Kids From Shaolin
| Kids From Shaolin | |
|---|---|
 Japanese poster | |
| Traditional | 少林小子 |
| Simplified | 少林小子 |
| Mandarin | Shàolín Xiǎozǐ |
| Cantonese | Siu3 Lam4 Siu2 Zi2 |
| Directed by | Chang Hsin-yen |
| Starring |
Jet Li Wong Chau-yin Yu Chenghui Yu Hai Hu Jianqiang |
| Cinematography | Hu Jianqiang |
| Release dates |
|
| Running time | 99 minutes |
| Country |
Hong Kong China |
| Language | Mandarin |
| Box office | HK $22,287,595.00 |
Kids From Shaolin (Chinese: 少林小子; pinyin: Shàolín Xiǎozi, aka Shaolin Temple 2: Kids From Shaolin) is a 1984 Hong Kong/Chinese action-comedy kung fu film directed by Chang Hsin-yen.
It stars Jet Li, Yu Chenghui, Yu Hai and Ding Lan from the original 1982 Shaolin Temple film, which is also directed by Chang. However, the plot has no bearing with the first movie and hence Kids from Shaolin is a sequel to the original in name only.
The film also stars Jet Li's first wife Huang Qiuyan (黃秋燕) as his rival and later love interest. Li first met Huang, also a martial artist, in martial school and they went on to have two daughters. (The couple is now divorced and Li is now married to Nina Li Chi, a former Hong Kong actress.)
Plot
A former Shaolin monk, Tian Long ("Heaven Chinese Dragon", played by Yu Hai), and his younger brother, Di Long ("Earth Chinese Dragon", Hu Jianqiang), raise eight orphan boys whom they saved from murdering bandits ravaging their home village. The children refer to Tian Long as their father and Di Long as their uncle and are taught Shaolin kungfu by the two. All have taken the last character name of Long (龙/龍). They settle at the mountainous area at Lijiang where they stay in a hut.
The Long boys are playful and often bicker and fight with the daughters of the Feng (凤/鳳, "Phoenix") family who live just across the river and practice the Wudangquan style of martial arts. The mischievous San Long ("Third Dragon", Jet Li), the oldest of the Long children, likes to tease the third sister of the Feng family, San Feng ("Third Phoenix", Huang Qiuyan) who is a tomboy in her late teens and who has a nasty temper.
The Feng patriarch Bao Feng (Yu Chenghui) is trying for a boy heir, yet he has only nine daughters. Meanwhile, the Long family are saving up in order to pay the bride price - ten oxen - so that Tian Long can marry the eldest Feng girl. The marriage plans are met with some resistance: the Feng matriarch likes Tian Long, but Bao Feng believes he is out to steal his Wudang martial arts. Nonetheless, he agrees to marry off his eldest daughter if his wife gives birth to a son.
Meanwhile, the vicious bandits who orphaned the eight Long boys have been training in secret for ten years to revenge the Shaolin counter-attack which injured them when they looted the village. A cross-eyed member of the bandits poses as a Taoist soothsayer to infiltrate the Fengs to learn their martial arts and abduct their daughters.
The Feng matriarch manages to conceive and bear a male son. The bogus priest now dupes Bao Feng into believing the Long family is his nemesis. The Long family, he claims, has been throwing off the yin and yang balance for the Fengs, making it impossible for the wife to bear a male heir.
Bao Feng changes his mind and refuses to accept the Long family's bride price. Di Long is in love with Er Feng (Ding Lan), the second daughter, and to fulfil the couple, San Long and San Feng help the two elope. For their disobedience against feudal rules, San Feng and San Long are sentenced to be drowned. But the two manage to escape underwater.
San Long hides San Feng in a cave. San Long is struck by San Feng's beauty in female clothes and San Feng is grateful to San Long for rescuing her. The two develop romantic feelings for each other.
The bogus priest informs Bao Feng where his daughter is hiding and Bao Feng pursues her, then fights San Feng in the cave, accusing the latter of abducting his daughter and stealing his swordplay style. Tian Long finds the two fighting, breaks them up and allows Bao Feng to bring San Feng home.
Meanwhile, the Long boys are maligned by the bogus priest for abducting the Feng newborn. The Long family vow never to step into the Feng residence again.
Once their evil plot has become successful, the bandits burn down the Long's hut and show their true colors to Bao Feng. They attempt to kidnap his daughters. The Feng family tries desperately to fight them until the Long family arrives. By combining their martial arts expertise, the two families roundly defeat and kill all remaining bandits.
The film ends with a dual marriage: Tian Long marries Da Feng (the eldest daughter) while Di Long marries Er Feng. The families are reconciled. Bao Feng readily admits his folly and San Long and San Feng have also become a couple.
External links
- Kids From Shaolin at Hong Kong Cinemagic
- Kids From Shaolin at the Internet Movie Database
- Kids From Shaolin at allmovie
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