The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)

Waste of time

Very best movie i ever watch

How sad is this?

Charming and brutal

A discovery made by a kung fu obsessed American teen sends him on an adventure to China, where he joins up with a band of martial arts warriors in order to free the imprisoned Monkey King. Having Jet Li and Jackie Chan in the same screen fighting each other and then becoming friends to fight evil is enough for me to give this film a straight 10 out of 10 sure it has a lot of magic and legends alongside fairy tails but it's a very enjoyable adventure and i was surprised by how both actors do multiple things for example we have an old Jackie Chan and a young Jackie chan playing the same character and then Jet Li plays The Monkey King and The Silent Monk also Michael Angarano did a pretty good job as well you won't be disappointed.

So pretty much everyone in the whole wide world who ever had a slight interest in kung-fu and martial arts movie in general were dying to one day see Jackie Chan and Jet Li in the same movie. It was like something they wish with all their heart but would never imagine to come true. Well, you know what they say, be careful what you wish for, because chances are Hollywood will turn this wish against you like the evil genie from "The Wishmaster". So here you go, a movie catered for 12 year old who know nothing about martial arts and would be just as happy with a movie starring two guys waving their arms around and acting like it's kung-fu. A stupid movie not so much about Jackie and Jet's awesomeness but rather about the usual boring American teenage boy everybody was already tired of when Karate Kid 3 came out. And that was 20 years ago.Go to hell, Hollywood.

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.

This movie was basically a twist on an popular Chinese children's story. The children's story described the Monkey King as mad and in search for revenge for his fellow tribe mates. If you go and read or watch the story you would see a great resemblance. That movie uses a lot of events that had in fact happened in the children's tale. This movie is very good and incorporates many aspects of both the children's story and an action movie.I loved the fact that the movie was about a typical teen, turned into a hero. Although many of that karate movies that I have watched contain this, I think this is one that was well done. You wouldn't expect what happens next. It was as predictable as many karate movies are. Overall, it was an amazing movie and I would love to watch it again sometime.