Shaolin Temple 2 follows 'Shaolin Temple', the movie that debuted Jet Li and shot him into super-stardom. The only real links between Shaolin Temple and Shaolin Temple 2 are that they both have Shaolin monks and feature a cast of real life Wushu champions. Many actors from the original appear again, playing different characters.
As opposed to the first Shaolin Temple movie, the tone in this one is that of a lighthearted, funny, family film. The movie itself is about two rivaling family on opposite sides of a river, a Shaolin family of all boys and a swordsmanship family of all girls. The father of the sword family despises the other family. Jet Li, still a teenager when he made this film, is at his absolute prime and looks simply amazing. He plays the eldest son of the Shaolin family. He demonstrates some amazing skills, mainly his staff-work and 3-sectional staff-work.
Jet Li may be the main attraction, but he's not the only one. Another amazing aspect of this film is the children from both families. The children cast were from the junior national Wushu team, and it shows. Everybody knows how to fight, and all of the children have tremendous talent. It's a real shame none of them grew up to be action stars. Just like in the first Shaolin Temple, the actors choreographed all of the action scenes themselves, and all the fight scenes are done in long shots to make it look more realistic.
Do be warned before letting real young ones watch this, though. There is some comedy revolving around private parts, and certain personal parts are briefly exposed in the movie. Other than that, a pretty awesome movie and an excellent job by Jet Li. 9/10.
As opposed to the first Shaolin Temple movie, the tone in this one is that of a lighthearted, funny, family film. The movie itself is about two rivaling family on opposite sides of a river, a Shaolin family of all boys and a swordsmanship family of all girls. The father of the sword family despises the other family. Jet Li, still a teenager when he made this film, is at his absolute prime and looks simply amazing. He plays the eldest son of the Shaolin family. He demonstrates some amazing skills, mainly his staff-work and 3-sectional staff-work.
Jet Li may be the main attraction, but he's not the only one. Another amazing aspect of this film is the children from both families. The children cast were from the junior national Wushu team, and it shows. Everybody knows how to fight, and all of the children have tremendous talent. It's a real shame none of them grew up to be action stars. Just like in the first Shaolin Temple, the actors choreographed all of the action scenes themselves, and all the fight scenes are done in long shots to make it look more realistic.
Do be warned before letting real young ones watch this, though. There is some comedy revolving around private parts, and certain personal parts are briefly exposed in the movie. Other than that, a pretty awesome movie and an excellent job by Jet Li. 9/10.