The Forbidden Kingdom

Plot synopsis:
South Boston teenager Jason Tripitikas is a fan of martial arts films and awakens from a dream of a battle between the Monkey King and celestial soldiers in the clouds. He visits a pawn shop in Chinatown to buy Wuxia DVDs and discovers a golden staff. On his way home, Tripitikas is harassed by some hooligans, whose leader Lupo attempts to use him to help them rob the shop-owner Hop, who is shot by Lupo. Hop tells Tripitikas to deliver the staff to its rightful owner and Tripitikas flees with the staff. He is cornered on the rooftop before being pulled off the roof by the staff.
When Tripitikas regains consciousness, he finds himself in a village in ancient China that is under attack by armored soldiers. The soldiers see his staff and attempt to seize it. He is saved by the inebriated traveling scholar Lu Yan, a supposed "immortal," who remains alert and agile even when drunk. Lu tells him the story of the rivalry between the King and the Jade Warlord. The Warlord tricked the King into setting aside his magic staff, Ruyi Jingu Bang, and transformed the immortal into a stone statue, but the King cast his staff far away before the transformation. Lu ends the tale with a prophecy about a "Seeker" who will find the staff and free the King. Just then, they are attacked by the Warlord's men again, but manage to escape with the help of Golden Sparrow, a young woman. She reveals that her family was murdered by the Warlord, against whom she has sworn revenge.
Meanwhile, the Warlord, upon learning about the staff, sends the witch Ni-Chang to help him retrieve it in exchange for the elixir of immortality. Tripitikas, Lu and Sparrow meet a strange man dressed in white who takes the staff away from them. Lu fights with the man (later revealed to be the Silent Monk) for the staff until the latter realizes that Tripitikas is the Seeker, and joins them in their quest to free the King. As the four travel to Five Elements Mountain, Lu and the Monk teach Tripitikas kung fu along the way. After crossing a desert, they encounter Ni-Chang and her henchmen and a battle ensues, in which Lu is mortally wounded. Tripitikas’s team takes refuge in a monastery, where they learn that Lu is actually not an immortal as he failed the test, and only the Warlord’s elixir can save his life. In desperation, Tripitikas goes to the Warlord's palace alone to exchange the staff for the elixir.
The Warlord asks Tripitikas to duel Ni-Chang to death, since the former can give the elixir to only one of them. Tripitikas is overpowered until his teammates and monks from the monastery arrive to join the battle. Tripitikas manages to grab the elixir and tosses it to Lu, who drinks it and recovers. The Monk passes the staff to Tripitikas, who uses it to smash the King's statue. The King is freed and the Monk is revealed to be actually one of the King's clones. Lu kills Ni-Chang. After another long battle between the King and the Warlord, the latter is eventually stabbed by Tripitikas and falls into a lava pit to his death. However, Sparrow succumbs to her wounds. The Jade Emperor, having returned from his meditation, praises Tripitikas for fulfilling the prophecy and allows him for one wish, which he asks to return home.
Tripitikas finds himself back in the present. He overpowers Lupo and drives the other hooligans away. Hop survives from the wound and claims that he is immortal (hinting that he is actually Lu). Before the film ends, Jason is delighted to meet a woman who resembles Sparrow. Tripitikas continues honing his kung fu skills while Lu narrates the King’s search for truth.

Tags: fantasy, murder, violence, flashback, philosophical, revenge

Review:
That day has come in "The Forbidden Kingdom," which stars two of the latest and greatest stars of the martial arts movie genre - Jackie Chan and Jet Li.Combined, both men's careers span over 30 years and over 100 movies, in their native China and here in the United States; that's a lot of kung-pow kicking and punching.
They both decided to make their American crossovers around the same time during the 1990s - Chan's first hit in the U.S. was "Rumble in the Bronx" (1995) and became a mega-star due to the "Rush Hour" movies, while Li made his American debut as the lead villain in "Lethal Weapon 4" (1998), received his first English-speaking starring role in "Romeo Must Die" (2000), and earned critical respectability with "Unleashed" in 2005.Now, we're at "The Forbidden Kingdom." I like both stars.
My friends and I, like many other martial arts movie fans, have eagerly awaited this cinematic pairing for some time.Starting in the present - 2008 - an American teenager named Jason (Michael Angarano) who has an obsession with gong-fu movies is magically transported back in time to ancient China by the long-lost staff of the fabled Monkey King (Li, in one of two roles in the film), where he learns he has been chosen to return it to him.
500 years earlier, the mischievous martial arts master Monkey King had been imprisoned in stone by the Jade Warlord (Collin Chou).On his journey, Jason comes across the drunken beggar Lu Yan (Chan, in one of two roles in the film), who teaches him gong-fu so that he will be able to take on the Jade Army.
There is one particularly funny sequence where Lu Yan and The Silent Monk fight over how to train Jason to defend himself - with Lu Yan's unorthodox methods and the Monk's more traditional approach."The Forbidden Kingdom" is one fast-paced and entertaining martial arts flick that keeps you watching just because of the know-it-all/seen-it-all before charisma of the star talent.
With nods aplenty toward the martial arts movies of yesteryear (chiefly old-school Shaw Brothers movies, as well as plenty of helpings of Taoist philosophy and the Jeet Kune Do teachings of Bruce Lee), "The Forbidden Kingdom" is perhaps what Quentin Tarantino has fantasized about so much during countless cinema grind-house outings as an impressionable teenager and later as an adult realized on the screen in his "Kill Bill" films.But Tarantino is nowhere in sight.
It's pretty impressive that although it's fairly obvious that wires are being used in the fight scenes, it doesn't really take away from the action like it often tends to in American features, but actually enhances their intensity here.I got a lot of enjoyment from watching "The Forbidden Kingdom" and watching the magnificent grace of Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Despite occasional script deficiencies, I found this picture working from the opening credits, which was a sure sign that what was about to come would surely satisfy the martial arts movie fan inside of me.
The boy strangely gets ported back inside the story where he meets the characters whose roles are played by Jet Li and Jackie Chan and they set out in a quest to return a staff owned by the stone monkey who was prophesied to end the tyranny of the Jade warlord, an evil general who is the villain in the movie.The action scenes were really good, superb even.
The Forbidden Kingdom starts in a way that is similar to The Karate Kid, with Jason (Michael Angarano), the boy new to his local high school who loves kung fu movies, but is helpless to defend himself against the neighborhood bullies.
In the end Jason must prove himself as he faces both fantastical and real life foes.Once in China Jason acquires several companions; Lu Yan (Jackie Chan) a wine drinking kung fu master, Golden Sparrow (Yifei Liu) a vengeance driven young women and later a monk (Jet Li) who protect him and later train him in the art of kung fu.
It's not that this combination is bad, just that their pairing is framed within a feeble, pointlessly enthusiastic action film.Forbidden Kingdom follows the story of Jason (Michael Angarano), a die-hard kungfu fan and his concussion-induced journey back in time to a mythical China.
But I think this also skirts the issue of trying to give equal screen time and top billing to the two biggest martial arts stars of our age.As repugnant as the writing and editing may be, Forbidden Kingdom makes up for this in a good dose of fight scenes.
I'd like to see something more original, or maybe something that draws more heavily on Chinese cinema, since the movie already borrows so liberally from those films.Forbidden Kingdom has all of the good components of a classic action film, but together, these elements work against each other in a big way.
"The Forbidden Kingdom" is another example of his talents, geniality and flair for comedy in addition to the obvious martial arts skills he's shown us all these years.To make long story very short, this is tale an American teen who finds an ornate bo-staff at a friend's shop in Chinatown and the kid's mission winds up to deliver this age-old weapon to its rightful owner across the world in China and in a different time period.
We have young people, old people, amateur fighters and pros, pretty girls with pretty moms, exotic locales and a lot of seriousness mixed with goofiness and Chinese mythology.This is a not a film for "hard core" martial-arts fans, nor is it an "intelligent" film but if you're looking for a fun two hours of total escapism without the story being too stupid to enjoy, this fits the bill.
It's one of those fun movies that my family and I like to call "DVD Purchase-worthy," not in the sense of skipping the theater and just waiting for it to come on DVD to watch, but rather an awesome movie we watch in the theater that we'd want to see again and again.Jackie Chan's continued natural ability for humor and Jet Li's soft-spoken attitude, compliment each other well, like Ying-Yang, culminating in their first on-screen appearance together, that does not disappoint!
In The Forbidden Kingdom, for the first time you are going to see the fantastic Jet Li and Jacky Chan together.The plot is interesting and fun to watch.
The plot, dialog and characters were poorly written, although there were a couple of funny moments here and there.Overall, if you enjoy mindless 3-in-1(action+fantasy+comedy) movies, are a huge Jet Li or Jackie Chan movie who watches any of their movies no matter how bad they are, and/or have no clue regarding the basics of Chinese fairy tales, literature and films, by no means indulge yourself.
Too much violence for the young ones, yet basically follows the plot line of the never ending story with better CG and bigger star power.When it comes to kung fu I am usually easy going, but this flick has so much wire-work that it is hard to take any of it seriously.I assume that the writer / director of this movie played too many video games before the start of production.The worst part of this film is the "White American Kid from Chicago" who travels deep into a world of magic and swordplay, quickly revealing an extremely predictable ending..
There's the hot Asian girl that has absolutely no chemistry with our male lead- and his martial arts ability is a big fat zero and any fight scenes with him in it are just miserable to watch.It would have been a good movie if they could have just edited out the stupid worthless white kid and made an interesting story instead of this trash.
I died a little when I saw that Jet Li had forced himself to be the monkey king.The acting is TERRIBLE--From the thugs from the beginning of the movie, to every poignant statement each 'warrior' tries to make, there isn't moment where something doesn't come out wrong.Hoping to be saved by the fight scenes, which were choreographed by the same person who did the matrix, I was thrown into disappointment again as all it showed was a bunch of CG, slow-motion, Hollywood fights.The story itself has about as much development as Balls of Fury.
For this, think Dead or Alive mixed with the Karate Kid. Only worse.Legendary martial arts stars Jackie Chan and Jet Li come together on screen for the first time ever in director Rob Minkoff's time-travelling take on the Monkey King fable that finds an American teen transported back to ancient China after wandering into a pawn shop and discovering the king's fighting stick.
Jackie Chan and Jet Li, as always, delivered an action packed performance of ballet-like battles that have become popular due to movies like "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon." Unfortunately, this made the fights lack the essence of suspense.
After fleeing from the thieves and falling off a building, he awakens into ancient China, where he finds himself on an unforgettable journey to free the Monkey King (Jet Li).This is a classic-style martial arts/fantasy movie that I've found to be very entertaining, and, even though the martial arts element is pretty cliché, the story is fresh and captivating - from Jason learning Kung-Fu to the appearances of the mystical characters such as the Jade Warlord, White-Hair Witch and the Silent Monk.There is an endless supply of martial-arts action, courtesy of some very notable Chinese martial arts star such as Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Collin Chou, and it gives the film continued excitement and non-stop fun for its save-the-Monkey King quest.
The beautiful Yifei Liu and Bingbing Li make great leading actresses and they provided great on-screen chemistry and drama.Overall, it is a neat, fun and adventurous film - recommended for any martial arts-genre movie fans.Grade B+.
It was due to martial art movie stars such as Bruce lee, Jackie Chan (who also worked with Bruce Lee) and Jet Li, which captured the western world's imagination.
This film is about the story an American boy Jason (Michael Angarano), a lover of kung fu movies which he gets from a shop owned by Old Hop (Jackie Chan).
Now finally we have a movie which headlines two of these famed martial art stars: Jackie Chan and Jet Li. This is the first time they have appeared on screen together, news of which was received in great excitement and their performances do not disappoint.
It's the most fun I've seen him have in a movie, I wish that aspect of the character was in the film more.I could watch a whole Monkey King film in fact.Jackie Chan was also played a very friendly and warm character and he was fun to watch.The kid was OK, but I dislike his face.The action and visuals were great as well..
I think most martial art film fanatics will be slightly disappointed by this film, but many will enjoy this movie for what it is  entertainment with a couple of excellent choreographed martial art scenes.Let us hope that Jet Li and Jackie Chan get together again and get to be the main characters..
To see Jet Li and Jackie Chan in the same film for the first time is history in the making and their interactions are fun to watch as well as the fights with a great mix of martial arts and mysticism, beautiful backdrops with a dash of Drunken Master and The Golden Child to good effect.
Beautifully directed, beautiful scenery, great fight (or spar) between Jackie Chan and Jet Lee (one of the most wanted scene in all decade), awesome battle between the good and evil, and awesome story, plus a very good humor along the way.All of the actors and actresses in The Forbidden Kingdom were well chosen, and the result is this movie.
Something along those lines so they can finally be able to understand what it means to be a good action/kung fu flick.Please allow me to add that Jason Tripitikas is the poor man's Shia Labeouf, if there ever could be such a thing, and it was a brutal, absolutely brutal, watching him on the screen.I don't really want to get into everything that was wrong with it in a plausible sense, because the idiotic fans of this picture will most likely hide behind the "it's a fantasy" wall.Jackie Chan and Jet Li both take an unbelievably hard fall from there original greatness and I wonder how on earth they could take a movie like this, the obvious answer of course is......MONEY!!!!
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.
I'm not into martial arts films, just they never did make sense to me, so I wasn't really sure if I wanted to see The Forbidden Kingdom, but it did have things that I love: Jet Li and Jackie Chan, two huge stars and why didn't anyone think before to put them together?!
The Silent Monk tries to get the stick, but realizes he could help and teach Jason the arts of kung fu.The Forbidden Kingdom has some awesome action moments, some good clean humor, and has a great cast that looked like they just had a blast together.
See where other films lay the campy-ness on thick, TFK makes sure it doesn't go too far, and of course it has that Chinese, Hong Kong trademarked action fight scenes that are fun to watch.Although this isn't the Jet Li, Jackie Chan movie we were expecting, TFK is sure to please and surprise most movie-goer's.8 out of 10.
The first ever Jet Li and Jackie Chan collaboration is a successful one and is a great way to put these martial arts legends together.The story is simple, using the idea of the classic Monkey King to tell it.
Not to mention the scenery is also good, that also takes on a character itself.The story begins with Jason(Michael Angarano, who is best known from Lords Of Dogtown and Sky High) is a kung fu film nut, one day finds a staff, and it pulls him into another dimension, where he teams up with two awesome kung fu fighters(Jackie Chan and Jet Li) in hopes to return the staff to the imprisoned warrior named The Monkey King(Jet Li).
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 Forbidden Kingdom' is an excellent martial arts fantasy that entertains from start to finish.Based on ancient Chinese literature, folklore, and religion, the story and script for this movie are well-constructed.
Flowing seamlessly from scene to scene, they keep it easy to follow, giving the audience plenty of time to sit back and enjoy a feast of action sprinkled with a good dose of light-hearted humour.Alongside more well-known actors like Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Collin Chou, a host of perhaps lesser-known (to Hollywood audiences if not Asian), yet none-the-less talented cast members (including Michael Angarano, Li Bing Bing and Liu Yifei) gives rise to a delightful array of authentic, colourful, and highly-varied characters.The action in this movie is a joy to watch.
A cowardly, kung fu-obsessed teenager is transported to a mystical kingdom in China, where he is destined to return a powerful staff to it's owner, the immortal Monkey King, who was turned to stone 500 years earlier by the evil Jade Warlord.If you're not particularly a fan of the kung fu genre, couldn't give a monkey's (pun intended) whether the script craps on a few Chinese legends from a great height, and don't care too much that Chan and Li seem to have sold out to the almighty dollar (again), then this big-budget Hollywood martial arts epic for the masses will probably do fine for a Saturday night, along with a takeaway and a few brews.If, however, like me, you've been patiently waiting for the on-screen pairing of the legendary Jackie Chan and Jet Li for the best part of twenty years, then this plot-hole ridden, formulaic and clichéd effort (did I really just see the American kid learn kung fu within a week?) will definitely prove to be something of a disappointment.Although Li and Chan do get to show off their impressive fighting skills (even going one-on-one against each other in order to keep fans happy), seeing Hong Kong's greatest kung fu stars of the last three decades playing second fiddle to an obnoxious wimp from New York is really tough to stomach.
I think that a large portion of The Forbidden Kingdom's audiences are like me, only watching it to catch the eventual combat between kung fu screen legends, Jackie Chan and Jet Li. And those interested in that get well rewarded for their patience.The rest of the film doesn't quite hold up as well.
Alright I'm kidding about the last one but if you recognize the significance of the other movie fights then you should be heading to the theater right now to watch "The Forbidden Kingdom" starring Jackie Chan and Jet Li. It is not often that two superstars of the martial arts take each other on in the same movie.