Silent Monk (Jet Li), Lu Yan (Jackie Chan), Jason Tripitikas (Michael A. Angarano) and Golden Sparrow (Crystal Liu) in “The Forbidden Kingdom.”
From Friday’s The Oklahoman:
A dream team of martial arts stars are on display in “Forbidden Kingdom,” which mixes “The Never-Ending Story” with “The Karate Kid” in a fun film for all ages. The story begins with a scene of the Monkey King (Jet Li), fighting on a mountaintop in the clouds. As the viewers are thinking the scene doesn’t seem quite real, it’s revealed that it’s not — it’s a dream of Jason (Michael Angarano). Jason’s a teenage kung-fu cinephile from Boston. He buys his films from Hop (Jackie Chan), an old man who owns a Chinatown pawn shop. When some young toughs seek to rob Hop, Jason is knocked out — and transported to ancient China.
An ancient staff from the pawnshop seems to be the key to Jason’s situation — he’s thought to be the one prophesied to return the Monkey King’s staff, and end the Jade Warlord’s rule of the kingdom. He’s befriended by a drunken master (Jackie Chan), and later aided by a warrior monk (Jet Li). The master and the monk, of course, first have a misunderstanding, which leads to the Li vs. Chan fight everybody bought their tickets to see. While Chan, 54, doesn’t show the same eye-popping stunts of his younger days, the showdown is still worth the price of admission. A girl bent on revenge, Sparrow (Crystal Liu Yifei) completes the fellowship seeking to dethrone the warlord.
The film is directed by Rob Minkoff (“Stuart Little”), who you might not expect to direct a kung-fu actioner, but he brings in Yuen Woo-Ping (“Kill Bill”) as fight choreographer, which helps add credibility to the production.
Would “Forbidden Kingdom” have been better 10-15 years ago, with Chan and Li at the top of their games? Probably, but as it is, it’s still a fun Valentine to kung-fu cinema.
– Matthew Price