Grade: B+

Verdict: A very silly, very fun martial-arts-meets-soccer flick.

Watching his team's opponents soar above the soccer field like caped superheroes, Sing (Stephen Chow) gasps, "It must be special effects!"

It's a great little in-joke, coming near the end of a movie that's as thick with cheesy computer FX as it is with rampant silliness. Welcome to "Shaolin Soccer," director-star Chow's enjoyably nutso spoof that earns its ad slogan, "Get Ready to Kick Some Grass."

Made in 2001, the action comedy finally makes it to the United States, minus half an hour of its original running time thanks to Miramax and its chief, Harvey "Scissorhands" Weinstein. The movie follows Sing as he joins up with older, disgraced soccer hero Golden Leg (Ng Man Tat) and rounds up fellow Shaolin kung fu students to apply their martial arts moves to the playing field.

The "brothers" from his old dojo are a specialized crew currently down on their luck. Iron Head has, well, a blow-proof noggin. Iron Shirt has the ability to trap a soccer ball in the force-field of his stomach. Little Brother is a tubby bear of a fellow, who nevertheless can float like a balloon when he jumps. And so on.

In a sweet subplot, Sing meets Mui (Vicki Zhao), who makes steamy buns at a food stand using the fine art of Tai Chi kung fu. She's painfully shy and mortified by her bad facial acne, but starts to come out of her shell when Sing, seeing her inner self, insists she's beautiful.

The main course of "Shaolin" is a series of soccer matches that leads these chopsocky players toward an ultimate showdown with Team Evil, run by the rich, corrupt Hung (Patrick Tse Yin), the guy responsible for ruining Iron Leg's career (and his iron leg) 20 years earlier. Naturally, his Evil players are juiced on illegal designer dope, allowing Hung to gloat, "Those American drugs are better than I expected!"

The soccer matches are gravity-defying spectacles, with balls kicked so hard they turn into blazing meteorites. The scenes are completely unbelievable and completely enjoyable. There's something ingratiating about the casual cheesiness of the computer-generated effects.

Now and then there's a jerkiness to the narrative that seems a result of Miramax's editing. But at not quite 90 minutes, the movie doesn't overstay its welcome one second. And it packs quite a lot of stuff into that brief running time: a recurrent joke about slipping on a banana peel, riffs on Sing's adoration of Bruce Lee, even a sudden song-and-dance number in the street, set to "Celebration."

"Shaolin Soccer" isn't a major cause for celebration itself. But it's genial goofiness can keep you smiling for 87 minutes.