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The Forbidden Kingdom
Director: Rob Minkoff
Starring: Michael Angarano, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Yifei Liu, Collin Chou

A kid (Michael Angarano), obsessed with kung-fu action movies, is forced to rob the store of the elderly Chinese man he buys movies from by some bullies. After taking a special staff, however, the kid is plunged back into time to a mystical world where a tyranical warlord (Collin Chou) rules the land. With the help of an immortal drunken master (Jackie Chan; yes, that reference was subtle, I know), the kid, who is a "chosen one", must use the staff to free the Monkey King (Jet Li), the only warrior who could defeat the Warlord. Along the way, they encounter a beautiful women (read: love interest, played by Yifei Liu), an equally-beautiful but man-hating femme fatale (Bingbing Li) and a silent monk (Li again) who helps them in their quest.

I have to say that The Forbidden Kingdom did not quite play out as it was imagined in my mind when I first heard of the pitch: "Jackie Chan meets Jet Li". To see two legendary icons of martial arts cinema collide, one did imagine that they'd probably be up against one another, presumably with Li being the more evil of the pair. What The Forbidden Kingdom turned out to be, however, was a lot more friendly to fans who didn't want their favourite of the pair to lose. In fact, what it did turn out to be was family-friendly.

Of course, if I had my way, it would have been a Police Story-style deathmatch for the ages. Instead, we are led under the direction of Rob Minkoff, known for more family fare such as The Lion King, the 2 Stuart Little movies and the shudder-inducing (but for all the wrong reasons) Eddie Murphy vehicle The Haunted Mansion. While the idea of the martial arts pair is very tempting, is that really the director? I'm not talking an R-rated bloodbath here, but I'd expect someone more equipped to handle a martial arts film, particuarly given that the meeting between these two is something for the ages.

To be honest, however, Minkoff does fair well with the action scenes, but then again when you have Yuen Woo-ping (who did the fight scenes for The Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) it is pretty hard to fail. The fight scenes, which are plentiful, if not quite plentiful enough as I'll soon tell you later, are very well done, particularly Chan and Li's inevitable encounter, which goes for a good 10 minutes at least (showing that Minkoff is more than aware of why most people over the age of 12 are paying to see this film). Even Angarano looks good on occasion (while on others, he looks uncomfortable). If you are going to see it just on the basis of the fight scenes, you won't be disappointed on that front.

The problem is with the story itself, which Minkoff doesn't really help by his rather dull direction outside the action scenes. The film's plots are cliche, and even casual moviegoers might find themselves wondering if they might have watched this film before. Several times. You might think that you've seen a kid being trained kung-fu is right out of The Karate Kid, minus the "Wax on, wax off". The setting feels like it came out of Fearless (the Jet Li one, not the Jeff "I'm not afraid of planes" Bridges) but with more mystical elements that you have probably seen many times before. The Forbidden Kingdom keeps reminding me of old, which works against it really, because you start longing for something fresh or new. The modern day prologue and epilogue have a different tone and feel to the rest of the film, which is very awkward, as is the use of racist slurs in the early sections (like "chink"), which feel very out-of-place in a film aimed at a more younger set. Incidentally, looking at IMDb, the writer wrote the Viggo Mortensen movie Hidalgo, which was also pretty bland and cliche.

Jackie Chan is his usual self, even if he is recycling an old persona (one of the few nods to days of old I actually appreciated). Unfortunately, since he is playing a drunk, he seems to drop more syllables than usual (no offence to Jackie, but his English can be quite weak at times). This is particularly the case when Chan is called on to deliver a speech about the film's entire backstory in narration - not the best of ideas. The sidelining of Chan in the later stages is a little disappointing, particularly if you want to Li and Chan to work together, which there is all too little of.

Jet Li is on good form, even if he does have a fairly spotty track record when it comes to his filmography. As the Monkey King (what was it a certain bum said about monkeys? It escapes me), sporting the most ridiculous piece of facial hair I've ever seen, Li seems to be having the most fun I've ever seen him have in a film. The Monkey King plays up Li's more playful and cocky side, which we've had hints of before (such as in the early stages of Fearless) and its very enjoyable to see this. Kids will love it. As the monk, Li is his more usual self, which is still good to see even if it's a bit less fun. It was also a refreshing change of pace also to see Li not playing a bad guy or a man out for revenge for a change.

The rest of the cast are average. If it weren't for the two stars, this might be something Hallmark puts on at Christmas. Michael Angarano particuarly comes off as a cutprice Shia LaBeouf, with much less charisma (not to say that Shia is overflowing with it) and far blander, as if he had acting lessons from Orlando Bloom. Each time you are reminded that not only is he is only there for the kids and to give to the American audience a foothold. Which isn't a particualry good thing, since he comes across not as a human being but more being designed by committee. It doesn't help that the character is inflicted with the moaniness that seems to plague all fantasy chosen saviours, which makes him even more grinding to my temper.

The Forbidden Kingdom is a fairly disappointing, but enjoyable, timepasser for the family. Action buffs, attracted by the lead's pairing will likely be thrilled at the excellent fight scenes, but find the story far too trite. I do think it is fairly good, though. You know, for the kids.

3/5