Quick Movie Reviews
Rating of
3/4
Cavernstones - wrote on 03/28/2016
You shouldn't go into watching this film with the expectations of Flying Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Nor even the Legend of the Drunken Master, or Enter the Dragon. No. This is more akin to animated martial arts movie made live action. Some light hearted humor, great fight scenes, but an obvious plot. It's fun and quirky, and enjoyable for what it is. Jackie Chan and Jet Li star as they help a young Boston kid fulfill an ancient prophecy.
Rating of
3/4
Matthew Brady - wrote on 07/08/2014
It's a fun goofy action flick with bad-ass fight scenes.
Rating of
2.5/4
Daniel Corleone - wrote on 10/18/2011
Jason Williams (Michael Angarano) embarks in an adventure together with Lu Yan (Jackie Chan), the Silent Monk (Jet Li) and the Golden Sparrow (Crystal Liu Yi Fei). I felt the middle portion of the picture was the best. It could have had a better story and antagonist. Great to see Jet Li and Jackie Chan in one movie, if only the script was good. The Forbidden Kingdom was okay, just felt it could have been improved in other facets of direction and screenplay.
Rating of
2/4
Unknown - wrote on 06/17/2010
I liked the fighting, but it was NOTHING that I haven't seen before. It was mostly fancy wire work stuff with some CG thrown in and I don't like that stuff in kung fu movies. The whole flick is just one great big homage to old school kung fu movies, but there was no sense of purpose. I wasn't even impressed by the Chan vs. Li matchup, either. Their whole fight consisted of each one not landing a single hit on the other, for about 4 min. Also, they weren't even enemies, which made the fight pointless. I liked the kung fu movie references and a couple of the action scenes, but in the end it was kind of disappointing.
Rating of
2/4
TheStumps - wrote on 11/01/2008
Fairly good, but a little hokey overall. The film did not appear to take itself very seriously, but did take itself seriously enough not to be funny. In so doing, it lands into that cinema limbo land where the audience isn't quite sure how to take the film conceptually. The martial art scenes were good in places but did get repetitive over time and again relied on high fantasy martial arts instead of more natural martial arts physics. This should not be exactly considered a downside, so-to-speak, as this is the genre of action style that Wu Ping is renowned for pioneering. In summary, I would class this as the National Treasure of Martial Arts with a slight hint of Never Ending Story and Karate Kid dashed on top.
Rating of
4/4
Owtkast - wrote on 09/30/2008
Targeted more toward adolescent males than fans of actual Chinese acrobatic fighting, The Forbidden Kingdom may polarize viewers expecting one thing but getting another. Chan and Li are together for the first time and there choreography and fight schenes are remarkable. The FX are appealing and the characters interesting, especially the Monkey King himself. Those willing to accept the fact that this isn't the hardcore, choreographed fight movie fans have been waiting for will likely find something to enjoy here. And 10-year old boys, the likely target audience, will probably flip for this stuff. Face it all of us have a 10 year old in us.
Rating of
2.5/4
Josh C - wrote on 09/29/2008
I never realize that the Never-Ending Story could be remade into a kung-fu movie. I liked this aspect. It was a neat story, good action, beautiful cinematography and Jackie Chan's character was good and funny like usual. I thought that with this type of story that they should have made it PG, I think it would be better for children than for adults. Still, I wasn't annoyed and the action kept me involved even thought the story was a bit predictable. I also thought they could have improved the ending when Jason (Michael) goes back to his own time and he has the most unrealistic bully beating him up. The resemble a gang out of the 60's vs one from today. Clearly that was one of the downfalls for this movie.
Rating of
2.5/4
Hidde - wrote on 06/22/2008
Yeah, one thing that really annoying in this movie was Michael Angarano.
