Jet plays the eldest of 10 adopted sons of a Shaolin master, together they are known as the Dragon family. On the opposite side of the river lives the Phoenix family, a Wu-tang Master who's wife has given birth to eight girls. The two families are deeply mistrustful of each other and this mistrust is exploited by a gang of bandits who want to wipe the two factions out.

For the biggest part of the film the story concentrates on the relationship between the two families with the biggest focus being on comedy. For the first half hour I thought it was going to be a musical with even Jet breaking into song. It isn't until the last twenty minutes that things really start to get interesting. When the bandits finally attack in full force the two families unite in a terrific battle. This includes a breathtaking scene where Jet takes on two opponents at the same time, all three combatants using three sectional staffs. The movie also has some exceptional sword play moments.

Like the first movie the cast is made up of competent martial artists who display a wide variety of styles and techniques. All the fight scenes are performed without the use of wires and there is no obvious undercranking.

Overall, this movie was too slow-moving and much, much too happy for me to really enjoy it. I swear if I was diabetic, I would have gone into sugar shock about halfway through it. The only part I really liked was the ending fight, which is pretty good stuff, though the spurting blood may turn off those who were looking for more of a family-friendly picture. Kids from Shaolin is worth a look, especially if you are interested in getting a look at a very young Jet Li in action, but don't expect anything on the level of his later work like Fist of Legend or Once Upon a Time in China.