Viewed in
2008
Premise
Jackie Chan and Jet Li in an Americanized version of 'Journey to the West'.
Who should watch
Fans of Chan and Li.
Thoughts
A disappointing chimera of 'Journey to the West' + 'Wizard of Oz' + 'Karate Kid'. The whole American kid in China premise kills the story. Broken English does not help either.
Two scenes really stood out that did not make the movie an entire waste of time. Both involved two kung fu legends. The first was the exciting duel between Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Unfortunately, there was only one fight, and stunt doubles were probably used. The other part was a comedic scene in which the two characters beat up the American kid while attempting to illustrate which animal-based technique was better.
The excitement of seeing Chan and Li in the same scene is equivalent to Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro in 'Heat', too bad the rest of 'The Forbidden Kingdom' sucked.
What I would change
A straight-forward epic in Chinese of the story would be nice.
