Everybody's a critic: 'Kung Fu Hustle'

Two-and-a-half stars (out of four)

I expected to enjoy "Kung Fu Hustle" just as much as listening to everyone's favorite 1970s hit, "Kung Fu Fighting" (yuck). Instead, this movie does have some fairly good qualities.

This movie is a combination of Walker, Texas Ranger; Billy Jack; Bruce Lee; Bugs Bunny; and Roger Rabbit. The movie producer made sure the action scenes are intense (but not very well choreographed), no English is spoken and everyone needs to see the orthodontist.

The characters are preposterous, the fight scenes use trampolines and goodness knows what else, and two or three people can easily take on at least 100 ax-wielding gangsters dressed in tails and top hats.

Bearing all this in mind, the first half is pretty entertaining. After you get used to reading the subtitles, you could actually laugh at the sight of 20 men in tails dancing in unison and swinging axes. The best part of the movie is that it never attempts to be serious. It makes fun of everything, including itself.

This movie is a hoot if you go expecting nothing but a meaningless, fast-paced ride that ends up nowhere. The ending sets up the possibility for a sequel. Only if they do it in English, please.

-- Ken Cook