The Forbidden Kingdom - Review

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1. Rich Says:
   April 9th, 2008 at 15:17

   Really?! This movie is good? I had absolutely NO interest in this movie before, but now after reading this review, I don't know...I may just wind up seeing it now.
   
   Dungeon Siege be damned!

1. JoshT Says:
   April 9th, 2008 at 15:35

   I loved it. To me it's The Neverending Story with martial arts. If you hated The Neverending Story, then not only are you a heartless sadist, you probably won't like this.

1. JP Says:
   April 9th, 2008 at 23:02

   For now, there are only two reviews in Rotten Tomatoes. Yours and Brian Orndorf's. He absolutely bashed the film. What's your take on his review?

1. Judy Says:
   April 10th, 2008 at 01:50

   I just came back from a screening. This is above all a fantasy movie, so it's important to suspend disbelief and just have fun. What's nice is that the movie is definitely family-friendly. You can really bring kids to this one -- no blood and guts, but the fight scenes are still amazing.

1. JoshT Says:
   April 10th, 2008 at 01:57

   I read Brian Orndorf's review.
   
   The fact that he was utterly confused by even the basics of the plot really makes me question the validity of anything he has to say on it. It's really not that complicated. It's a pretty straightforward time-traveling, kill the evil overlord adventure story.
   
   He spends a good portion of his review simply complaining that he can't understand anything Jackie Chan says because of his accent. This is a man who has apparently, never seen a Jackie Chan movie.
   
   I'm not sure he even knows who Jackie Chan and Jet Li are, beyond what their Wikipedia pages might have told him. I got the impression that he simply hates the martial arts/fantasy movies. A lot of the stuff he complains about most are things that are staples of the martial arts genre.

1. JP Says:
   April 10th, 2008 at 10:06

   How would you rank this movie among Jackie Chan and Jet Li's other American movies?

1. JoshT Says:
   April 11th, 2008 at 03:32

   American movies? I'd be more inclined to rank it among all of their movies. It's not much of a competition among their American movies. I mean, I really enjoy Rush Hour 1 and even 2, but they're not even the same sort of films.
   
   This is a movie basically paying tribute to their career in Asian films, and I think you can only compare it to those. It's better than any of the American stuff either of them has done... that I can think of offhand... but I'm not sure that's saying much.
   
   On the other hand, it's definitely not in the same class as say their real classics like Drunken Master II... or even Jet Li's Fearless... assuming you share the same affinity for that movie that I do.

1. Jeremy Spiers Says:
   April 11th, 2008 at 16:23

   I have not seen the movie yet, though I intend to. My interest lies in the fact that the story takes as it's roots a fabulous Chinese fictional story of the Monkey King called "Journey to the West" which in turn takes it's source from the factual story of Xuánzàng's pilgrimage to India during the Táng dynasty to bring back Buddhist Scriptures to China. (Ok, I admit it, I am a huge Jackie Chan fan, as well) It is important to remember in this context, that the story was already fantastic, in landscape, story line, character, and action... (probably more so than the movie could be, when you consider the magic staff's ability in the story to grow to reach the highest realms of heaven and the lowest hell's at the same time!)

1. Zee Says:
   April 11th, 2008 at 20:31

   This is a beautiful review! Well done!

1. shaudae Says:
   April 12th, 2008 at 02:58

   hey this was really good now i want to go see this movie i tought it would be a movie that my dad would like more but know i really like it. it look really good and imm going to go see it with some friends

1. Barai Says:
   April 12th, 2008 at 21:16

   Cant' wait to watch

1. toto Says:
   April 14th, 2008 at 02:27

   The kid in the movie is out of place. If it would have been just jackie and jet. the movie would be awesome.

1. Rick Says:
   April 15th, 2008 at 04:46

   good to know it's family friendly. I may bring my kids too..

1. Andrew Says:
   April 16th, 2008 at 14:20

   Josh T, you are completely wrong.
   
   Orndorf's review is dead-on about this awful film, and his points on the "Hollywooding" of the film are articulate and very true. Plus the urinating scene? Unforgivable.
   
   You bash him because you're not ready to accept what he has to say, hiding behind tired arguments of "he doesn't get it." Hogwash.
   
   "Kingdom" is a terrible motion picture. Orndorf is exactly right.

1. JoshT Says:
   April 16th, 2008 at 18:49

   I disagree. I think his review is completely and utterly wrong. But, different people are going to have different opinions.
   
   The urinating scene was hilarious... and somewhat in keeping with Jackie Chan's usual, somewhat silly comedic style. Again, I come back to the notion that the people hating this movie are people who have no idea who Jackie Chan and Jet Li even are.

1. James G Says:
   April 17th, 2008 at 15:01

   Overall the movie is good.
   Though there where some english phrases/words spoken by the chinese actors which I didn't understand.
   
   I'm not being racist or anything, i'm chinese too.

1. Mondo Says:
   April 19th, 2008 at 15:43

   Doesn't matter what the movie is even about, all that matters is that its Chan and Li in the same freckin movie!! Are you serious this is fantastic, now I can sleep at night,....hope Chan blows Li's grill out!

1. Cinefantastique Online Says:
   April 19th, 2008 at 15:44

   This film was better than expected. The attempt to Americanize Chinese legends is fraught with problems, but they pulled it off pretty well; the structure felt more like WIZARD OF OZ than ZU WARRIORS. Still, the casting and the choreography sold it to the audience.

1. rexhail Says:
   April 21st, 2008 at 22:03

   i like this film
   whery much
   thenks for this

1. Praetorian Says:
   April 22nd, 2008 at 15:40

   I really enjoyed the movie and like the previous person said it was the wizard of oz. Jackie does a good job as cowarsdly lion and jet li as the scarecrow.
   

1. Vangel Says:
   April 27th, 2008 at 03:46

   I read a few bad reviews but the kids wanted to see the movie so I took them. They had a great time and I must confess that I enjoyed it as well. When the movie ended the audience cheered.
   
   It seems that some reviewers are so full of themselves that they miss the intent of some movies. Some times I wonder if they are really looking at the same movies as the rest of us are. If you have kids take them and they are likely to have a great time.

1. Doodads Says:
   April 29th, 2008 at 05:15

   As a Chinese movie fan, I watched it a week ago. I could tell from their faces that Chinese audiences were quite disappointed. Why? They simply hate the story.
   
   he movie is great in the sense that it blends a western-style story and western life with oriental martial art, through the white boy. So I basically understand why it's popular in the US and other countries.

1. Hello Says:
   April 29th, 2008 at 15:07

   Quite possibly the worst movie I have ever seen in my life. A couple of the fight scenes were cool, but the story was just completely retarded.

1. justJAY Says:
   April 30th, 2008 at 19:19

   Movie was entertaining & i recommend it for anyone who enjoys a good kung fu action w/ a comedy twist type of movie ... it was created for the american audience so the story line might be hard for some to follow but overall was great! ... as for all the critics & the "chinese movie fans" who gave it a bad review, do some research - understand the basis of the "monkey king" and the importance of his character in the chinese culture, watch an authentic actual chinese movie that had all the crazy special effects well before the matrix ever existed and you might begin to comprehend a little of what the story entails!

1. Ming Fai Says:
   May 11th, 2008 at 01:51

   Hey, I totally know Chan and Li, having watched their movies since childhood, and I didn't like the movie... It was boring, predictable and really a big waste of the J&J team-up. You don't need Jackie Chan and Jet Li together to make a movie for kids. And that's exactly what the Forbidden Kingdom is: an entertaining movie for parents to bring their children to.

1. KC Says:
   May 17th, 2008 at 11:05

   The thing with this movie is that you can't take it that seriously. If you go into it thinking you're watching an epic Chinese Kung Fu history movie with a deep and meaningful storyline then you'll probably be superbly disappointed. But for us who watch the movie just for the joys of watching a funny movie with awesome kung fu scenes then we'll enjoy it.
   
   Also, I don't agree that a lot of Chinese people would find it that bad. My whole family, friends that have watched it thought it was okay (I'm Chinese). Like I said, as long as you don't take it seriously.
   
   The accent problem. Well I complained a bit about it but I got used to it. And if I listened hard enough I understood enough.
   
   If you notice some of the sayings that Jet Li and Jackie Chan say during the movie, they are actually really deep and meaningful Chinese sayings. I guess by Hollywoodifying the movie made it sound lame but they seriously do have deeper meanings.
   
   Finally I just wanted to say that this movie is not that bad. It's not superb but its entertaining and the fighting, the setting (how beautiful was it) and the simplicity of the storyline makes it a movie worth watching. As long as you don't hold the presumption of it being something that its not.

1. dragon Says:
   May 19th, 2008 at 13:44

   I really liked this movie. You must not expect a movie with a great story, but it was entertaining. They made the story of the monkey king more suitable for a western audience. The pissing scene was very funny, really jackie humor.

1. Hoang-Dung Says:
   May 21st, 2008 at 14:24

   i think this movie is awesome. It's a modern twist to the classic monkey king. I advise you to watch the original monkey king before you watch this movie or else you'll think its corny or cheesy( which alot of clueless people do)
   = I loved the part when
   jet li urinated on jackie keke, and close to the ending when jet li fought the immortal and turned into one of the monkey king's strands of hair.

1. rich Says:
   August 15th, 2008 at 19:03

   I loved it, I didnt watch it on release because was fed up of the latest kungfu movies but this is a film for the whole family its really enjoyable jackie chan and jet li are legends.
   
   The film is a feel good martial arts movie nothing over the top just perfect entertainment you wont be bored watching this one.

1. David Says:
   August 24th, 2008 at 01:28

   I enjoyed watching this movie. If you liked 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' and 'The Neverending Story', you'll probably love it, it's that kind of story. Jackie Chan and Jet Li are both great, as is the main teenage actor.

1. Chan Fan Says:
   August 26th, 2008 at 05:50

   I'm going to see the movie this week. And people, stop hating this movie! I'm sure the storyline sucks, but it's Jackie Chan! AND Jet Li! Have you ever even seen a Jackie movie? The story always sucks. (Except maybe for the classics like Drunken Master.) It's about the humor and the action. People who hated this movie, probably expected too much.

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