Paul Magne Haakonsen Now, a lot can be said about "Shaolin Girl" (aka "Shôrin shôjo"), but comparing it to "Shaolin Soccer" is hardly appropriate, because they are two very different movies. And yes Stephen Chow did produce this movie, but this is not a sequel.The story is about Rin, a Japanese woman who has studied the art of Shaolin Kung Fu in China and now has returned to Japan to honor her grandfather, but Things are very changed from before when she went to China."Shaolin Girl" is a fairly average movie, which never really managed to strike a lasting impression. The movie just lacked finesse, an interesting storyline, characters to captivate the audience and any outstanding acting performances. So it was a very mediocre movie experience.Several times throughout the movie did I find my focus and concentration to drift away from the movie. There just wasn't anything to thrill or excite me enough to keep me entertained.It was the production level that kept the movie afloat. But a production level can only go so far. A movie is supposed to be entertaining, and that is where "Shaolin Girl" failed.There were surprisingly little Kung Fu in this movie, and it was mostly just about lacrosse and drama. So the movie was somewhat misleading in terms of what you would expect from it given its title and synopsis.If you enjoy Asian movies, then there are far better, much, much better movies available. I can't really come up with a valid reason to recommend "Shaolin Girl" to others.

Martyn_B I really enjoyed this film. It's rare that I come across films that effectively explore spiritual concepts in a way that is accurate, humorous and ambient.This is a hard film to explain, but I will try.The film is a light hearted analysis of vedic dharma. In this film, the seemly unlikely application of dharma, is martial arts. This dramatic irony, sets the basis for some at times slapstick humour. Without this, the spiritual message of the film would would have been bleached out by intense and heavy vibes.The heroine spends the majority of the film battling her subtly understated self doubts. These manifest themselves in her actions as bizaar clumsiness. Eventually, she is cornered into a situation and she bas no choice but to reluctantly act. Stripped of choice, her self doubts disappear, by serendipity all of her dharmic clumsiness focuses into an apex of enlightenment. Now, armed with good intention, integrity, action and her prior training, there is no weapon in the world that can prevent her obtaining her goals! I would definitely recommend this film.

Ecto Loki This, I'm sure, is a great film... if it's purpose is to interest 12 year old girls in the martial arts genre, but personally speaking, I was sorely disappointed.First off, most of the characters are simply annoying, although in fairness I wouldn't necessarily include 'Rin' in that category, but the general level of acting acting in this movie was also poor. In fact some of the characters may have come across far less annoying if some of the actors had put in better performances.I quickly realised this was more of an odd kind of drama than an action film as it seemed to take forever before Rin's fighting abilities were even displayed. I kept waiting for a decent fight sequence. And waiting and waiting and waiting...And when the moment finally arrived (after a whole hour) the choreography was disappointing to say the least, one could almost say laughable.I realise this is not a movie that takes itself seriously but it would have been better if it had thrown itself fully into the Lacrosse aspect of the film which was more prevalant than anything else anyway, but it even failed to commit itself properly to that. It could have been to Lacrosse what Shaolin soccer is to... well, soccer. But in the end it was neither here or there.As for the final battle, well, what can I say except 'Kung-Fu Hustle'!!! The last scenes were almost identical. Shamefully so in fact. Having said that, maybe Shaolin Girl should have actually borrowed more from the brilliant Kung-Fu Hustle and at least may have injected some fun into the whole affair.Overall a real shame. I truly expected to enjoy it. It had potential and it did have it's rare moments, but sadly it was - as the saying goes - a damp squib.

t_burton90 The current comment on the front page for shaolin girl is, I think, overly negative and sceptical. Granted I haven't seen Shaolin Soccer so maybe it seems a lot more original to me - but nevertheless this is a really good movie; the slapstick comedy is great, if you take it in the spirit it's presented (laugh at the cheapness of the jokes, not the jokes themselves). I loved the unnecessary references to Star Wars, The Matrix, Bruce Lee and probably some others i missed - as well as the usual trademark stuff from Stephen Chow (nobody stepped on an eagle though, which would have been epic).Basically the film's got comedy, cute Japanese girls (with lesbian overtones) and martial arts. How is it not rated higher?