The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Rob Minkoff

Writer (WGA):

John Fusco (written by)

Release Date:

18 April 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Fantasy | Romance

Tagline:

The path is unsafe. The place is unknown. The journey is unbelievable.

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Warrior | China | American | Martial Arts | Kung Fu

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Jet Li	...	The Monkey King / The Silent Monk
Michael Angarano	...	Jason Tripitikas
Jackie Chan	...	Lu Yan / Old Hop
Yifei Liu	...	Golden Sparrow / Chinatown Girl
Collin Chou	...	Jade Warlord
Juana Collignon	...	Southie Girl
Morgan Benoit	...	Lupo
Bingbing Li	...	Ni Chang
Jack Posobiec	...	Southie
Thomas McDonell	...	Young Southie
Zhi Ma Gui	...	Old Woman
Shen Shou He	...	Farmer
Bin Jiang	...	Young Village Man
Shaohua Yang	...	Jade Soldier
Yu Yuan Zeng	...	Inn Keeper

Also Known As:

Gong fu zhi wang (China: Mandarin title)
Gong fu zi wong (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)
Jackie Chan/Jet Li Project (USA) (working title)
King of Kung Fu (Hong Kong: English title) (literal title)
Untitled J&J Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sequences of martial arts action and some violence.

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

USA | China

Language:

English | Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | Malaysia:U | Hong Kong:IIA | USA:PG-13 (certificate #44223) | Philippines:G (MTRCB) | UK:12A | Ireland:12A | Portugal:M/12 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-13 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | New Zealand:M | Argentina:13 | Iceland:12

Filming Locations:

Anji bamboo forest, Jiangsu, China

Company:

Casey Silver Productions

Trivia:

Just before Sparrow throws the dart at the Jade Warlord, she says "Come Drink with Me" which is the English title of the old Cheng Pei Pei movie where she played a character named Golden Sparrow.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The folklore associated with the Monkey King only has Five Finger Mountain, not Five Element Mountain. The mountain depicted in the movie is even shaped like five fingers. Hence Five Element Mountain is a mistranslation.

Quotes:

Golden Sparrow: She should have killed you, witch!
Ni Chang: Not if I kill you first, orphan bitch!

Movie Connections:

References Batman Begins (2005)

A Nice Martial Arts Fantasy Story

Jackie Chan returns in a Drunken Master (1978) role along with Jet Li in a more mysterious but delightful twisting role in this fantasy martial arts film that requires a leap of faith into myths, legends, and magic. In doing so, this adventure tale is compelling from the very beginning with a quick, fast martial art scene followed by some amazing opening credits. The martial art fights are prolonged and exciting and the storyline is although predictable, entertaining and worthy of an evening storytale. Not a classic, nor epic, not heavy, and never managing to enter into serious realm of award-winning, this movie is nevertheless a summer, adolescent family movie that is worth its admission price and both Jackie Chan and Jet Li offer up some good performances in a movie without any real failings. Eight out of Ten Stars.