Eye Candy #237 - "The Forbidden Kingdom"

The Forbidden Kingdom:  Probably the best Jackie Chan movie in years, as well as the strongest US role for Jet Li ever, “The Forbidden Kingdom” exceeded my expectations. Based partly on Chinese folklore and fiction as well the standard “stranger in a strange land” trope as a young, chop-socky obsessed Bostonian gets transported by the powers of a magical staff to a medieval Chinese world, where he must rescue the Monkey King (Jet Li), who has been imprisoned by the Jade Warlord, so that he can get back to his life in Boston. To that end, he ends up teamed with Lu Yan (Chan), one of the eight immortals who is at his strongest when he is thoroughly wasted, the Silent Monk (Li’s 2nd role), and Sparrow, a vengeful young woman. But the Jade General doesn’t want to lose his power and hires the White-Haired Witch to kill them. Great fight scenes, a good sense of humor, surprisingly good dialogue for a Chan movie. An open love letter to the Shaw Bros. chop-socky flicks of the 70’s-80’s, and other Chinese costume martial arts movies, this movie was energetic, entertaining, and I feel, would be a good film for children. Woodchuck sez, “Check it out.”