Korean film has a hip-hop translation

Kim Kyung-soo (Jang Hyuk) is pretty much your average bleached-blond Korean high-school transfer student with telekinetic powers acquired from a childhood encounter with an electric eel during a lightning storm. If when he speaks he sounds a lot like OutKast’s Andre 3000, that’s just because nearly every kid at “Volcano High,” a South Korean cult-fu flick dubbed into English by MTV and premiering Sunday night at 9, has the voice of a hip-hop artist.

“A star-studded vocal event” is how Andre 3000 has described the movie, a high-concept cluster bomb aimed dead at the heart of a generation raised on rap, video games and the Power Rangers, and dressed in the dull metallic tones of the “Matrix” films. That’s Lil Jon voicing school bully Jang Yang (Kim Su-ro) and delivering the most maniacal laugh of any school bully since “A Christmas Story’s” Scut Farkus; Snoop Dogg as imprisoned class president Hakrim (Kwon Sang-woo); and Method Man as Mr. Ma (Huh Jun-ho), the foremost and most powerful of five nefarious substitute teachers. Also on hand are Big Boi; Kelis; Tracy Morgan of “The Tracy Morgan Show”; and, as evil vice principal Cho, Pat Morita of “Happy Days” and “The Karate Kid” renown -- the lone Asian among the voice talent, though not, it may be said, a Korean.

Set in the near future that looks a lot like the past, and as full of rain as visions of the near future usually are, “Volcano High” is in many ways a typical high school comedy, mounting as it does the old familiar battles of young versus old, student versus teacher, insider versus outsider, girls against boys.

But here the battles are not metaphorical. The kids have formed rival gangs, based on their elective sports -- there is the rugby team, the weightlifting club (a.k.a. the Dark Oxen) and the all-girl kendo squad, led by the beautiful, cool Jade (Shin Min-ah, voiced by Mya). And all of them seem to have one problem or another with newcomer Kim, who has already been expelled from eight schools for uncontrolled telekinesis and now just wants to graduate.

“This is my first week here,” he wails, “and every club has attacked me -- except the yearbook committee.”

Kim takes a while to get his mojo working, but with the help of Hakrim and some mystical special effects, he learns, like Luke Skywalker and Neo, to harness the force that is strong within him. (He can do amazing things with water.)

The fighting is of the magical variety, impossibly acrobatic and essentially supernatural, disturbing the very warp and woof of space and time. It is also executed with a good bit of comedy, in poses and attitudes that may be read from a thousand yards away.

One does have the nagging feeling that something is being lost in translation. But translation is a difficult and imperfect art, and if “Yo, punk,” “Sweet!” “Knock yourself out,” and “It’s just you and me, old-school style,” do not literally represent the original Korean dialogue, they serve the job at hand.

The MTV version rejiggers some of the characters and jettisons the hunt for a secret manuscript, trimming what little story there was to begin with into a simple clash of constitutionally opposed good and bad.

Such liberties are only mildly disappointing, however, since the narrative passages function mostly to connect the battles royal, and, however confusing the film is from time to time, it’s always clear whom to root for. (You can enjoy yourself here paying almost no attention at all.)

Indeed, you could turn off the sound and not miss much, apart from the hip-hoppity score and the interesting vocal talent, who do a uniformly good job, stunt casting or no. Their lip-syncing skills and skit experience stand them in good stead.

*

‘Volcano High’

Where: MTV

When: Sunday, 9-10:30 p.m.

Rating: The network has rated it TV-PG (may not be suitable for young children)

Featuring: Voices of Andre 3000, Lil Jon, Snoop Dogg, Method Man, Pat Morita, Kelis, Mya, Big Boi, Tracy Morgan

Credits: Director Kim Tae-gyun. Executive producer Rob Edwards.