Kung Pow: Enter the Fist MPAA Rating: PG-13 Entertainment: +1/2 Content: -1 1/2

Who knows what writer/director Steve Oedekerk was thinking when this idea came to him. But based on the popularity of his ACE VENTURA sequel and THE NUTTY PROFESSOR, the people at 20th Century Fox mistakenly green lighted this project. As one of the most unfunny movies, in the past decade at least, KUNG POW: ENTER THE FIST attempts to spoof the old poorly-dubbed martial arts movies frequently seen in the ‘70s. Using actual footage from 1976’s TIGER AND CRANE FISTS – released in the US as “Savage Killers” - KUNG POW reinvents the story. Computer generated effects superimpose characters into the older film and add new footage to move this so-called story along. The result is crude, inane and obvious. The story follows The Chosen One (Oedekerk), who is being pursued by an evil council that wants him out of the way. However, The Chosen One is also seeking out his nemesis, and in the process has many encounters with lower level cronies. All of which leads to a final climax that cannot come quickly enough. Easily the worst movie of the year, and likely to hold that spot for some time, KUNG POW should be gathering dust on video shelves before you know it.

The movie is completely filled with slapstick humor, so any violence is meant to be comical. Although, in case it’s not obvious, there really isn’t anything resembling comedy to be found in this movie. The Chosen One has many violent encounters with various kung fu fighters, so there’s plenty of punching, kicking, and stick fighting. One especially tasteless joke includes a MATRIX-type scene as a karate-fighting cow fires milk from its udder. Also, the main villain regularly wields his iron claw, often piercing the helpless people that he enjoys torturing. In another scene, a man has a hole punched ‘clear’ through him, but the result is so fake and goofy looking that the incident isn’t really gory at all. The somewhat excessive, and occasionally crude, slapstick violence, a couple of lines of sexual dialogue and six moderate crudities, make KUNG POW chop puey.

Preview Reviewer: John Adair
Distributor: 20th Century Fox, 10201 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90035