MOVIEmeter
Top 5000
Up 331 this week

The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)

6.6
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 6.6/10 from 64,043 users   Metascore: 57/100
Reviews: 267 user | 192 critic | 27 from Metacritic.com

A discovery made by a kung fu obsessed American teen sends him on an adventure to China, where he joins up with a band of martial arts warriors in order to free the imprisoned Monkey King.

Director:

Writer:

Watch Trailer
0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 10000 titles created 2 months ago
 
a list of 2656 titles created 11 months ago
 
a list of 270 titles created 11 months ago
 
a list of 821 titles created 10 months ago
 
a list of 515 titles created 15 Dec 2011
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)

The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) on IMDb 6.6/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of The Forbidden Kingdom.
4 nominations. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

Action | Adventure | Fantasy
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.6/10 X  

A young fugitive prince and princess must stop a villain who unknowingly threatens to destroy the world with a special dagger that enables the magic sand inside to reverse time.

Director: Mike Newell
Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley
Action | Adventure | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.5/10 X  

A romantic police captain breaks a beautiful member of a rebel group out of prison to help her rejoin her fellows, but things are not what they seem.

Director: Yimou Zhang
Stars: Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau, Ziyi Zhang
Action | Adventure | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.9/10 X  

Two warriors in pursuit of a stolen sword and a notorious fugitive are led to an impetuous, physically-skilled, teenage nobleman's daughter, who is at a crossroads in her life.

Director: Ang Lee
Stars: Yun-Fat Chow, Michelle Yeoh, Ziyi Zhang
Action | Adventure | Fantasy
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.4/10 X  

A desert warrior rises up against the evil army that is destroying his homeland. He captures the enemy's key sorcerer, takes her deep into the desert and prepares for a final showdown.

Director: Chuck Russell
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Steven Brand, Michael Clarke Duncan
Action | Adventure | Fantasy
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.3/10 X  

Jack Sparrow races to recover the heart of Davy Jones to avoid enslaving his soul to Jones' service, as other friends and foes seek the heart for their own agenda as well.

Director: Gore Verbinski
Stars: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley
Action | Adventure | Fantasy
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8/10 X  

Blacksmith Will Turner teams up with eccentric pirate "Captain" Jack Sparrow to save his love, the governor's daughter, from Jack's former pirate allies, who are now undead.

Director: Gore Verbinski
Stars: Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom
Action | Adventure | Fantasy
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.1/10 X  

The mythical world starts a rebellion against humanity in order to rule the Earth, so Hellboy and his team must save the world from the rebellious creatures.

Director: Guillermo del Toro
Stars: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones
Hellboy (2004)
Action | Adventure | Fantasy
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.8/10 X  

A demon, raised from infancy after being conjured by and rescued from the Nazis, grows up to become a defender against the forces of darkness.

Director: Guillermo del Toro
Stars: Ron Perlman, John Hurt, Selma Blair
The Mummy (1999)
Action | Adventure | Fantasy
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.9/10 X  

An American serving in the French Foreign Legion on an archaeological dig at the ancient city of Hamunaptra accidentally awakens a Mummy.

Director: Stephen Sommers
Stars: Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah
Action | Adventure | Fantasy
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.2/10 X  

The mummified body of Imhotep is shipped to a museum in London, where he once again wakes and begins his campaign of rage and terror.

Director: Stephen Sommers
Stars: Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah
Action | Adventure | Fantasy
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.6/10 X  

Jack Sparrow and Barbossa embark on a quest to find the elusive fountain of youth, only to discover that Blackbeard and his daughter are after it too.

Director: Rob Marshall
Stars: Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush
Action | Adventure | Fantasy
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.7/10 X  

While Frodo and Sam edge closer to Mordor with the help of the shifty Gollum, the divided fellowship makes a stand against Sauron's new ally, Saruman, and his hordes of Isengard.

Director: Peter Jackson
Stars: Orlando Bloom, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
...
Golden Sparrow / Chinatown Girl
...
Juana Collignon ...
Southie Girl
...
...
Jack Posobiec ...
...
Zhi Ma Gui ...
Old Woman
Shen Shou He ...
Farmer
Bin Jiang ...
Young Village Man
Shaohua Yang ...
Jade Soldier
Yu Yuan Zeng ...
Inn Keeper
Edit

Storyline

An American teenager who is obsessed with Hong Kong cinema and kung-fu classics makes an extraordinary discovery in a Chinatown pawnshop: the legendary stick weapon of the Chinese sage and warrior, the Monkey King. With the lost relic in hand, the teenager unexpectedly finds himself traveling back to ancient China to join a crew of warriors from martial arts lore on a dangerous quest to free the imprisoned Monkey King. Written by Anonymous

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

The battle for eternity is the fantasy of a lifetime. (Canadian poster) See more »


Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sequences of martial arts action and some violence | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Country:

|

Language:

|

Release Date:

18 April 2008 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Jackie Chan/Jet Li Project  »

Box Office

Budget:

$55,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£676,217 (UK) (11 July 2008)

Gross:

£1,215,459 (UK) (18 July 2008)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

| | |

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film marks the reuniting of star Jackie Chan and legendary action choreographer Woo-ping Yuen after nearly 2 decades. See more »

Goofs

When Jason is fighting the witch in the Jade castle, he jumps to recover the staff. You can clearly see that he has his hands on the pole when lands. In the next shot, the pole is several feet away from him. The shot after that, it's just within fingers reach. See more »

Quotes

[Lu Yan meets the Silent Monk for the first time]
Lu Yan: Ahh, good to get off my feet! Long day. So, where you from? Shangdong Province? You look like the Shangdong Province type. You come here often?
[the Monk doeesn't answer]
Lu Yan: That staff doesn't belong to you. You have to give it to me, or somebody might get hurt.
See more »

Crazy Credits

Jackie Chan and Jet Li are credited together before the title. Jackie Chan's name is spelled out horizontally, but Jet Li's is spelled out vertically, and the same "J" is used for both. See more »

Connections

References Virtua Fighter 2 (1994) See more »

Soundtracks

"Tosehe Sugze Laa Part 2"
Written by The Tibet Foundation
Performed by The Tibet Foundation
Courtesy of Extreme Music
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

 
The Forbidden Kingdom - Great mix of action, comedy and a coming of age story.
18 April 2008 | by (United States) – See all my reviews

The Forbidden Kingdom starts in a way that is similar to The Karate Kid, with Jason (Michael Angarano), the boy new to his local high school who loves kung fu movies, but is helpless to defend himself against the neighborhood bullies. These same bullies force him to help them into a pawn shop whose owner is shot but still passes on a mysterious staff to Jason. The staff turns out to be that of the legendary Monkey King and Jason is transported into ancient China where he journeys to use the staff to free the imprisoned Monkey King. In the end Jason must prove himself as he faces both fantastical and real life foes.

Once in China Jason acquires several companions; Lu Yan (Jackie Chan) a wine drinking kung fu master, Golden Sparrow (Yifei Liu) a vengeance driven young women and later a monk (Jet Li) who protect him and later train him in the art of kung fu. Together they journey to Five Elements Mountain to attempt to free the Monkey King and end the reign of the evil Jade Warlord (Collin Chou) who sends innumerable troops to stop them.

This movie works on many levels, none too deep, but very satisfying none the less. First of all it is a great action movie with very well done kung fu action scenes involving Jackie Chan and Jet Li, two of the greatest kung fu movie stars in the past couple of decades. In the midst of all of this is a great deal of fairly well done comedy, sometimes not perfectly executed, but generally fun, especially during the kung fu training of Jason. Last but not least this is a classic coming of age story in which Jason journeys from being a boy who fantasizes of adventure to a young man who can fight and suffer for what is right.

This is a fantasy based movie, so expect some magical displays and references to immortal beings, but this is not too heavily done so the story is fairly easy to follow. Refreshingly the movie has relatively little in the way of moral ambiguity, with villains that are really evil and those who oppose them being flawed humans but still striving to that which is right.

In regards to the appropriateness of the movie for varied audiences, the violence in this PG-13 rated movie is never graphic, though possibly disturbing for young children. There is no sexual content with the exception of an implied impending assault by the Jade Warlord (we see nothing actually happening here). I saw the movie in a pre-screening with mostly college students whose applause and laughs made it clear they enjoyed it, but I am quite a bit past college and found it just as enjoyable.

One last comment, while virtually all of the dialogue between main characters is in English, there is a fair amount of Mandarin Chinese being spoken during the movie. In the few instances when knowing the content of this is important there are English subtitles and I did not find the un-translated portions to be an issue.

Overall this is a movie that is exciting, fun and generally very satisfying to watch.


80 of 129 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
Sequel erikbeale
Should've given Avatar to Rob Minkoff instead... tamaniac60
Jason Tripitikas, who?? dreken01
Just Like Warriors of Virture samuraishinobi
Best Monkey King Movies/tv shows mps230
Kung/Gung Fu movie website matthias2k1
Discuss The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?