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Kung Fu Hustle
This Stephen Chow comedy kicks, fights, and prat falls its way through a lot of jokes and comes out being extremely strong. He hits big time with the absurdity of the story and the action, and it comes together so nicely, that it is a wonderful ride to watch.
Typically in a foreign language film (or naturally a foreign language film) you don't have to have the voice dubbed over, as the fact that the voices are off with the movement of the mouth is just annoying, in this case, watching it either with sub titles or dubbed into English works just fine, as it is so absurd, and the action is a lot of fun to watch, that the fact that the mouths don't always match up with the words being said doesn't matter at all.
The story, like I've hinted at, is pretty absurd. It is made more absurd with the odd action that goes on along with it, but trying to understand what the story is saying, especially at the end, is fairly interesting. This story is meant to be watched for the absurdity and entertainment value of the action and the characters, so if there is some meaning that is meant to be shown at the end and you don't get it, it doesn't ruin the movie at all.
Visually the action is good as well, it is fairly cartoonish at some points in time, especially with characters falling from heights and hitting the ground, but the style works perfectly for the film. It doesn't have to look completely realistic to be entertaining. The absurdity of the action, and the style of it, probably makes it stronger as a comedy anyways.
Overall this is a very fun film. It won't get critical acclaim, but it is a good comedy that is a film that I would be able to watch often. For a mix of "martial arts" and comedy, I highly recommend this film.
Overall Grade: B+
Story: B-
Acting: C+
Audio/Visual: A-
This Stephen Chow comedy kicks, fights, and prat falls its way through a lot of jokes and comes out being extremely strong. He hits big time with the absurdity of the story and the action, and it comes together so nicely, that it is a wonderful ride to watch.
Typically in a foreign language film (or naturally a foreign language film) you don't have to have the voice dubbed over, as the fact that the voices are off with the movement of the mouth is just annoying, in this case, watching it either with sub titles or dubbed into English works just fine, as it is so absurd, and the action is a lot of fun to watch, that the fact that the mouths don't always match up with the words being said doesn't matter at all.
The story, like I've hinted at, is pretty absurd. It is made more absurd with the odd action that goes on along with it, but trying to understand what the story is saying, especially at the end, is fairly interesting. This story is meant to be watched for the absurdity and entertainment value of the action and the characters, so if there is some meaning that is meant to be shown at the end and you don't get it, it doesn't ruin the movie at all.
Visually the action is good as well, it is fairly cartoonish at some points in time, especially with characters falling from heights and hitting the ground, but the style works perfectly for the film. It doesn't have to look completely realistic to be entertaining. The absurdity of the action, and the style of it, probably makes it stronger as a comedy anyways.
Overall this is a very fun film. It won't get critical acclaim, but it is a good comedy that is a film that I would be able to watch often. For a mix of "martial arts" and comedy, I highly recommend this film.
Overall Grade: B+
Story: B-
Acting: C+
Audio/Visual: A-