The Forbidden Kingdom
2 Waffles!

I don’t care how tough and talented Jet Li and Jackie Chan are they lost me at Monkey King.

Michael Angarano (the poor man’s Shia Labeouf, because when you can’t afford Shia, or he is not interested in your script, you hire Michael Angarano) stars as Jason – a martial arts movie fanatic with lots of trouble. The local school bullies push him around and force the kid to trick an old shop owner into opening his door late at night, so they can rob the place, but violence breaks out, and Jason tries to escape with a mystical staff the old shop owner claims must be returned to its rightful owner.

Just when it looks like danger has caught up to our young hero, Jason and the mighty staff are transported to ancient China where he meets up with a drunken warrior, Lu Yan (Jackie Chan), who recognizes the tool as belonging to the Monkey King (Jet Li).

When Lu Yan joins forces with Jason to free the Monkey King (I know, it makes me giggle a little bit as I type it) and fulfill the prophecy by returning his mystical, magical, all powerful staff, will the evil Jade Warlord (Collin Chou) stop them and maintain his dictatorial grip on the land?

I kind of think of the Monkey King as the dividing line between those who want to see The Forbidden Kingdom, and those who don’t. While the movie is full of fantastic fight scenes that are a tribute to the amazing skills of Chan and Li, The Forbidden Kingdom also tries a little too hard to be amusing and light hearted, especially when it shouldn’t be.

Writer John Fusco and director Rob Minkoff start the movie with a heavy, dramatic series of events, and often go back to this dramatic feel throughout the movie, but The Forbidden Kingdom also borders on parody when they try to tickle our funny bone with the silly antics of the mischievous, child-like Monkey King; a stumbling, bumbling, drunken master Lu Yan; and the rest of the gang. The audience too often is asked to watch amazing, original, imaginative battle scenes followed by a quick giggle or visual meant to make us guffaw, even if it doesn’t fit the moment.

Jackie Chan and Jet Li salvage The Forbidden Kingdom as both deliver exactly what you want to see in a movie like this as they blow your mind with physical feats that seem unfathomable and make you cheer. Meanwhile, Angarano is serviceable as the young man training for the ultimate battle, but he should have trained harder before filming to have the physical ability to make his action scenes more real (you know Shia would have trained at a dojo with Ralph Macchio or Chuck Norris for several months to be ready for those scenes).

Fans will get the legendary showdown they have desired for years, while non-fans will not be repulsed.

The Forbidden Kingdom is rated PG-13 for sequences of martial arts action and some violence.