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.
A Chinese man travels to the Wild West to rescue a kidnapped Princess. After teaming up with a train robber, the unlikely duo takes on a Chinese traitor and his corrupt boss.
Thongs and Octopus accept a job from their landlord: kidnap a baby. Soon, the baby awakens strong paternal feelings in the two crooks, leading to complications when it comes to handing him over to his possibly crazy gang boss grandfather.
A Secret Agent loses his memory after falling from a crashing helicopter. He is then chased by several other agency operatives, but he has no idea why.
A rogue Multiverse agent goes on a manhunt for versions of himself, getting stronger with each kill. With only one version remaining, he races against the clock to finish him and become "The One."
Archeologist Jack keeps having reoccurring dreams of a past life, where he is the great General Meng Yi, who is sworn to protect a Korean Princess named Ok-Soo. Jack decides to go investigate everything with his friend William.
At a Hong Kong shopping center, Buck Yuen's (Jackie Chan's) intuition warns him. He saves a robbery's loot and gets on television, ends up in Istanbul via South Korea, and accidentally becomes a spy. Fortunately, he knows Kung Fu.
After an attempted assassination on Ambassador Han, Lee and Carter head to Paris to protect a French woman with knowledge of the Triads' secret leaders.
A hero cop accidentally leads his team into a trap from which he is the only survivor. Drowning his guilt in booze, he is eventually assigned a new younger partner who turns out to have his own secrets.
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
At first, the original theatrical trailer revealed the overall story of Jason Tripitikas (Michael Angarano) being the central character that unites The Monkey King (Jet Li) and Lu Yan (Jackie Chan) as side characters during his adventure. Fan reaction and feedback was so negative to this reveal, that a new trailer was hastily edited that focused only on The Monkey King (Jet Li) and Lu Yan's (Jackie Chan's) interactions, with no mentions of Michael Angarano, in the hopes that fans would not focus so negatively on the pair's supportive roles for the movie. See more »
Goofs
Jason, referring to the game Virtua Fighter 2, states that a character uses the "Buddha's Palm" technique. The only Virtua Fighter character that uses the move is Lei Fei. Lei Fei did not appear in the series until Virtua Fighter 4, and didn't get the "Buddha's Palm" move until Virtua Fighter 5. See more »
Quotes
[last lines]
Lu Yan:
And as one legendary journey ended for the Traveller, so did another journey begin.
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 »
Jackie Chan has to be one of the more likable actors of his generation, a man who can successfully combine martial arts brutality and humor.....and pull it off, each time. "The Forbidden Kingdom" is another example of his talents, geniality and flair for comedy in addition to the obvious martial arts skills he's shown us all these years.
To make long story very short, this is tale an American teen who finds an ornate bo-staff at a friend's shop in Chinatown and the kid's mission winds up to deliver this age-old weapon to its rightful owner across the world in China and in a different time period. Yeah, I know, the story is ludicrous, but who cares? It's an entertaining film with some great stunts and some good humor. We have young people, old people, amateur fighters and pros, pretty girls with pretty moms, exotic locales and a lot of seriousness mixed with goofiness and Chinese mythology.
This is a not a film for "hard core" martial-arts fans, nor is it an "intelligent" film but if you're looking for a fun two hours of total escapism without the story being too stupid to enjoy, this fits the bill. I mean, you get Chan and Jet Li, in the same movie for the first time, too - not bad!
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Jackie Chan has to be one of the more likable actors of his generation, a man who can successfully combine martial arts brutality and humor.....and pull it off, each time. "The Forbidden Kingdom" is another example of his talents, geniality and flair for comedy in addition to the obvious martial arts skills he's shown us all these years.
To make long story very short, this is tale an American teen who finds an ornate bo-staff at a friend's shop in Chinatown and the kid's mission winds up to deliver this age-old weapon to its rightful owner across the world in China and in a different time period. Yeah, I know, the story is ludicrous, but who cares? It's an entertaining film with some great stunts and some good humor. We have young people, old people, amateur fighters and pros, pretty girls with pretty moms, exotic locales and a lot of seriousness mixed with goofiness and Chinese mythology.
This is a not a film for "hard core" martial-arts fans, nor is it an "intelligent" film but if you're looking for a fun two hours of total escapism without the story being too stupid to enjoy, this fits the bill. I mean, you get Chan and Jet Li, in the same movie for the first time, too - not bad!