Forbidden Kingdom is an entertaining, spectacularly choreographed, and beautifully shot martial arts fantasy combining two of the genres greatest talents - Jackie Chan and Jet Li.
A young, somewhat dejected, American teen, who happens to be a Kung Fu movie buff, is charged with an important duty. He must return a very powerful staff to its rightful owner, the Monkey King. One night, while hanging out in his favorite import shop, he is nearly killed by a group of thugs. As he begins what appears to be a fatal fall, he finds himself in a forest in the forbidden kingdom, where he meets talented immortal 'drunken master' Lu Yan. Lu Yan becomes his master and they collect a small entourage of warriors on their way to the Forbidden Kingdom's palace, where an evil emperor has imprisoned the monkey king.
The film is as beautiful as Crouching Tiger was, but the story is exceedingly predictable and a bit formulaic. Well-directed and generally well-acted, there are no painful or awkward moments. The dialogue is fairly good, and the characters are relatively strong. Oddly, however, the protagonist (played by Michael Angarano) is possibly the most forgettable character in the film. Angarano does a decent job with the part, but the character was written stereotypically and with little complexity compared to Chan and Li's parts.
This is a fun martial arts one-shot, which I will probably watch twice simply because I go for this sort of thing. It is not, however, a great piece of cinema. Just a nice treat for family viewing and fans of martial arts fantasy.
A young, somewhat dejected, American teen, who happens to be a Kung Fu movie buff, is charged with an important duty. He must return a very powerful staff to its rightful owner, the Monkey King. One night, while hanging out in his favorite import shop, he is nearly killed by a group of thugs. As he begins what appears to be a fatal fall, he finds himself in a forest in the forbidden kingdom, where he meets talented immortal 'drunken master' Lu Yan. Lu Yan becomes his master and they collect a small entourage of warriors on their way to the Forbidden Kingdom's palace, where an evil emperor has imprisoned the monkey king.
The film is as beautiful as Crouching Tiger was, but the story is exceedingly predictable and a bit formulaic. Well-directed and generally well-acted, there are no painful or awkward moments. The dialogue is fairly good, and the characters are relatively strong. Oddly, however, the protagonist (played by Michael Angarano) is possibly the most forgettable character in the film. Angarano does a decent job with the part, but the character was written stereotypically and with little complexity compared to Chan and Li's parts.
This is a fun martial arts one-shot, which I will probably watch twice simply because I go for this sort of thing. It is not, however, a great piece of cinema. Just a nice treat for family viewing and fans of martial arts fantasy.