Kung Fu Hustle (2005)

Oh God, this movie is so much fun. Everything that went wrong in Stephen Chow's previous Shaolin Soccer goes right here. The effects work is so exaggerated that it speaks to a strain of bonkers, knockabout surrealism within Chow's slapstick stylings. And grousing about the obvious plasticine cartoonishness of it all is missing the point -- unlike something like, say, The Matrix Reheated, it's supposed to be a cartoon. Chow's obvious inspiration is the Looney Tunes, with their affection for cheerful schemers and hustlers who will always triumph over violent-minded thuggery (though he does assimilate other influences into the giddy stew served up here, e.g. the spaghetti-Westernish confrontation with the two blind assassins). But Chow manages to take that idea and push it to its nth degree, to the point where the film achieves a state of Zen. Odd that a film so frantic would end on such a grace note, but there you go. It's fresh, fast, furious and fun. Somewhere, Chuck Jones is smiling.

Grade: A-