You don't watch a movie like this for the character development, or even, when you get down to it, the plot.

Stephen Chow follows up the amusing Shaolin Soccer by stripping down the genre even further. The premise is simple. By chance, the mob known as the Axe Gang, turns its attention on the poorest neighborhood in Shanghai. As it turns out, this is the hiding place for a number of Kung Fu masters, who figured it a safe place to avoid violence (because, after all, what master would seek such a thing?).

There's characters and such, but they consistently amount to sight gags and simple archetypes.

Don't get me wrong - the movie is dead-on in achieving its goals, an amusingly daft collection of fighting scenes and macho posturing. In a few places, things got a little bit ridiculous, such as in the team of musical fighters, which seemed to drag on and on.

Overall, though, this is basically a one-view movie to me. I've seen a gag once, and that's all I need. With so little context to bear, there's nothing more to gain with repeat viewings.