Shaolin Soccer
Shaolin Soccer is a bizarre and comical movie that combines the technicality of the sport of soccer and the Shaolin martial arts. There is an amount of animation that comes along with the movie as, "bullet time," a distortion in time where the present slows down to enhance the speed and importance of the scene, manipulation of the ball into different shapes and figures with different effects as the abilities of players are applied and players performing unrealistic maneuvers. The champion, "Golden Leg," Fung is admired by the people for his notable skills. When he misses the winning goal for the championship, he is shunned by his fans and they attack him out of spite, breaking his legs. Two decades later, he is found as the "bag boy" for "Team Evil." He's then fired and crosses paths with, Sing, a nomadic monk from the Shaolin Temple with high-quality martial arts ability and possesses the "Mighty Iron Leg."
Sing is originally a garbage collector with the speculation of Shaolin influence ruling the world. One day, Sing is hassled by a group of troublemakers and dispatches of them using only a soccer ball and his Kung fu, little does he know that Fung is observing him as he does so. Fung then sees that with his previous talent and Sing's talents, that they can form a soccer team by combining typical soccer rules with the skills of Shaolin monks. They come to an agreement and Sing seeks his fellow Shaolin monks to join the team. When the team is formed, it's discovered that every member of the team possesses a special skill that holds important to the teams function. One player has a "head of iron", another contains abnormally strong abs that can thrust the ball at deceiving speeds, another who can walk on air despite his heavyweight appearance, and an amazing goalie with the capability to block nearly all and any shots.
One of the prime moments of the film is when Team Shaolin's goalie, Mui, defends against Team Evil's most powerful technique. Team Evil called to the evil force behind their name and launched the ball at them with a force that wasn't seemingly capable of being defended against. Mui uses Tai Chi to the single whip form to channel her chi into a Yin-Yang symbol, which is relative to Taoism and the compromise between two opposites, which compromise for each others' weaknesses, and shifts the direction of the ball, guiding it with her finger back to the field and Sing follows up with a technique that creates a horizontal whirlwind, impacting anything in its path. Also, Tai Chi derives from a Shaolin style of martial arts. Its primary use is to advocate a healthy and positive lifestyle.
Kung Faux
Kung Faux is an unorthodox comedic series of Hip-Hop oriented Kung Fu shorts, created by Michael "Mic" Neumann. Characters in the show are voiced over by Hip-Hop originals such as Gangstarr's “Guru,” “Masta Ace,” “Sadat X” of Brand Nubian, “Queen Latifah,” and others. The visuals are edited with animations such as shining lightning with impacting blows, comic book style frames, and other types. The soundtrack consists of multiple Hip-Hop tracks that add a nondiagetic sound to set the mood for the scene.
The martial arts portrayed in the movie represent Kung fu of the Shaolin temple as well as martial arts deriving from other cultures and principles. The shows are originally Kung Fu film clips with actual choreographed fights with certain martial arts style moves, but they aren't truly defined in the Kung Faux series.
"Kung Faux." Wikipedia. 2007. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. 18 Jul 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung_Faux>.
"Shaolin Soccer." Miramax Cafe. 2003. Miramax Film Corporation. 17 Jul 2007 <http://www.miramax.com/shaolin_soccer/#>.