>> PROS It's a Martial-Arts Fantasy with great visual effects, splendid Chinese costumes and stylish Kung Fu fights. The landscapes in the film show Mother Nature in all its green glory. It is a rare film in which you will see the coming together of the great martial artists, Jet Li and Jackie Chan.>> CONS The movie offers NO Thrill or Suspense or Depth of plot and characters.The supposedly lead character of Michael Angarano is very weak and unimpressive. He is a wimpy character who does not know Kungfu even though he is supposed to be fan of martial arts.The story-line is predictable.Acting is poor & dialogues are ordinary.The coming together of Jet Li and Jackie Chan is a complete waste!It is just a "time pass", ordinary and boring picture. The watch-it-forget-it type! Not worth recommending it others.Forbidden Kingdom will be liked only by kids and teenagers.

I'm a huge fan of martial arts flicks. Anything from Hero to Shaolin Soccer to 3 Ninjas to Ninja Scroll - they are all right up my alley. Add my love of these kinds of movies to the fact that The Forbidden Kingdom has both Jackie Chan and Jet Li, and it should be one of my favorite chop-socky films of all-time, right? Not so fast.While watching The Forbidden Kingdom, I just could not shake the idea that the makers of the movie were convinced that the fans of Jackie Chan and Jet Li were going to automatically flock to their film, so a lot of effort in order to make the movie actually good just wasn't necessary. Even though it is rated PG-13, it seems like it was made with a younger audience in mind. There is none of the cinematic complexity of Hero, none of the breathtaking fight sequences of Crouching Tiger, and none of the brutal violence of Ong-Bak. It all is just so safe and standard. I do not really even get where the PG-13 rating comes from, it could have been rated G, without the alcohol references and gun scene.I was disappointed with nearly every element of this movie, and a few very pretty female actresses are not even enough to make me give it a higher score. It is cool to see Jackie Chan and Jet Li fight with and beside each other, but that should have only been the starting point to a much more complete project. There have been some simply epic martial arts movies in the last 10 years, and they leave no reason to recommend a by-the-numbers, fantasy-tinged flick like The Forbidden Kingdom.

Sometimes it's just great to see two actors sharing a screen together. Sometimes entire films are built around this concept. Like so with this film, I believe, as it is the first film to start both Jackie Chan and Jet Li, who are both amazing martial art actors. And, for what it is, it really works. Forget the lame protagonist, played by Michael Angarano. Forget the silly, yet admittedly entertaining, storyline about a monkey king. If you're going to see this film, see it for these two and for the scenes they share together.That being said, while I do think that this film is way too silly to be taken seriously, I also think that it's that way on purpose. I do wish that they had left out the banal protagonist hailing from our reality, because while usually a decent storytelling device and a way to insert in an audience surrogate, in this case it drags, a lot. Not only has Angarano almost no screen presence whatsoever, he's also stealing the spotlight from the main attractions of this particular film, Chan and Li. Give me a movie with just them, and perhaps that chick sidekick, anytime over this film.Still, if you're able to deal with the fact that you won't get as much Chan and Li as you probably would like to have, it's a fun film to watch. The fight scenes are entertaining, the cinematography and art design are colourful and fit the tone, and all in all it's a good way to spend a couple of hours. Could it have been better? Easily. But it could have a been a lot worse as well. Now it's "merely" a fun kind of average.

The Forbidden Kingdom is like a Cheesy-Chan version of "The Neverending Story". The plot is predictable and the action is so cheesy that it is hard to watch. I think I actually nodded off once or twice while watching it.I will say that the antics of Jackie Chan and the strong silent monk style of Jet Li actually complimented each other quite well. I was just disappointed in the choreography and the way the camera angles highlighted them. Many of the fight scenes drag on too long and are simply too complicated.Overall, I would say that it is worth seeing if you have younger teen boys and you want a clean movie for them to watch.