The Forbidden Kingdom
Cast: Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Michael Angarano, Crystal Liu
Dir: Rob Minkoff
Rating: 2.5/5
With Rob Minkoff's latest movie The Forbidden Kingdom East meets West in this as two of kung-fu's biggest stars, in the shape of Jet Li and Jackie Chan come face to face in a story based on Chinese novel Journey to the West.
When teenage kung-fu flick enthusiast Jason (Michael Angarano) is buying bootleg DVDs from his favourite shopkeeper, Old Hop (Chan, aged by prosthetic makeup), he is drawn to an ancient golden staff. But when a local bully forces weakling Jason to help rob Old Hop, Jason escapes with the staff and is magically transported to ancient China.
He is soon rescued from the forces of the Jade Warlord by Lu Yan (Chan), a raggedy wanderer whose wine-guzzling ways conceal his kung-fu mastery. Yan reveals the truth of the staff, and that Jason is the fabled Seeker who must return it to the Monkey King (Li) to prevent the warlord's evil plans.
The two are joined in their quest by a kung-fu master, Silent Monk (Li), and a beautiful orphan (Liu Yifei) who harbours her own personal vendetta.
Despite their differences, the two masters teach Jason the ways of the kung-fu warrior. And when Lu Yan is gravely wounded by the warlord's sexy assassin, Jason must bring his newfound skills and courage to bear if he is to save one world and return to his own.
Well if you are expecting something along the lines of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon or Fearless then forget that right now this is a kung fu fairytale, think The Karate kid meets The Wizard of Oz, for kids that does, despite my early preconceptions, pack a but of a punch.
Of course, as you may imagine, it's the performances from big screen martial arts masters Jackie Chan and Jet Li that really drive the movie, their face off mid way through the film are perhaps the most exciting scenes of the whole film, despite the pair of them getting on years they both still have an ability of producing entertaining fight sequences.
The plot may be a little cliched but the good cast, and special effects, which cleverly combine physical stunts and computerised effects, do make up for the script's shortcomings and it will entertain both adults and kids.
Despite an undertone message of how to beat the bully just when the film seems like it's getting a little bit too deep for it's boots it does, usually in the form of Jackie Chan, give a little wink back to the audience to let them know that it hasn't forgotten that it's a piece of light entertainment.
While you may begin watching The Forbidden Kingdom with quite low expectations you will find yourself beginning to enjoy a film that doesn't take itself seriously nodding back to other kung-fu films and highlighting that watching movies should be fun.
In all Minkoff has produced a light piece of entertainment that is a solid piece of filmmaking, and to see Li and Chan go head to head on in a fist and foot frenzy what more do you want?
The Forbidden Kingdom is out on DVD now.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw