Reviewed by: cal42 Date: 06/04/2006 Summary: Kind of like a Chinese Police Academy Fong Sai-Yuk (Wong Yu) and Hu Huei Chien (Chin Siu-Ho) are reluctantly enrolled in the Shaolin Temple, as they are being chased by an Imperial Guard (Lo Leih) for some reason or another. This tries to do for Fong Sai-Yuk what Drunken Master did for Wong Fei-Hung - and if it had been released six years earlier, it might have succeeded. It should be pointed out that Fong Sai-Yuk is not the same person as Wong Fei-Hung, as has been mentioned below. Both were real life characters, but there are many differences between the two (Fong Sai-Yuk doesn’t have his own theme tune for a start!), although their fictional exploits were both made into long running series of films in the black and white era. Anyhow, this movie has far too much larking about and juvenile humour for my liking. True, the fights are pretty good, but I just found the whole thing really annoying. It’s the same with a lot of Shaw Brothers comedies, they don’t seem to be very funny (with a few exceptions) and seem to have only included humour because it was fashionable at the time. A lot of them appear to have been scripted by someone with little or no sense of humour. Lau Kar-Fai also makes an appearance, but is woefully underused and just makes you want to turn this off and watch 8-Diagram Pole Fighter instead. After watching this, it’s easy to see why the Shaw Brothers films fell out of favour with cinemagoers; Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung were doing Project A and Wheels On Meals around this time, while this feels like it’s stuck in another age. Reviewer Score: 4

Reviewed by: Gaijin84 Date: 05/10/2006 A further adventure of Fong Sai Yuk (corrected - thanks cal42), Crazy Shaolin Disciples plays like a shaolin version of Animal House, except unfortunately not as funny. Fong Sai Yuk (Wang Yu) and his friend Hu Huei Chien (Siu-hou Chin) stumble across an attack by General Chik Lian Jia (Lo Lieh) on a local martial arts group led by Hong Si Guan (Lo Mang). The intercede to save them and get embroiled in the conflict. After the group hides out at the Shaolin temple, the army shows up to wipe the entire group out and finish the job. Sounds like a good plot for a serious movie, right? Don’t bet on it. Crazy Shaolin Disciples was one of the last films released by Shaw Brothers, and it seems as if they were running out of Shaolin Temple themed ideas to build a film around. Putting Fong Sai Yuk and his best friend in Shaolin and having him and his fellow students pulling practical jokes on the rival group just doesn’t work. The gags are completely lame and I never cracked even a smile at their antics. The only redeeming quality of this film is too few fight scenes, which, due to the high-quality actors, are very well choreographed and quite brutal in their nature. It was strange to see a bloody, humorless finale in, up to that point, a light-hearted comedic film. Reviewer Score: 4

Reviewed by: pjshimmer Date: 09/26/2005 It's a movie about Shaolin, so _of course_ it will involve Fong Sai Yuk, Hong Sai Gwen, and Hu Wai Chien, the legendary young adults that aided Shaolin in battling the Qing regime. And of course, Fong Sai Yuk always brings mischieves; here everyone seems to cooperate with him. The action is dynamic and well choreographed; few will dispute that. Ultimately your reaction will depend on your tolerance for nonstop cheesy gags. There is one scene when one of the Shaolin students pretends to be the girl Ju Ju. It's played out for fun, but the scenery is fantastic -- imagine a golden crisp valley on the country side with waterfall, a barn, a few geese, and colorful fallen maple leaves, all in the backdrop of the lovely golden sunset. Makes you feel like you are on the edge of the world. Certainly one of the most picturesque moments in all of Shaw. [6/10]

Reviewed by: mrblue Date: 11/14/2004 In perusing online reviews for Crazy Shaolin Disciples (one of the last films to come out of the legendary Shaw Brothers movie studio), many people seem to dislike it for the broad comedy. I will grant that there are heaping doses of dopey humor (as well as a plot that really doesn't make much sense), but it does have ass kicking and lots of it. Granted, this movie is nowhere near the top of the sizeable heap of kung fu movies Hong Kong has produced over the years, but if you're looking for a good way to kill off ninety minutes, Crazy Shaolin Disciples fits the bill nicely. Honestly, I didn't really get what was going on, even though Celestial did their usual good job in providing legible subtitles. There's a family who has some sort of gold medallion which for some reason will control China if it falls into the wrong hands (in this case, that's Lo Lieh). The mom is worried about the kid, so she sends him to hide out in the Shaolin temple. Of course, he doesn't want to follow the temple's rules and "hilarity" ensues as he run afoul of the monks (particularly Gordon Liu, who doesn't like "outsiders" coming into the temple). But, of course, he manages to patch things up with them just as Lo Lieh comes looking for the medallion. So the plot isn't anything special, and the acting is average (I'm being kind there). But, as I said before, there is a lot of action, and most of it is done well. Disappointingly, the blood-soaked finale is dimly lit (probably to cover up the doubling of the aging Lo Lieh), but otherwise the fights are solid. As with many other movies of the genre, the training sequences are of particular note, and help elevate this film. If you're willing to forgive Crazy Shaolin Disciples's shortcomings, there's a nice dose of old-school goodness to be found here. [review from www.hkfilm.net]

Reviewed by: Sydneyguy Date: 11/14/2004 Summary: Was there a plot here? The movie felt like a few comedy and kung fu scetches put together!! Some of the comedy pays off while the rest you just smile!! The action is nothing special and the ending i was wondering, was that it!! Seemed so easy!! Enjoyable if you got nothing else to do!! 6/10

Reviewed by: battlemonkey Date: 12/21/1999 Some wise-crackers get involved with some revolutionaries.