Spiritual Kung Fu

Buy This Item Spiritual Kung Fu by Simitar Ent.  Available from Amazon  $14.95  on 11-27-2008     Another early kung fu flick from Jackie Chan's Wei Lo period (Wei Lo, who also directed <I>Fists of Fury</I> with Bruce Lee, directed seven of Chan's early films), <I>Spiritual Kung Fu</I> (alternatively titled <I>Karate Ghostbuster</I>) has Chan playing a familiar character--the bumbling underdog. Chan is a Shaolin monastery student whose fighting style and wits aren't quite up to par. Dissension and panic arise in the temple when a thief steals the book of the Seven Fist Style, a form of kung fu that allegedly makes its masters invincible. While guarding the temple's library, Chan comes across a lost book that teaches the Five Style Fists, which can defeat the Seven Fist Style. What's more, the book comes with five mischievous spirits that teach the style to Chan. When the monastery is challenged by the man who stole the Seven Fist Style, the spirits help Chan defeat him. The DVD transfer and voice dubbing are more akin to a Saturday afternoon television matinee than a technical tour de force, but the story certainly lends itself to its presentation. A campy and uneven effort (what else can you say about a movie in which spirits don white body paint and bright red fright wigs?), <I>Spiritual Kung Fu</I>, like the Wei Lo-directed <I>Half a Loaf of Kung Fu</I>, was shelved for a couple of years before being released in 1978. <I>--Shannon Gee</I> Reader Reviews I watched this movie with my sons (ages 9 and 7) and could only handle about 30 minutes of it because it was just so hokey, but my boys really enjoyed it, and had fun making up their own Shaolin moves for the rest of the night. They called me back in for the fight scenes later in the movie, and those are certainly worth watching because they are not bloody messes but are instead really intricately choreographed displays of martial arts technique. One other thing worth noting: it seemed as though the camera had zoomed in too far because it cut out important parts of the scenes. I didn't see an option to change it from full screen to wide screen, but if there is a way to do that, it would make a big difference.

Spiritual Kung Fu Available from Amazon Price: $14.95 Updated on 11-27-2008.

SPONSORED LINKS