The film begins with Fong Sai Yuk (Shut Bo Wa) as a newborn. His martial artist mother is challenged by a hard faced master who claims he and his student are superior. After making quick work of the man, he whimpers away claiming that he'll return one day to get revenge on her offspring. So, seeing that day could come, Fong Sai Yuk's mother trains her son as best she can and soaks him in mineral baths daily so he will have a resilient body. Eventually the mischievous youngster needs stricter training so he is sent to the Shaolin Temple where he undergoes a harsher regimen. The budding martial master shows he is very adept not only in body (learning the two-finger punch) but also in soul by giving away his meager food ration to a starving old man and his granddaughter. When Fong Sai Yuk completes his training, he is told to travel to Canton and prove himself in a martial arts competition. There, he finds the revenge driven martial master and his matured student are the overseers of the competition, taking on all who will participate and playing dirty in the process.

Now, why this film should be good is that it features the two of greatest phrases in the pantheon of kung fu films- "Go to Shaolin and train" and "Prove yourself in a martial arts competition." Unfortunately it sours all of these prospects by being pretty dull in all departments, especially the story and the fighting. This mainland film has many real martial artist monks, but the staging of the choreography is often very sloppy and uninteresting. It is pretty telling that in the final fight there are too long cuts to the audience watching the fight instead of the fight itself. Also, there is an extremely intricate sequence involving Fong Sai Yuk's final test, having to break the formation of fifty or so choreographed fighters, but it is long and confusing to see the purpose of their elaborate fight formation or how he actually succeeds.

Actor/martial artist Shut Bo Wa definitely shows he is more of a martial artist than an actor. In trying to make Fong Sai Yuk lighthearted, he smiles a lot. But, he has a really dorky grin, and his Fong Sai Yuk comes across more like a bratty boob than a good natured fighter. It is impossible for me to measure his performance without thinking of Jet Li's (in 1993's Fong Sai Yuk). For Li, the more jovial Fong Sai Yuk was a great contrast to his very fatherly and level headed Wong Fei Hung portrayal. Shut Bo Wa may be a good martial artist, but that doesn't mean you are going to be a charismatic martial cinema star, something that Li, in his prime, was very good at.

China has one big advantage over Hong Kong, and that's space. Lots of it. China may be the world's most populated country, but it's also pretty damn big, and once you get out of the cities, China contains some of the most diverse and breath-taking landscapes anywhere in the world. The location work here is great, as a result, though not nearly as compelling as Kids From Shaolin, which was a really beautiful film.

The kungfu is top-notch, and the acting is good. What more can you ask for in a kungfu film? Or any film, if you are like me. When someone told me to see the "charming You've Got Mail," my first question was "How is Meg Ryan's kungfu?" When I found out she didn't do any, well, you know how it is.

While this isn't quite as good as the Mainland's best known Shaolin film (Shaolin Temple starring Jet Li Lian-jie), it still ranks among the top kungfu films ever made. Young Hero of Shaolin chronicles Fong Sai-yuk's arrival at the Shaolin Temple (actual), where the monks kick ass, sleep on suspended ropes, cook using a Buick sized wok while hanging upside down from the ceiling and using a ten foot pole to stir with (much like I do myself), and other such things you do when you're part of the baddest religion on the planet. You don't catch Christian monks doing stuff this cool ... although they do make wine, so maybe somewhere there are some Christian monks doing drunken boxing.

After a while, Fong Sai-yuk leaves the temple to go out and spread peace and ass kickings to villains across China. That's the biggest advantage to being a Buddhist monk rather than a Catholic one. You can be into peace and harmony but are still allowed to dole out righteous beat-downs to the evil-doers of the world. Catholic monks and nuns aren't really afforded the same ability, though I know of a few Catholic Brothers over in Brooklyn that will take your ass in a boxing match. However, I don't know how the Pope feels about his sheep going out to beat up wrong-doers.

Fong duels with all sorts of crooked types before settling in to deal out some Shaolin justice during a crooked martial arts tournament. You know Fong has to jump up there and do some fighting on top of poles. Wonderful kungfu, a good story, great sets and costumes, and a good story make this an all-around quality production that any self-respecting kungfu fan needs to have in their arsenal.