Popular Taiwanese singer turned actor Jay Chou return to the big screen with the martial arts sports hybrid “Kung Fu Dunk”. Last year he has done his first movie directing experience in "Secret" which already won him a good number of awards, but now it seems that he will just only be an actor in a film that was based on a popular manga and anime series “Slam Dunk”, the anime title was supposedly used as the title of the movie but then was replaced to avoid confusion with the comic book franchise. The film reunites Chou with “Curse of the Golden Flower” action director Ching Siu Tung and paired him with veteran director Kevin Chu Yin-ping who helmed the feature. Also co-starred in this $10 million budget movie are Charlene Choi, of the Hong Kong popular pop duo Twins, Taiwanese model Chen Bo Ling and Hong Kong’s veteran Eric Tsang. In the initial planning for filming, director Chu also wanted the tall Asian NBA player Yao Ming to make a cameo appearance in the film, just like what he’s done in “Rush Hour 3”, but his recent injury has put his participation in doubt. “Kung Fu Dunk” will feature a plot similar to Stephen Chow’s “Shaolin Soccer” which has had a big impact on Asian cinema over the last few years, the heroes of both movies are good at their respective sports and highly trained in Chinese martial arts. For you who can’t wait to see how Kung Fu was able to mix with Basketball, this film has scheduled to release on February 7, the first day of the Chinese lunar New Year 2008 season in Asia.As a kid, Shi-Jie (Jay Chou) was an orphaned who grew up in a kung fu school, the master of the school adopted him as a baby, when he was found abandoned in the woods. He practiced excellent kung fu and was equipped with a good sense of fell that has an ability to read his opponent moves. One day, he encounters a group of youths playing basketball and with his skills and good reflexes, he shows off how easy it is for him by mastering the slam dunk technique. Therefore, he was selected by Wang Li (Eric Tsang), a small time crook who decides that he would exploit Shi Jie’s skill to make some money, under the guise of helping him find his family, Wang ask him to play varsity basketball at the local university. As Shi-Jie joins the basketball team, he faces new challenges when trying to find his place on the team and blend with his co-team mates Ting-Wei (Chen Bo-Lin, Brotherhood of Legio) and Xiao-Lan (Baron Chen). Ting as the basketball team captain, finds talent in Shi’s unique martial arts and begins to help him combine his skills with the dunk technique. By some strange coincidence, Shi also finds out that Li Li (Charlene Choi), the girl that he has had a long-standing crush on, is the sister of Ting-wei. Desperately to get her attention, Shi acts out by challenging the team star and Li Li’s idol Xiao Lan, which made the basketball team lapse into an unstable atmosphere. To resolve the conflict in his team, Ting-wei steps in and helping Shi-jie to more focus on adapting his kung fu skills for basketball and his energies on the upcoming critical competitions. The major competitor that must faces by Shi-jie and his team members is the team led by Lee Tien, the previous fighting brothers of Ting-wei. Lee’s team was constituted by a group of horrible men that have been banned from competing in the United States, they were renowned for cheating games, bribing the referees and physical foul play to side line the competing team with injuries. How will Shi Jie reverse the situation and lead the team to create a miraculous win?

This movie is really made for Jay Chou (even the theme song is titled “Zhou Da Xia” that loosely translated as “Swordsman Chou”), him and his cool persona is so dominating the screen, and he’s also look very enjoy with his character on this movie. Meanwhile, based on the story there were nothing new that this movie able to offers, it was just the same with other teenage sport drama flicks, except absolutely there were Kung Fu and Chou. Other supporting casts were played in their O.K zone, Tsang is somewhat reliable as the money-minded businessman, Choi is just look the same with her previous film’s characters and cameos from familiar face like Jacky Wu, Leung Ka Yan and Ng Man Tat are quite reviving. On the conclusion, “Kung Fu Dunk” is still unable to beat off the originality of “Shaolin Soccer” but as a show it’s still worth looking due to its highly entertainment value and of course there was Chou.

Dribble-Meter: 7/10

Some facts around the dunk technique:
- “Kung Fu Dunk” as the only action comic film holding the theme of Kung Fu basketball, has been elected as the representative film for China’s Olympic Games 2008. The film has also obtained substantial support from the Government Information Office, Industrial Development Bureau and other relevant units.
- This movie has become the biggest production in Taiwan’s film history, its pioneer in scale of producing and marketing with a budget of US$10 million dollars and the support of international production, publishing and promotion.
- “Kung Fu Dunk” is Chou's fourth movie. His previous on-screen appearances include the 2005 live-action film "Initial D," Zhang Yimou's 2006 blockbuster "Curse of the Golden Flower," and Chou's own directorial debut, "Secret," a high-school romance that became a box-office hit soon after its release in late July 2007.
- Jay Chou who is a feverish basketball fan, agreed to headline the cast of this film after he read the script.- During the pre-production period, the lead actress role has been previously offered to stars such as Korean Singer BoA. But due to her busy schedule she passed the roll to Korean Actress Yoon Eun Hye. Due to schedule conflicts, the producers settled on casting Hong Kong singer and actress Charlene Choi.
- Chou said he practiced basketball twice a week to better perfect his role in the film. Many professional basketball players were also included in the cast. Chou often played with them to better improve his skill and grace at the game.
- Media reports have been comparing the film to Stephen Chow's latest fiction comedy, "CJ7," which is a completely different genre but will rival "Dunk" at the box office.Some sports over the cinema: Shaolin Soccer, The Game Plan, Goal, Bend It Like Beckham, White Men Can’t Jump