The Forbidden Kingdom reviews

Jackie Chan and his well known style forced to team up with Jet Li clashing in a mythical fantastic tale. Well worth owning.

Fantastic stunts

Pretty cool movie. Funny storyline. Full of humour and martial arts. It could have been better. Definitely one for the martial arts collection, or the comedy collection.

When I first watched this I was reminded of The Never Ending Story. And this Movie does share a lot of basis from that Movie. Jason Tripitikas is a Teenager who loves his Martial Arts Films. He is friends with a Pawn Store owner in which he buys his DVD's from. One day Jason is forced by some Bullies to help them break into the store. After a nasty turn of events Jason finds him transported to Ancient China by a Magic Staff that was in the Pawn Shop. Once there he learns he must return the Staff to it's rightful owner, and so the story begins.

Now before I go any further, one thing everyone should know that despite how this movie was advertise. This is not a full on Jackie Chan VS Jet Li movie. Thoes these two stars for the first time in one Movie is a big selling point for it.

But this a really good Movie for old and young. what drew me in the most was the Scenery and the Atmosphere this Movie has. It really sucked me in and made me feel I had been sent back to Ancient China as well. This is really a beautiful Movie to look at for this reason alone. The music score in this also fits in nicely and gives you a real feel that you are apart of that world.

Now for the down part, this storys pacing seemed to be all over the place. The fight scenes were well shot, how the character devolpment seemed to lack. The parts inbetween in action seemed forced in there just so this movie didn't feel like non stop Martial Arts fight scene.

There are alot of Pop culture refrences to old Martial Arts movie in this. Long term Fans of Jackie Chan and Jet Li will be able to pick out there characters and fighting styles from past movies very quickly. Another refrence that easily sticks out is the Movie “The bride with the white Hair.” As one Character from The Forbidden Kingdom seems to be based on her. In fact they directly mention “The bride With Tthe White Hair” in this. And as soon as she walks on screen you'll know her right away.

Once again this Movie is so well put togther in terms of Music, The Scenery, the Fight Scenes and even the Refrences to older Martial Arts Movies. But the big let down is the pacing of the story and the Movie itself. And it does drag it down quite abit. Another let down (which isn't the Movies fault) is the way it was advertised. this is not the same Movie described in most trailers. So make sure you know what this Movie is, otherwise you will feel cheated.

Bottom line though, this Movie is worth a watch. It's the perfect sit down one rainey Sunday afternoon with the family, relax and enjoy the ride type film. Watch it with your kids, have a good laugh and you may find yourself coming back to it more then once.

I have watched this movie many times now. You can't get better than this. How many movies do you know where you have Jackie Chan and Jet Li working together with amazing fight scenes. If you loved Rush Hour [1,2,3], Kiss of The Dragon and The One then you will love this movie.