Reel Rating: 4 out of 5 Reels
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of martial arts action and some violence
Released in Theaters: April 18, 2008
Released on DVD: Sept. 9, 2008
Genre: Action Adventure, Martial Arts
Runtime: 113 minutes
Directed by: Rob Minkoff
Cast: Michael Angarano, Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Collin Chou, Yifei Lu, Bingbing Li
Sex/ Nudity: None.
Violence/Gore: About 80% of the movie is martial arts action. Tons of kung fu fighting, sword fighting, and action adventure. There's also one disturbing (and completely unnecessary) scene where a character pees on another character, but it’s played for laughs (as much as it can be). In another scene, high school kids bully another kid and beat him up.
Profanity: Mild, except at least one s-word
Which Kids Will Like It? Kids who love martial arts or action-adventure flicks.
Will Parents Like It? Yes, it offers a good message about taking charge and being a hero. But because of the intense fight scenes, I don't recommend it for kids younger than 13. Also, I love that the girls fight just as well as the guys. Be aware that one of the main characters drinks to excess.
Review: I can’t say I’ve ever been crazy in love with martial arts movies (although I adored Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), but I really enjoyed this movie. It’s Indiana Jones meets Crouching Tiger, with a little Lord of the Rings thrown in. It sort of made me want to go out and take a martial arts class. For about five minutes anyway. I’m over it now.
The Forbidden Kingdom tells the story of an American teenager named Jason (Michael Angarano), who’s a geek when it comes to martial arts stuff. He’s always hanging around a pawn shop in Chinatown, picking up this and that from the owner, a grizzled old Chinese guy called Old Hop (Jackie Chan).
A group of teenage thugs bully Jason into breaking into the shop, but the robbery goes horribly wrong. Old Hop is injured, and Jason ends up with the legendary staff of the Chinese sage and warrior, the Monkey King (Jet Li).
As the thugs chase Jason out of the store and onto a rooftop, the staff magically transports him back in time to ancient China, where he must return the staff to the Monkey King, who’s been imprisoned in stone by the evil Jade Warlord (Collin Chou).
Jason is helped by a couple of Kung Fu masters, Lu Yan (Jackie Chan) and The Silent Monk (Jet Li), and a beautiful young girl, Golden Sparrow (Yifei Liu), who’s out to seek revenge on the Jade Warlord for killing her family.
The group also has to contend with Ni Chang (Bingbing Li), a Chinese witch whose long white hair transforms into one of the most interesting weapons I’ve seen in quite some time.
Ok, let’s focus on a few things:
Martial Arts. There’s a LOT of martial arts action-violence in this movie — I’d say about 80 percent of the movie is action violence. It IS rated PG-13 for just that reason, so if you have kids that are squeamish about it, probably not a good movie for them.
That said, this is the first movie where Jackie Chan and Jet Li appear together, and they have some truly awesome fight scenes — some of the best stunts around. This movie also has some cool special effects, like kung fu masters who “float,” gather up “energy” and hurl it at their foes, turn cool water into molten lava, that sort of thing. And the girls rip it up, too. That’s always nice to see.
The Landscape and Music. Both work really well together. Shot on location in China, this movie has some of the most beautiful — and at times stark — scenery I can recall in recent film history. Lush forests, rushing waterfalls, and misty mountain-top kingdoms. The musical score by David Buckley accentuates the landscape beautifully.
Michael Angarano. He has this every-guy Shia LaBeouf quality that I think will go along way in the movie industry. It’s priceless seeing him go from a geeky teenager fending off bullies to a kung fu warrior, and you couldn’t ask for better teachers than Jet Li and Jackie Chan.
Jane Boursaw is a family entertainment writer specializing in movies and TV. Visit her at Reel Life With Jane; follow her on Twitter; become a friend on Facebook; email jboursaw@charter.net.
