Starring Jackie Chan & Jet Li

Rated PG-13 for sequences of martial arts and some violence.

The Forbidden Kingdom is the story of an American teenager named Jason who is obsessed with Kung-Fu. He is trapped into using his influence with an elder pawn shop keeper to let a few bad teenagers break in to steal money. The shopkeeper gives Jason a legendary stick weapon and tells him to return it to its rightful owner, the Monkey King. Then, magically, Jason is transported to Ancient China where he meets up with a drunk immortal Jackie Chan and a silent Jet Li monk who are both excellent at martial arts for some reason or another. They manage to train Jason in a matter of weeks into a warrior and then they take on the Jade Emperor who has imprisoned the Monkey King.

This is the first flick with both Jackie Chan and Jet Li in it. It was supposed to be a historically significant martial arts film with these two legendary actors battling on the screen. What it turns out to be is a high-concept Karate Kid with some terribly acting. Chan and Li are great in their respective roles and are a marvel to watch fight. Lots of excellent fighting propels this movie forward, but the in between and the ridiculous plot pull it down. The movie moves at a very fast pace when everyone is fighting but is so terribly slow getting to those scenes that the you tend to lose interest in whats going on.

I was terribly excited for this flick as I have been wanting to watch a great martial arts film for awhile now. This was not it. It did a great job referencing and keeping the old Kung-Fu movies at its heart, but ultimately didn't update enough to keep modern movie fans engaged. Overall, I enjoyed the film. It was entertaining enough that I'm glad I watched it and I was really happy with the fight scenes between Chan and Li. I was just let down by the rest so much that its hard to give the whole movie a great score. So, I have ultimately decided that the movie would be watched best on fast forward and only slowing down when the fights started.

The Forbidden Kingdom is a Kung-Fu epic that misfires during the dialogue, while slyly injecting references to old Kung-Fu flicks. It's a shame to think of what this flick could have been, however as it is, its only worth a passing glance. BUT - if you tend to like your Kung-Fu or Jackie Chan movies regardless of storyline, you'll probably love The Forbidden Kingdom.

The Forbidden Kingdom is playing at Cinema 3 in McCook, NE. Check out www.fridleytheatres.com for more info and showtimes.