Movie Review: The Forbidden Kingdom

A couple of us were lucky enough to catch a sneak peek of this much awaited movie last night. This is the first time (and maybe the last time) we see two of the most famous martial arts actors - Jet Li and Jackie Chan together in a movie.

Before the show began one of the martial arts school in Austin provided a demonstration in the front of the theater. Given the space they had to work with it was real impressive to see some of their moves.

The movie begins. We are on the second row with the big screen towering over us like a skyscraper. I found it odd that the screen was not curved. Naren brought us a big tub of popcorn. Yum. As with most epic Chinese Kung Fu movie, the story starts with more a mythological character. And there is Jet Li (in some hairy makeup) fighting some bad guys while flying through the sky. I'm already digging this. There's nothing like watching a martial arts movie and being fed popcorn by my wife. There's a daughter of a friend of friend sitting a couple of seats down. She is probably 2-3 years old. She eyes the popcorn and starts inviting herself to some from John's hands. She wants more. John builds her a personal paper bag for her own popcorn. He can hardly keep up filling the bag as she enjoys the crunchy buttery goodness. Alright we were a bit distracted watching this cute little kid munch on popcorn. Back to the movie.

I won't bore you with what the story is about. I'll tell you what I thought of the movie.

I thought the movie had all the classical martial arts details with a modernized plot line that involved western characters. Moreover the story kept me engrossed with it's light humor (thanks mainly to Jackie Chan) and cool stunts. The closeup fight sequence was as expected very well done - but then again we can expect nothing less from these two masters. I can't say that there was any new stylization in the movie. It's all been done before. Just that this time you saw Jet Li and Jackie Chan together kicking some bad guys butts. So as long as you like Hong Kong martial arts movie, you will most likely enjoy this one. Oh, the kid actually has a bigger role then I had imagined. In fact he is the main character! That added a bit of a nostalgic touch to it. Reminded me of Karate Kid.