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The Forbidden Kingdom
Director: Rob Minkoff
Cast: Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Michael Angarano
Rated: PG-13
113 minutes
“It was fortold” Ok, it wasn’t fortold but anyone following kung-fu legends Jackie Chan and Jet Li knew they would eventually break down and do a movie together. Turns out it took much longer than anyone expected and at this point they are both lucky their reputations are solid enough not to be damaged by them being in this movie.
I’m not saying it’s a bad movie. If you’re a young boy who has never seen a kung-fu movie this movie will probably blow you away. Not so much for the rest of us. This is mostly because the two biggest movie stars to come out of China take a back seat to an American nerd. That’s right; Michael Angarano has almost 80 percent of the screen time so we can watch him go from nerd to kung fu hero. And let’s not forget the young teen romance that we’re forced to endure between battles. And sometimes it’s not even between but it would seem the battles are only there to briefly interrupt the hackneyed young romance story.
In essence this is an American attempt on making a Chinese martial arts fantasy film and it comes quite short. But all is not lost. The silver lining to this project (besides the dump trucks of cash the stars made) is the hope that upon seeing this film, an impressionable young viewer might be encouraged to seek out the good films these stars have been in.
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