The Forbidden KingdomWritten by: John Fusco
Directed by: Rob Minkoff
Starring: Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Michael Angarano, Yifei Liu, Colin Chou, and Bingbing Li
Fans have been waiting years for martial arts legends Jackie Chan and Jet Li to unite on film. I'm not quite sure The Forbidden Kingdom is quite what they had in mind.
It's a fish out of water tale about a boy who mysteriously travels from modern day Boston to ancient China in a journey to deliver a magic staff to its rightful owner, The Monkey King. The story is apparently based on the Chinese epic story 'Journey to the West', one of the four great classic novels of Chinese Literature.
The Forbidden Kingdom is not entirely original in its execution. It is extremely reminiscent of The NeverEnding Story and even The Lord of the Rings movies. It fact it almost seems like the folks behind the movie wanted to mash those two movies together and throw in some Martial Arts for good measure. It's a silly, family movie that hard core fans of Li and Chan probably will snub. It's American to a fault and lacks the authenticity of an Asian martial arts epic.
That said, I can't deny its charm. It so hard to be good that it can't help but win you over.
Like I said before, it's silly. There are a few laughs and some pretty decent fight scenes but it's really Michael Angarano and Jet Li who carry the movie. Jackie Chan hams it up as a drunken immortal and Bingbing Li does a decent job as a bounty hunter after the staff but the real heart of the movie is with Michael Angarano. He plays his fish out of water part to a tee and handles the Martial Arts work like a pro. He was pretty close to inheriting the role of Peter Parker, according to rumor anyway, and I can see why. I expect big things from him in the future.
As far as characters go, they're all pretty standard here. There is nothing that really stands out as far as originality. Save for Golden Sparrow, who has a rather interesting way of speaking and is played wonderfully by Yifei Liu.The lack of originality is really the main flaw of the movie. There are some clunkers as far as dialogue goes but it has a certain charm that helps you overlook the negatives.
It's a fun family fantasy with some cool fight scenes. A nice way to kill a couple hours.
As far as the DVD goes, I was sent a copy of the 2 disc special edition. Which basically is just a reason to charge more money for a digital copy of this film. This is a trend that needs to stop immediately if you ask me.
The DVD has a lot of special features including a hilarious blooper real, deleted scenes, commentary, and numerous featurettes.
Overall, The Forbidden Kingom is a good buy. It's a great film to share with your kids. I know it isn't what hardcore Martial Arts fans were expecting but hopefully we'll get a more serious collaboration from Li and Chan in the future.
The Forbidden Kingdom is in stores today.
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