This brisk and breezy overview of the beloved chopsocky genre covers a lot of ground in an incredibly short'n'snappy 80 minute running time: Starting with the genre's origins in the Peking Opera, with everything from "Enter the Dragon" to "Kung Fu Panda" crammed in between, this honey just about covers all the essential bases. Naturally, such legendary martial arts trailblazers as Bruce Lee (natch), Jackie Chan (of course), and the unavoidable Chuck Norris get a lion's share of attention, but fortunately we also get segments on Sammo Hung, Gordon Liu, Donnie Yen, Stephen Chow, John Woo (who almost single-handedly created his own sub-genre called "gun fu"), and Jet Li. The ladies are well represented as well by such notable luminaries as Angela Mao, Michelle Yeoh, and Cynthia Rothrock. Naturally, there are oodles of choice clips from movies that range from well-acknowledged classics to lesser known oddball obscurities, plus more outrageous karate fights and astonishing physical feats than you can shake a pair of nunchuks at. Narrated with infectious go-for-it zeal by Yuri Lowenthal, with neat use of stylized animation in the connective segments, an exceptionally thorough and illuminating script by Ric Meyers, and a cool theme song named -- what else? -- "Kung Fu" by Ace, this doc rates as mandatory viewing for both wet behind the ears newbies and seasoned veteran aficionados alike.
