Sing can't control his mighty legs by making him juggle an egg on his feet, which ends up smashing an egg and making Little Brother chew the yolk off his already beat-up shoes. The second time, the egg smashes ''on his pants'', forcing Sing to act fast and hurl another egg into Iron Vest's mouth, leading to Little Brother essentially ''Frenching'' him. Finally, Sing just about masters egg-juggling but inadvertently smashes it while trying to catch it. Cue Little Brother's reaction, Sing throwing ''another'' egg into Iron Vest's mouth, and the guys watch the action again. One of 'em's ''taking pictures!''

** Hung setting up an attack on his rival's leg is reminiscent of Tonya Harding's attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan.

** It took a bit for Sing and Fung to convince the Former's brothers to join their cause to use their martial arts for soccer. They all declined due to rust in their techniques, lack of self-confidence, and, more importantly, they all have jobs and lives they can't just drop because of the off chance they can succeed. It was Iron Shirt, the businessman, to tell them the odds of their chances of succeeding, when accounting their lack of knowledge of how to play soccer no less as well.

* MartialArtsForMundanePurposes: Sing and his brothers play football with kung fu. Mui uses tai chi when baking. [[spoiler:In the epilogue, martial arts is basically used for everything (including car parking).]]
* MirrorBoss: Team Evil's players have most of the same abilities as the monks.

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: The whole purpose of the "striker gallery" (combining "striker" with "shooting gallery"), where the ''entire'' opposing team lines up to take turns pummeling the goalie. Team Mustache lines one up on Empty Hand, which doesn't work. [[IronicEcho Then Team Evil lines one up on Iron Vest, which does.]]

* LoopholeAbuse: Mighty Steel Leg swore he wouldn't use his kung fu to fight people. When confronted by a gang of thugs, one of them throws a football at him, which he then uses to incapacitate all of them.
-->'''Mighty Steel Leg:''' I'm not fighting! I'm playing Soccer!

* DanceBattler: Hooking Leg style is a combination of Capoeira and breakdancing.

* EverythingsBetterWithSpinning: The more spinning before a strike, the more powerful it becomes. Team Evil's most powerful attack involves spinning the ball at preposterous speeds so that it absorbs a giant black dragon. How do you counteract such a spin-powered strike? MORE SPINNING.

* WorldOfBadass: The epilogue shows martial arts having become a popular trend among the general public, starting from a woman who slips over a BananaPeel but does a backflip and continues walking as if nothing had happened, and ending with a bunch of people who ‘’jump onto the roof of a bus to board it'' — effectively, the setting has become this.

* WorldOfBadass: The epilogue shows martial arts having become a popular trend among the general public, starting from a woman who slips over a BananaPeel but does a backflip and continues walking as if nothing had happened, and ending with a bunch of people who ‘’jump onto the roof of a bus to board it.''

* TemptingFate: Hung would have kept his cushy job and Team Evil would still be superior had Hung not foolishly allow Team Shaolin to compete and even pay for their entry fees as a joke. Literally, that was team Shaolin's only real obstacle, and neither Fung nor any member had the means to sign up and pay.