Average Rating: 6.1/10
Reviews Counted: 126
Fresh: 81 | Rotten: 45
This hotly-anticipated pairing of martial arts legends Jackie Chan and Jet Li features dazzling fight scenes but is weighed down by too much filler.
Average Rating: 5.7/10
Critic Reviews: 28
Fresh: 18 | Rotten: 10
This hotly-anticipated pairing of martial arts legends Jackie Chan and Jet Li features dazzling fight scenes but is weighed down by too much filler.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 302,472
Legendary martial arts stars Jackie Chan and Jet Li come together onscreen for the first time ever in director Rob Minkoff's time-traveling 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. Once there, the adventurous teen joins an army of fierce warriors who have sworn to free their imprisoned king at all costs. In addition to appearing as the mythical Monkey King, Li assumes
Apr 18, 2008 Wide
Sep 9, 2008
$51.9M
Lionsgate
All Critics (126) | Top Critics (28) | Fresh (83) | Rotten (45) | DVD (4)
One of the more entertaining movies we've seen in recent months.
It's difficult to resist, especially if you're a 12-year-old boy whose parents won't let you rent Once Upon a Time in China or the Kill Bill movies.
When Chan and Li match wits, each celebrates the other's presence. This isn't just a martial-arts display; it's generosity and camaraderie in motion.
Thanks to the two stars' disparate styles - the laser-like focus of Li and the whirlwind whimsy of Chan - The Forbidden Kingdom makes up for its flaws with plenty of eye-popping moments.
Chan seems to be having fun in a comic part that, unlike his Rush Hour paydays, doesn't make him the butt of ethnic jokes. Li is as stalwart as ever.
Forbidden Kingdom is chop-socky bordering on chop-schlocky, but it's good-natured myth-making cut into kid-size pieces.
If you're a big Jackie Chan and/or Jet Li fan this movie was made for you and you should go see it on the big screen once. But because of a complete lack of storytelling effort from the filmmakers, there's no reason to ever see it more than once.
Kung fu fever and fluff mix it up with hordes of floating knights in shining armor with bad attitude, and just a little heavy on the dressing, courtesy of the costume department.
Kung fu fever and fluff mix it up with hordes of floating knights in shining armor with bad attitude, and just a little heavy on the dressing, courtesy of the costume department.
...clearly made for a wide, general audience rather than exclusively for die-hard kung fu fans. (Blu-ray Edition)
Think of it as a kung fu fairy tale almost anyone can appreciate.
The first onscreen meeting of screen legends Jackie Chan and Jet Li is possibly reason enough to see this fantasy, whose extravagant martial arts sequences are choreographed by Woo-ping Yuen, whose signature was inked in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
... despite falling prey to some of the anticipate problems, it ultimately emerges victorious, perhaps wobbling a bit, but only in the giddy manner of the drunken master played by Chan.
Fans of either martial artist will probably find enough to enjoy out of this, and will even like it more if they like 80's fantasy films.
Fueled by Jackie Chan and Jet Li, this enjoyable romp has plenty of kick.
An unapologetically old-fashioned fantasy ... solid enough entertainment for grown-ups, but something that many kids will absolutely adore.
If The Forbidden Kingdom missteps, it's by assuming that its digitally enhanced stunts are more impressive than they are and, therefore, lavishing more attention on the kinetics than the story.
Welcomed doses of slapstick and winking humor are sprinkled throughout rescuing the film from the occasionally heavy but never overbearing exposition.
When I say the movie is cheesy, I am talking provolone, American cheese, Swiss cheese; cheesy.
Yeah, it's a dopey kid's movie, but -- significant detail -- one that feels like it was actually written for kids ... Also, whenever things threaten to get too schlocky, this amazing villainess with a magic bullwhip shows up.
It would be little without its superb martial arts sequences, so its good to report that the movie isn't just filled with them, but that each fight was choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping.
The story, which should be forbidden, keeps coming back for more. Whenever the plot pops up, from predictable love scenes to the villainess who hates men for no reason to the crypto-Confucian lines, you keep wishing for the next fist to fly.
Plenty of fun action sequences, but one wants more from a movie that contains this promising line: 'Summon the witch. The one born of wolves.'
A decent martial arts flick int he tradition of the old Crouching Tiger feel, Li and Chan have both done better but this was not bad.
May 11, 2008Super Reviewer
Hmmmm the usual curious mystic honk kong phooey chop sockey spiritual action flick based in the Orient. What can I say...it looks lovely with beautiful green vistas and magical splashes of light and sorcery....but the story is the usual weird and wonderful mess which is kinda unoriginal and boring. Its the usual
April 29, 2008Super Reviewer
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