SHAOLIN POPEY
Cantonese: Siu lam siu ji
Mandarin: Shao lin xiao zi
English: Shaolin Kid

SHAOLIN POPEY II: MESSY TEMPLE
Cantonese: Siu lam siu ji II: sun wu lung yuen
Mandarin: Shao lin xiao zi II: xin wu long yuan
English: Shaolin Kid II: New Messy Courtyard

Presumably due to the popularity of anime, the HK childrens' film is a virtually non-existent quantity. That's not the case over in Taiwan, thankfully, and those who like to check out family entertainment from other cultures will have a field day with Taiwanese productions. While much of the humor is similar to American product (and often quite derivative of it), the movies invariably contain the sort of violent, dangerous, and sometimes even raunchy sight gags that could not appear in American features aimed at this demographic. The best ones often incorporate local fantasy and action elements, as with films like MAGIC OF SPELL [sic], and KUNG FU WONDER CHILD, which star the diminutive martial arts sensation Lin Hsiao-lan.

Chu Yen-ping, creator of some of Taiwan's nuttiest movies (including GOLDEN QUEENS COMMANDO, PINK FORCE COMMANDO, FANTASY MISSION FORCE, and FLYING DAGGER), enjoyed big box office with SHAOLIN POPEY (sic), which stars local teen idol Jimmy Lin Chi-ying (BUTTERFLY & SWORD) and two bald pre-schoolers, Hao Hsiao-wen (the mugging comic relief one) and Shi Hsiao-long (the pint-sized kung fu dynamo). Handsome high school senior Spinach (Lin) is gaga over pretty Annie Chu (THE ACCIDENTAL SPY's Vivian Hsu Re-hsuan, who was alternating between childrens' movies and softcore porn at this time) but she has a rich, obnoxious boyfriend named Eagle, who is the vice principal's son. If the lovelorn Spinach were not miserable enough already, he also has to deal with his rascally little brother, Siu-on (Hao, known to Cantonese audiences as Kok Siu-man), who likes to wake Spinach up in the morning by setting off firecrackers in his bed. Depressed by his lack of success with Annie, Spinach joins his family on a trip to China, where they encounter 4 year-old monk Li Lin-kit (Shi, known to HK audiences as Sik Siu-lung) and his 84 year-old master (TEMPTATION OF A MONK's Michael Lee Ming-yeung). After some kung fu instruction, Spinach is ready to take another crack at winning Annie's love, though even the dimmest viewer knows that his loyal, platonic female friend Pearl (WONDER SEVEN's Hilary Tsui Ho-ying) is the one he will really end up with. Yuen King-tan, Paul Chun Pui, and Mark Houghton co-star.

Most of the humor was obviously inspired by Stephen Chiau Sing-chi's hugely popular FIGHT BACK TO SCHOOL trilogy, with occasional throwaway fantasy elements, like a video game send-up patterned after those seen in Wong Jing's CITY HUNTER and FUTURE COPS. In spite of the title and the hero's name, the film really has nothing to do with Popeye at all (especially in contrast to the 1998 HK production, SUPER ENERGETIC MAN, which is a blatant ripoff of the comic) but remains a watchable, if uninspired outing.

Chu's follow-up, SHAOLIN POPEY II: MESSY TEMPLE, gives Hao and Shi center stage and will be of a little more interest to adult viewers, thanks to a large infusion of the cartoonish craziness found in his best work. However, they will have to be willing to endure 45 minutes of fart and diaper jokes to get to it. Citrus-addicted assassin Yellow Lemmon (KUNG FU SCHOLAR's Dicky Cheung Wai-kin) from The Evil Sect is hired by The Horrible Angel (Michelle Yeoh Chu-kheng) to bring her the hands of Min Pik, a revered member of Shaolin Temple, who reneged on a lover's suicide pact. That plot thread is pushed to the sidelines for the next two reels, while the temple's youngest monks Siu-man (Hao) and Siu-lung (Shi), and their bumbling superior (Ng Man-tat), have all manner of misadventures, driving their elderly master (Michael Lee Ming-yeung) around the bend. When a beautiful maiden (FIRE DRAGON's Yeh Chuan-chen) arrives at the temple with a hard luck story, the abbot is wise to the fact that she is actually Yellow Lemon's partner, Red Lemon (Yuen King-tan), in disguise. Holding the abbot as prisoner, The Lemons lure our heroes to The Horrible Angel's castle, where they must face off against her henchmen (Yuen Wah and Mark Houghton) and, then, The Angel herself.

Genre vet Adam Cheng Siu-chau has a great cameo as himself and there are some fun send-ups, like Shi's variation on drunken boxing (with human milk, rather than alcohol, making him more powerful), Jackie Chan's battle against the amazons in THE ARMOUR OF GOD, as well as an appearance by those old school kung fu movie stand-bys, The 18 Bronzemen of Shaolin. As is almost always the case with Chu Yen-ping's pictures, the music is all swiped from other movies, mixing everything from John Carpenter (PRINCE OF DARKNESS) to Pino Donaggio (THE BARBARIANS), and there is even some footage recycled from FLYING DAGGER. In the wake of CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON's huge success, Tai Seng has put Michelle Yeoh on the cover, though fans should be warned that she has perhaps thirty seconds of screentime before changing into another form, allowing another performer to take over the role.