The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)
Director: Rob Minkoff
Starring: Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Michael Angarano
Synopsis:
An American teen is transported to ancient China, where he must return the staff of the Monkey King in order to defeat the Jade Warlord.
Impressions:
The main draw for this film is the chance to see Jackie Chan face off with Jet Li. For some, that's all that's worthwhile. I don't think that view is entirely fair. It's a decent enough film with the sort of good actions sequences you'd expect. Actually, some of the fight scenes actually go on a little too long to be honest. While Jackie Chan gets to cover familiar ground as drunken master Lu Yan, Jet Li does a surprising aversion to his usual roles as the Monkey King. I really liked Li Bingbing as Ni Chang on the villain's side. I wasn't a huge fan of the main character, but if you don't like said character, you'll be comforted to see him go through a lot of abuse (but I've got to express sympathy for the actor, who went through a lot of real-life abuse for the role). I would've liked the original idea of a Chinese-American lead who gets in touch with his roots, but Jackie Chan wanted a gwailo kung fu nut who comes to learn the real meaning of kung fu. Sure, fine. It's not an amazing film, but it's pretty entertaining and worth watching for all you kung fu nuts out there.
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