Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

KUNG FU KID is a rather nondescript martial arts film from Hong Kong, made in the mid 1990s when wirework-infused action and complex, fast-paced narratives were all the rage. This is another film that uses the age-old story about Ching invaders and the destruction of the Shaolin Temple as the backdrop for the tale. Lam Ching-Ying plays an important Shaolin patriot who goes into hiding before striking up a friendship with a young martial artist, who must go undercover and put his life into danger.These 1990s Hong Kong action films are quite easy to enjoy thanks to the aforementioned fast pace and sheer overwhelming number of plot ingredients. However, the one thing noticeable about KUNG FU KID is the surprising lack of martial arts scenes; they're limited in scope and don't last very long when they do show up, which is why this film is forgotten amid more action-packed fare. There is some fun involving ninja assassins and poisoning, but too much of the tale gets bogged down in romantic interludes. Youthful star Kar Lok Chin is familiar from his minor work in a number of Jackie Chan movies.