This review may contain spoilers
The Forbidden Kingdom is a fun-filled martial arts adventure that pairs Jackie Chan and Jet Li in a unique East-meets-West fantasy. The film’s strength lies in its thrilling action sequences and the undeniable chemistry between the two legendary actors. The choreography, courtesy of renowned stunt coordinators, is impressive and showcases both Chan’s and Li’s incredible skills. The whimsical plot, centered around a young American who travels back in time to ancient China, provides a fresh twist on classic adventure tales.However, the film’s story can feel overly simplistic and somewhat predictable, especially for those familiar with the genre. The dialogue and character development are often shallow, which can detract from the overall experience. Additionally, the film’s pacing occasionally lags, and some of the humor misses the mark. Despite these shortcomings, The Forbidden Kingdom delivers enough high-energy action and nostalgic charm to entertain fans of martial arts cinema. Overall, it's an enjoyable watch with memorable fight scenes, Must watch and highly recommendable!
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Jet Li
nuff said.
This movie tells the story of two martial artist that must train a 21st century boy who has been transported to their time. I have re-watched this movie at least a half a dozen times and enjoy it every time. It feels kinda kid friendly at times so if you are looking for more grit this movie isn't for you.
I Never give anything a score of 10 and unless it is amazing, I don't think I have ever watched anything amazing. Nothing below 6 unless I had to drop/shut it off.
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This review may contain spoilers
Two tigers cannot live on the same mountain!
Jackie Chan and Jet Li finally had the chance to team up in 2008's The Forbidden Kingdom. The movie felt like a mixture of Journey to the West and The Wizard of Oz making for an uneven story and one that won't hold many surprises for anyone. There were shout outs to old kung fu movies which will be fun for fans, but a bland American in a fish out of water trope may be more taxing to deal with.Jason Tripitikas (JTTW reference) is a teenager obsessed with old kung fu movies. He frequents Old Hop's (Jackie Chan) shop to buy bootlegged movies like early Shaw Brothers films. One night during a robbery a wounded Old Hop gives him a staff and tells him he has to return it to its owner. Soon Jason is transported back to China in ye olden times. He meets up with drunken beggar Lu Yan (Chan again) and soon he, Lu, and Sparrow (Crystal Liu-her character named after Cheng Pei Pei's famous Come Drink with Me character who also appeared in other Shaw movies, the Golden Sparrow) are being chased by the Jade Warlord's thugs who want the staff, which it turns out belongs to the rock encased Monkey King. Along the way they pick up a monk (Jet Li-who played a lot of Shaolin monks early in his career) and head for the Five Elements Mountain to return the staff to the Monkey King.
Jason is completely inadequate in a fight so Lu and the monk begin to teach him kung fu like two tigers on a mountain. Before you can say "wax on, wax off", Jason is proficient enough to hold his own in a fight. Li Bing Bing plays a White Haired Witch looking to snag the staff so that she can obtain the immortal elixir from the Jade Warlord (Collin Chou in a delightfully campy performance). The movie follows a formula right to the end, even for the female warriors, much to my chagrin.
The cinematography and scenery were gorgeous. Yuen Woo Ping who has choreographed fights for both Jet and Jackie amongst a plethora of other films made the best use of two aging action stars. There were also some humorous fights using the young disciple. The fights incorporated wire-fu and CGI given the characters' super kung fu powers which wasn't unexpected in a kingdom with magical beings. The fight between Jet and Jackie was entertaining and felt like two skilled friends fighting. Jet as the Monkey King was the most relaxed and genuinely playful I've ever seen him.
Due to Jason having to deal with humiliations and set-backs, he didn't come across like a white savior--too much. Jet, Jackie, and the other Asian actors were the people who were proficient and confident and somehow magically speaking English in ye olden times as well as Mandarin. I would have preferred a slightly different ending to the final fight but this was a story to appeal to teenage males. And of course, Jason learned his valuable lessons and took them home to deal with his problems there.
The Forbidden Kingdom could be cheesy and predictable, but is worth watching if you like the stars and want to watch Jet Li and Jackie Chan fight each other and a whole army of people. The fish out of water trope wasn't too annoying and gave the film a message about global friendship and cooperation to solve dangerous problems, something we really need right now in the world.
3/3/23
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Su WuKong!!! The Monkey King, Need I Say More??? His Golden Dragon Staff Is So Awesomely Beautiful!!
1ST I MUST SAY HOW GORGEOUS, AND BEAUTIFUL THE MONKEY'S SU WUKONG GOLDEN DRAGON STAFF IS!!! THAT THING IS LIKE SO FREAKIN PRETTY!!! ESPECIALLY THE ONE IN THIS MOVIE!!!Let Me Start By Saying I Had Watched This Movie Almost 18 Years Ago... So... I Might Not Remember Every Detail. When My Mother Told Me That Jackie Chen, And Jet Lee Were Going To Be In a Movie Together, I Was Like Impossible, I Didn't Believe It At 1st, Because Both Are So Well Know For There Martial Arts Skills. Then When She Told Me It Was Going To Be About The Monkey King, I Was Like No Way, Because I Knew Niether Would Play The Monkey King As A Character. (Ha Ha Ha I Was Even More Truly Shocked To Find Out That Jet Lee Was Playing The Mischievous Monkey King. I Have To Say I Laughed My Behind Off!)
I Did Really Like Jackie, And Really Respected Him, As An Actor, And A Singer. I Liked Him Even More After He Sang This One Song, And He Said That The Song Meant This World Is Not Yours, This World Is Not Mine, This World Is Not Not Theres, This Is Our World, Etc.
But I Saw Something On Him, And I'd Hate To Say This, But I Found Something Out About Jackie Chan, That I Really Didn't, And That I Am Not To Proud Of Him For, ESPECIALLY Because It Has To Do With His Daughter, But... I Feel Really Sad For His Daughter, Because She Is Still His DAUGHTER, And Family. It Is His Preference, And His Choice To Be The Way He Is, But It Makes Me REALLY DISAPPOINTED IN HIM!!! More So, Because It's When His Daughter Needed Him The Most. Even Though I Am Upset, With Him, I Will Not Let This Affect My Review Or Rating, At Least I Hope I Won't...
The Movie Was Actually Was Really Good, And Fun, Action Packed. It's More Then I Expected Of A Movie About A Magical Monkey King Called Su WuKong!!! By The Way I Knew That Su WuKong Was Magical, But I Didn't Know He Was That Magical... In Short One Of Strained Of Plucked Hair Is, Was Magical. Boy Was It Magical!!! JUST 1 LITTLE STRAINED OF HAIR!!! 🤯🤯🤯
Jet Lee Did An Excellent, And Amazing Job Playing The Monkey King... At 1st With All The Make-Up On, And All The Stuff For The Monkey King Outfit, Costume, Crown, Hair, Ect., It Was Hard To Tell It Was Him. From Scratching His Head To Moving Around Like The Mischievous Monkey King. He Did An Awesome, And A Wonderful Job Recreating The Monkey King Su WuKong!!!
He Did Played 2 Different Characters Some Of The Monkey King, And Then Some A Monk. Both Monkey King, And The Monk Both Fought Crazyly. The Monk Was On A Mission To Find The Golden Dragon Staff, Now This Is Where The Strained If Hair Comes In, But You'll Have To Watch It To Find Out.
So A Young White Boy That Loves Martial Arts Videos Goes To Buy Kung Fu Movies From A Elderly Man (Jackie Chan). The Golden Dragon Staff Is Passed On To The Boy, By The Elderly Man, Because The Elderly Man's Shop Is Being Robbed. It's Covered By A Cloth So The Boy Has No Idea What It Is, All He Knows Is To Keep It Safe, And To Protect It With His Life, Because The Elderly Man Told Him To. The Elderly Man Told Him He Was The Keeper Of The Staff, And He's Been Protecting It All These Years.
The Young White Boy Get Sucked Back Into The Past In Antcient Times, I Believe, Because Of The Staff, And He Comes Accross, A Drunken Master Who's Immortal (Jackie Chan), When They 1st Meet, WOW!!! 😂🤣😂 I Just Remember It Being Way To Funny!!! CLASSIC AMERICAN/ CHINESE HUMOR, I GUESS YOU WOULD CALL IT!!! English, And Chinese Lost In Translation... Maybe Not Knowing English, And Not Knowing Chinese!!! But Then, Wahlah English!!!
Anyways The Boy, And Drunken Master Come Accross The Monk, Where Both The Drunken Master, And The Monk Fight Eachother, Which Was Pointless, Because They Both Matched One Another With Martial Arts Skills!!! (My Mom Had Said The Director Of Forbidden Kingdom, Said When Jackie Chan, And Jet Lee Fought, He Didn't Have To Direct, Or Choreograph Anything, Because They Already Knew What To Do. I Said Of Corse, Because They Both Know How To Fight!) Anyways They Both, Dunken Master, And The Monk Agreed To Disagree In How To Train The Kid In Martial Arts. At Times I Felt Like They Were Just Messing Around With Him, And Pulling His Leg.
All 3 Came Accross A Pretty Young Chinese Girl Named Sparrow, Who Wanted Avenge Her Family, I Believe. The Young White Boy, Was... IN LOVE AT 1ST SIGHT!!! She Had A Specific White Jade Sparrow Hair Pin, That She Was To Use, And Kill with. I Can't Remember Who It Was That She Wanted To Kill, If She Even Killed Them, I Do Remember Her Fighting At The End With The White Jade Sparrow Hair Pin, I Believe. I Can't Remember Did It End Good For Her, But For Sure Not Until They Go Back To The Present Time. I Guess Technically In The Present Times It's Still Not The Same Girl Sparrow, Just A Look A Like, Or Doppelganger!
As You Know Jackie Chan Played 2 Characters The Elderly Man With The Shop, And The Drunken Master. He Did A Great Job Playing The Elderly Man, Because When I 1st Saw Him Too, I Couldn't Tell If It Was Him Or Not... (I Guess The Make Up, And Costumes, And Stuff For Both Jackie Chen And Jet Lee, Was That Good, So They Were Unrecognizable.) Anyways Back In The Present The Elderly Man Was Back, When Last Saw Him , Before The Boy Got Sucked Into Antcient Times, You Think That He's A Gonner, Because Of The Robbery... Back In The Present World He Told The Boy, He Was Immortal. Sparrow Was A Different Person, But Looked The Same, If I'm Not Mistake, Her Name Had To Do With Sparrow Too...
SADLY I DON'T REMEMBER THE MUSIC, IF IT WAS GOOD OR BAD... BUT I GUESS IT WASN'T THAT BAD, BECAUSE IF IT WAS I WOULD REMEMBER THAT... I Usually Remember The Bad Songs... Anyways I Rated Music 8.5, Because I Am Not Sure, Don't Want To Give To Low Of Rating Or To High, Because I Just Don't Remember.
Anyways As Far As The Ending Goes, I Really Can't Remember It... Ha Ha Ha I Know Lots Of Detail Above, But I Don't Even Remember What Happened To The Monkey King, I Do Know The Movie Was Based On Him. I Will Say This... The Monk Had To Do With The Monkey King, And The Money King Had To Do With The Monk!!! They Connected, And Intertwined Together Some How. That All I Can Say. The Rest Your Going To Have To Watch, And Find Out On Your Own.
If I Happen To Come Accross The Movie Again On T.V. Again I'll Write Another Review... Because I've Seen It On T.V. At Least 3 Times. Not As Of Lately Though. =0/
January 6th, 2026 @ 2:10 P.M (Fell Asleep In Between Writing The Review.) -9:43 P.M.
Posted At 9:47 P.M.
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