Wacky, cartoonish martial arts action with a big CGI budget and rampant imagination, similar in tone to Stephen Chow's preceding work, Shaolin Soccer. It's very much a case of style over substance, as the plot only serves to move us from one outrageous set piece spectacle to the next, and makes no bones about it. That's Chow's style, with far more focus on effects-laden fighting techniques than inscrutable storytelling, and it works for him. We're treated to dozens of unique forms, from countless unexpected sources, as nearly every denizen of a dusty, lower-class slum turns out to be a kung fu master of some sort. Most memorable, of course, is the chain-smoking old landlady, who batters every comer and effortlessly steals each scene without even pausing to pull the curlers from her hair.

It's indulgent and silly, watery and childish, but it's also richly entertaining and singularly stylish. Great background party-viewing material.