The Forbidden Kingdom (DVD)

...up as a fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja/Hero Turtles, I suppose I had an interest in such movies but moreso I've enjoyed Jackie Chans movies for a while now too, though they tend to be more the comedy based action/martial arts movies and this one is alot more fantasy based rather than comedy (any comedy is pretty much non intentional!). Still thats pretty much the background that led me to being interested in seeing this movie, for more info. on ...
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The Forbidden Kingdom tells the story of an American teenager, Jason, who's a big Kung Fu fan that likes to visit an elderly Chinese mans video rental store, when one day he bumps into a crowd of trouble makers who decide to use him to help them rob the old mans store. The old man gets injured and manages to tell Jason to take an old staff and return it to its rightful owner, so he takes the staff and runs away but ends up being beaten ... more

- Introduction -

Having grown up as a fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja/Hero Turtles, I suppose I had an interest in such movies but moreso I've enjoyed Jackie Chans movies for a while now too, though they tend to be more the comedy based action/martial arts movies and this one is alot more fantasy based rather than comedy (any comedy is pretty much non intentional!). Still thats pretty much the background that led me to being interested in seeing this movie, for more info. on it read on...

- Story -

The Forbidden Kingdom tells the story of an American teenager, Jason, who's a big Kung Fu fan that likes to visit an elderly Chinese mans video rental store, when one day he bumps into a crowd of trouble makers who decide to use him to help them rob the old mans store. The old man gets injured and manages to tell Jason to take an old staff and return it to its rightful owner, so he takes the staff and runs away but ends up being beaten by the trouble makers and he loses consciousness. When he wakes up, he finds himself in a very foreign land, that of China some hundreds of years ago. Confused, he asks for help and comes across a drunk master Lu Yan who explains to him the mythical story behind the staff and agrees to help him return it to its rightful owner, the Monkey King, who's been made into stone by the Jade Warlord, as this is the journey he's been chosen to lead before he can return home again. On his way he comes across different characters such as a silent monk and the Golden Sparrow.

Will he manage to return the staff and more importantly, return home? having only watched Kung Fu on TV until now, he knows little about the art of Kung Fu, can Lu Yan really teach him to defend himself? you'll have to watch the movie to find out.

- Thoughts & Opinions -

As I've already said, watching teenage oriented Jackie Chan movies is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine at times and I had seen an advert for the movie so I though it might be of interest, now having seen it, I'm left with the usual feeling that it was neither a bad nor a particularly good movie. I can't decide how to feel about such movies, their the kind of movie where you feel when your watching it that its quite entertaining and interesting but a day or so afterwards, you struggle to remember most of the story and its highly doubtful that I'd want to watch it again.

The movie is quite fantasy based with the scenes with 'Golden Sparrow' (the female love interest, who appears like an angel) for example and some of the landscape shots and im sure it would look quite impressive if played on a large widescreen TV, the cinematography in itself is pretty good, although equally it doesn't have the feel of being a film where the largest budget was spent either (its somewhere inbetween, if that makes any sense), its not quite Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, the scenes in mythical China have an almost animated feel to them. I thought that it reminded me of the Final Fantasy console games perhaps. The characters were interesting at first but the story seemed to lack something and thats what lets it down, I feel. I'm pretty sure that a good amount of young teenagers will enjoy this movie for the fighting scenes, which are quite good and the whole coming of age element to it but if you analyse the movie in terms of the character development and what substance there is other than the pretty good scenery, your not left with all that much. The story just seemed too much of a 're-hash' job, I mean there are so many similar movies really and I feel this had the potential to be better. The main character of Jason I didn't feel was overly likeable either, not much is really told about him until quite far into the movie and I think perhaps if more was somehow told and there was more background information provided on both Jason and his small group of followers that end up joining him on his quest, then that would add quite a bit to the movie, it certainly helps when the viewer feels sufficiently keen to see a good outcome for those involved but there didn't seem to be enough details provided to make the viewer feel particularly strongly either way, IMO, which is perhaps a little cruel but either way I do think this movie badly lacked enough character development to give us viewers a strong enough vested interest in the result of 'the big finale'.

As it turns out, Jackie Chan is joined by Jet Li in this movie, both of which are, obviously, very successful actors but yet they only play secondary roles as Jasons companions and it did feel as if their potential hadn't been fully used, which was a shame. Watching the scenes where they all walked through deserts and other landscapes on their way to fight the Jade Warlord, it dawned on me that this movie is perhaps somewhat also like the Lord of the Rings movies/stories perhaps, in that its trying to be an epic comg of age type adventure or discovery or something, so it certainly had lofty ambitions, you could say, it just doesn't quite come up to scratch somehow. Its not a very long movie, however, at under two hours long and it would probably keep the attention of a younger audience (its rated 12 so young teenagers, which is clearly the intended audience anyway, I guess im getting old to be watching such movies lol) compared to the Lord of the Rings movies and it is just one movie and not three, which is perhaps an advantage to some! I just felt that it wasn't anything particularly new, story wise really, its a movie that feels like it has potential and they tried to make it seem quite fantastical, indeed the scenery is quite impressive at times and the acting is pretty good but the characters lack real depth and the story is somewhat formulaic, plus the ending I felt was rather unfulfilling and might disappoint others.

I can't say that I feel this is an awful movie because I did enjoy some aspects of it, some of the scenes such as the fight scenes, were done well and the landscapes are quite impressive, there's a pretty good cast and its entertaining enough to pass the time it just could have quite a bit better and its a shame it wasn't I think. Its quite possible that younger people (ugh I really must be getting old lol) will enjoy it more than I did and I wouldn't say its not worth giving it a chance if it comes on TV but its not a movie I'd rush out to see in itself. Basically it could be better but it could be worse, I'll give it a 3 for effort! lol.

- Would I Recommend It? -

Surprisingly no, I wouldn't recommend it. I don't think this is a really bad movie as such, it certainly passes the time alright, though I am left feeling like it had the potential to be rather better than it was. If your particularly interested in seeing this due to the cast then I'd recommend you rent it rather than buying it because its really not the sort of movie I think many people would want to re-watch and so I can't recommend purchasing it specifically. Its not really bad but its certainly not memorable either, in my opinion.

I hope you found my review useful and thanks for any and all r/r/c's. This review may also be posted on Dooyoo UK under the same username.  

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