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Movie Review: The Forbidden Kingdom
‘Forbidden Kingdom’ action-packed fun
By Michael Farrar
Special to 2theadvocate.com
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Imagine that you have been magically whisked away to another time in which your personal heroes trained you to defeat an evil ruler and free a terrified nation -- almost as if the Terminator and James Bond or Zorro and Indiana Jones just popped up to give you a crash course in saving the day. Sounds pretty sweet, huh?
Well, that’s the general plot of the new movie "The Forbidden Kingdom."
In this specific case, we have two movie martial arts superstars as instructors -- both Jet Li and Jackie Chan play characters that are designed to remind audiences of their previous roles.
Li trades on his reputation of portraying a frosty cool character with eye-popping fighting skills. Chan brings the beloved stumble-drunk/beggar role back that fans adored in "Drunken Master."
Technically, "The Forbidden Kingdom" is not a sequel, but it aims to come as close as it can to it. I can't imagine anyone in the action-loving crowd will have a problem with Chan and Li channeling their charms into familiar characters.
In "The Forbidden Kingdom," a modern-day Boston teen named Jason Tripitkas, played by Michael Angarano, gets hold of an enchanted fighting staff and is transported to ancient Asia. Jason gets trained by Chan’s and Li’s characters, falls for a young warrior girl, and gains confidence in himself as he fights his way along.
There is no doubt that legions of martial arts movie fans will line up to see the fast-paced dueling skills of Chan and Li paired. The mind-bending, hyper-exaggerated fight scenes and the action heroes who deliver them combine into the total experience of a modern martial arts film. You also can't separate them from the over-the-top soap opera stories of characters who will immediately tell you their whole life story and why they must kill someone who did them wrong.
Director Rob Minkoff shifted from animation movies like "Stuart Little" and "The Lion King" to live action-based films. He seems to do a decent job of staging scenes with a fun sense of action, but there is real innovation. Fortunately, these scenes are still pretty solid.
This marks the first time these two martial arts stars have joined forces, and the results include exciting action and a solid on-screen personal relationship.
As the teenage pupil, Angarano usually hits the mark as an earnest, but playful, guy who is always up for fun. Moviegoers might recall him playing Kurt Russell's teenage son in superhero family comedy "Sky High."
All in all, if it were not for Chan and Li, "The Forbidden Kingdom" would definitely be below average. However, with the addition of the two actors, most martial arts fans will be in wire-harness heaven, while other types of movie fans might not love this film quite as much.
