The Forbidden Kingdom

The long-awaited collaboration between Jackie Chan and Jet Li may have worked better 10 years ago, when the actors were still in their prime. When you consider the ages of the two (Chan at about 53, and Li at about 44, when this was filmed) they did do an amazing job. I'll be lucky if I can operate my TV remote by the end of this year. This is the most enjoyable work I've seen from Chan since "Who Am I" or "Gorgeous" in the late 90's. Li still looks good in performance (he does some fantastic stick-fighting), and we might still have a little while with him.

The plot is a cross between "The Never Ending Story" and "The Wizard of Oz", with a dash of "The Karate Kid" and "Highlander" thrown in. Point being: It's silly. Bearing that in mind, it's very well executed and visually stunning. Plus it contains a crapload of references to various Shaw Bros and Wuxia films. HERE GOES: A young martial-arts-movie-enthusiast named Jason (Michael Angarano) dreams about the Monkey King (Li) at night before entering an old store in Chinatown run by the elderly Hop (Chan), who sells bootleg DVDs. Some bullies then use Jason to break into Hop's, since he knows the owner. During the chaos, Hop is shot by the gang leader. Despite his injury, Hop gives Jason an old staff and tells him it must be returned to its rightful owner. Jason runs away from the gang to a nearby rooftop, where he is magically whisked away to ancient China! Having no idea how he got there, he wanders around until he is attacked by soldiers, who are looking for the staff. He is helped by a wandering drunk named Lu Yan (Chan, again), who tells him that the staff belongs to the Monkey King, and must be returned to him, and kept out of the clutches of the evil Jade Warlord (Collin Chou, "Flash Point", "Fearless") who imprisoned the Monkey King in the first place. Joining them along the way are Golden Sparrow (Yifei Liu), a young girl whose parents were killed by the Jade Warlord, and a monk (Li, again), whose vested interest is also to return the staff to the Monkey King.

The fights are done by Yuen Woo Ping, and while pretty good, could have been better. I know that he's the man when it comes to martial arts choreography, but I've grown tired of his style, especially concerning wires. He just doesn't seem to know when to say when. Luckily, this is the type of movie where it's more in keeping with the story. After all, this is a fantasy movie with plenty of magic. Hell; the Monkey King, the Jade Warrior, and Lu Yan are all immortals. In fact, Lu Yan is one of the 8 Drunken Immortals, referenced in a style during Chan and Woo Ping's 1978 classic "Drunken Master". One thing I will say about the fights is that there are quite a few of them, so I shouldn't gripe too much. There are some pretty sweet (and very creative) moments during the action, the highlight of which is the fight between Chan and Li. Their fight could never live up to its expectations, but it's still a lot of fun, much like the rest of the film. Even the character of Jason does some cool stuff in the last act. I rented this, and am considering purchase, so I musta liked it quite a bit. At the very least, this is the best martial arts fantasy aimed at kids since "Surf Ninjas".

Upon its initial release, there were already 3 versions of the disc, including Blu Ray. This DVD is in widescreen with fantastic picture quality. The xtras are plentiful, but I was hoping for some interviews with the two leads, whose behind-the-scenes antics are barely glimpsed during the other features. It's in English and some Cantonese with subtitles available in Spanish. This also has running commentary by director Rob Minkoff and screenwriter John Fusco. Fusco's script is based on the classic Chinese novel "Journey to the West". I would love to see a serious movie about the legend of the Monkey King. He is the trickster of Chinese mythology, and I'm fascinated by his folklore. 3.5/5

2008

This movie was great and my favorite two kung fu actors come out here. that was excellent. Jackie chan and Jet Li combined Kung Fu legend and they are still perfect doing their movies. This movie CGI was great. The fighting scenes were excellent. This movie was enjoying and laughing.

It is a good movie if you like well choreographed fight scenes, or like adventure films from the 80s like The Neverending Story or Labyrinth.

**Spiolers**

The Forbidden Kingdom is a movie that reminds me of something from the 80s. A kid is basically being bullied in the real world, then he is mysteriously transported to a magical or mystical realm. There he meets Jackie Chan and Jet Li, who knew? He learns kung fu, saves ancient China, comes back to the real world and defeats his bullies.

I remember enjoying the movie, It is a relatively well done family fantasy. It dose not leave anything, In fact Im having a hard time recalling the story a few weeks after watching it.

It still does give you a couple of hours of entertainment and what more do you want from a movie.

Great movie, I like it very much, specially the figth betwen Jakie and Jet li,That was perfect