Nappaland's MovieBlog
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THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM (PG-13)
Plot Summary: An American teen magically travels to China to fulfill a 500-year-old prophecy and free the Monkey King.
Reason for the Rating: Sequences of martial arts action and some violence.
Jason Tripitikas (Michael Angarano) is a lonely teenager who loves kung fu movies. He falls asleep watching them, has posters of kung fu heroes covering his bedroom walls, and even dreams of kung fu. While he doesn’t actually know any kung fu, he certainly knows everything there is to know about this form of martial arts. Jason frequents a Chinese pawn shop where picks up bootleg copies of kung fu movies, and has befriended the elderly owner of the shop, Old Hop (Jackie Chan). One night, a group of bullies force Jason to trick the old man into letting them into the shop so they can rob him. In the struggle, Old Hop is shot. He hands Jason an ancient staff and tells him to return it to its rightful owner.
The next thing Jason knows, he’s waking up in a hut in the mountains of China. There he meets LuYan (Jackie Chan), a man who fights amazingly well for the amount of wine he drinks, and Golden Sparrow (Yifei Liu) a young woman whose family was killed by the Jade Warlord (Collin Chou). Lu Yan tells how, 500 years ago, the Jade Warlord and the Monkey King (Jet Li) fought. The Jade Warlord tricked the Monkey King and turned him completely into stone, except for his staff, which Jason now holds. He must return the staff to the Monkey King in order to break the rule of the Jade Warlord. While on their journey to the palace of the Jade Warlord, they meet Silent Monk (Jet Li), whose sole purpose in life has been to find and return the staff to the Monkey King.
I mentioned that Jason doesn’t know any kung fu…well, either he’s a quick learner, or Lu Yan and Silent Monk are exceptional teachers, because Jason learns 10 years of kung fu in about 3 days. As the four travelers continue on their adventure, they must fight an unending number of soldiers and Ni Chang (Lingling Bi), a witch who uses her hair as a weapon. Jason’s fighting skills progress, and while he’s not at the level of Lu Yan or Silent Monk, he is an asset to the progress of their journey.
The fighting in The Forbidden Kingdom is amazing. Really, for a martial
arts movie, you couldn’t ask for anything better than Jackie Chan and Jet Li
fighting together. The special effects and stunts are well done, and the
cinematography and music are beautiful. But, there were elements of the story
that were just, well, hokey. In some aspects it reminded me of The Karate Kid:
skinny, unpopular teen learns karate, takes on the tough guys and wins. There’s
even a scene where Lu Yan makes Jason use his staff to cut through tall grass as
a pre-lesson for kung fu. Can you say, “Wax on, wax off?” Additionally, the
character of Jason is just totally unbelievable. A scrawny kid with low
self-esteem fighting alongside Jet Li and Jackie Chan? It just doesn’t feel
right or ever seem plausible. And then there’s Golden Sparrow, who has her own
set of unanswered questions. (Why does she always refer to herself in the third
person? How is it everyone knows her symbol?)
MOVIEBLOG RECOMMENDS:
If you are a martial arts fan, this is a movie you’ll want to see for the fighting. But, if you are looking for an epic kind of movie, with depth and meaning, you’ll want to pass.
AFTER THE SHOW:
• Do you have an interest you would like to pursue? What is keeping you from taking it more seriously?
• The characters in this movie all have a special talent and purpose for fighting darkness and oppression. What do you use to fight the same fight?
• If you were offered immortality would you accept it? How is eternal life for the Christian better than immortality?
JW
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