If you expect me to hold a predisposed favorable bias toward a movie pairing Jackie Chan and Jet Li, you'd be right. Knowing that this film had a 7-minute brawl between these two icons, I was prepared to pay full admission for that one scene alone, even if the rest of the movie were total crap. To my surprise, however, the rest of the movie is actually a very enjoyable fantasy, a journey in the vein of The Wizard of Oz if Dorothy were a Boston teen, the red-slippers were a fighting staff, and the villains weren't disposed of by water, but by a huge, tag-team butt kicking!The film has the tone of the great family-friendly adventure movies of the 80's, the ones that captured the imaginations of kids and adults alike. I'm talking The Goonies, The Karate Kid, The NeverEnding Story, Willow, and to a lesser extent, The Flight of the Navigator. This movie reminded me of the movies that I loved as a kid (and still love today.) Stir that up with 70's kung-fu movies, a little dash of Disney morality (the movie was directed by The Lion King helmer Rob Minkoff), gorgeous cinematography of rugged Chinese landscapes, fight choreography by Yuen Wo Ping (who did the fights for Crouching Tiger and the Matrix trilogy), some Chinese mythology, and a handful of comedic scenes ranging from amusing to hilarious, and that's what this movie is.The screenwriter is an American who is also a student of Jet Li's, and it's obvious that he loves Chinese culture, mythology, and cinema. This film is an obvious love letter to all of that, and you should know going into it that it's meant to introduce Western audiences to the characters of Chinese legends. The Greeks had Hercules and Zeus, Americans have Paul Bunyan and Johnny Appleseed. Likewise, the Chinese have their own mythical heroes and villains (mostly unfamiliar to us) who are thrown together in this movie: The Monkey King, The Bride With White Hair, etc. If you watch it with the wrong mindset, these characters might seem silly; however, if you watch it the same way you'd watch a film like The Wizard of Oz, the characters are great fun.I loved Jet Li's playful performance as The Monkey King (both he and Jackie Chan have dual roles in this), and The Bride With White Hair is such an enjoyably evil villain, I want to learn more about her mythology. I especially loved the musical motif for her; the movie's score is often beautifully symphonic, but whenever she comes on screen, it sounds more like a riff for the villain in a spaghetti western or in a Tarantino film. It was intentionally campy and over the top and I loved it.Normally I'm opposed to any type of wirework in a movie with Jackie Chan. His raw athleticism speaks for itself: he don't need no stinking tricks! However, I'll make an exception here, because Yuen Wo Ping's wirework: 1) actually accentuates his actor's athleticism, rather than compensating for a lack thereof, and 2) is often in the fantasy realm, so supernatural moves are more acceptable. The fights in this movie are definitely in Wo-Ping's style; sorry Chan-fans, there's not a lot of comedic prop-fighting, wall climbs, or death- defying stunts here.On the plus side, people who think Chan is an acrobatic clown who can't do real martial arts can finally shut up, as he expertly demonstrates various styles here. Jet Li, of course, kicks all kinds of butt. The film is very much a Jackie Chan film in terms of comedy (Jet Li even has a few wonderfully funny moments), but the fights are more in the Jet Li/Yuen Wo-Ping sensibility. The sound design on the fights is wonderful, with some meaty punches. Chan's English is noticeably improved, broadening his comedic abilities beyond physical comedy and into the realm of legitimately well-delivered English dialogue.Of course, the film is not perfect. I don't want to gush on and on about what is, after all, nothing but a fluffy popcorn movie. Some of the dialogue is laughable. Much of the story is cliché and has been done before, both in other fantasy movies and in the collective Chan/Li canon. And the film drags at times. What matters, though, is that it always picks itself up. Just when nothing good has happened for a few minutes, a great comedic scene or fight occurs. The cast is all obviously having fun. Jackie Chan and Jet Li have a natural screen repertoire. And yes, I even liked the teenage kid. All in all, this is a fun fantasy adventure that certainly doesn't have the depth of a Lord of the Rings, but has more than enough charm to merit a watch on the big screen.

The Forbidden Kingdom is Hollywood's answer to Asian cinema. Surprisingly it's the first time Jackie Chan and Jet Li have collaborated together, and it's been worth the wait. It's such a momentous occasion seeing the martial artists do what they do best and it has taken our attention away from what's deemed more important; the story itself. Our western friend Jason (Angarano) is the weakest link, overshadowed for reasons out of his control. Jason is the nerdy kid that's obsessed with kung-fu and visits a Chinese pawn shop in his free time. Touching a fabled magical staff transports him to ancient China where he ends up on an adventure to save the Monkey King (Li) who's been turned to stone by the evil Jade Warlord (Collin Chou). Accompanying him is drunken warrior Lu Yan (Chan), The Silent Monk (also Li) and love interest (because that's all she seems to be there for) Golden Sparrow (YiFei Liu). Many battles ensue; there are more fights and battles than there are plot advancements. TFK has enough might and steel to match Hero or House of Flying Daggers, and the world is beautifully layered like Middle Earth. This is adventure for all to enjoy, not just fans of martial arts. It plays it nice and easy, and it's worth the watch for Li and Chan alone.Check out my other reviews on http://straighttelling.co.uk

I'll just cut to the chase. If you've watched any other Jet Li movie, you would probably notice that all the action scenes in this movie are slow and awkward. The realism of the fight scenes is as low as that of Dragon Ball:Evolution. That maybe a slight exaggeration, but it's bad. Great fighters are pointless if you make them perform bad fighting scenes.As for the story, there's nothing interesting to it. Some kid goes on a magical journey, there are some fights, he goes back home and decides to fight some goons, and that's it. It touches on some Chinese lore and stories but there's no explanations about them, nor is there any in-depth story nor development of any kind, it's basically just an action movie.In closing, this is an action movie, but the action is terrible. It's not worth watching.

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.