I saw this film under the title JACKIE CHAN & THE KUNG FU KID. It's a Chinese propaganda piece, shot in Beijing, and designed to pass on ideals of behaviour to 'educate' audiences. Thus the tale is about an obnoxious 15 year old boy who mistreats his family and friends in a bid to meet up with his all-time favourite star, Jackie Chan. Inevitably he learns some important life lessons along the way, not least from Jackie himself.
I suppose 2009 must have marked the year that Jackie became heavily involved with the Chinese government. I notice that this film was put out by the Beijing-based Children's Film Studio, which has been making propaganda films for children since the 1980s. The story of the film isn't so bad but the execution is; this is a very cheap production barely above the Z-grade shot-on-video level.
The main characters are all very dull and their acting abilities limited. The moralising is so heavy-handed as to be off-putting. Jackie himself gets to take part in a few fight scenes, but rather unforgivably he appears to be doubled more than a few times, which is a definite no-no for fans of the martial artist. My favourite scene is a nice cameo from old-timer Jackie co-star Yuen Wah, playing himself.
I suppose 2009 must have marked the year that Jackie became heavily involved with the Chinese government. I notice that this film was put out by the Beijing-based Children's Film Studio, which has been making propaganda films for children since the 1980s. The story of the film isn't so bad but the execution is; this is a very cheap production barely above the Z-grade shot-on-video level.
The main characters are all very dull and their acting abilities limited. The moralising is so heavy-handed as to be off-putting. Jackie himself gets to take part in a few fight scenes, but rather unforgivably he appears to be doubled more than a few times, which is a definite no-no for fans of the martial artist. My favourite scene is a nice cameo from old-timer Jackie co-star Yuen Wah, playing himself.