3:48pm Wednesday 9th July 2008
By Matthew Jenkin
Recent martial arts movies have set a more sombre tone for the genre, with beautifully choreographed fight sequences, sweeping cinematography, and po-faced actors.
However, The Forbidden Kingdom benefits from never taking itself too seriously and remembering how to have fun.
The film opens with the mythical Monkey King (a mythical character with ancient Chinese origins) bouncing around the cloud-shrouded mountain peaks of ancient China charming the socks off Gods and warriors alike.
But not everyone is so enamoured by this naughty ape and the evil Jade Warlord (Collin Chou) tricks him into giving up his magic staff and freezes him in stone.
Cue kung-fu obsessed Jason (Michael Angarano) who, after finding the Monkey King's long lost staff, is magically transported back to ancient China.
There he meets drunken dreadlocked kung fu master Lu Yan (Jackie Chan), who with the help of Silent Monk (Jet Li) and Golden Sparrow (Crystal Liu Yi Fei), help Jason to free the Monkey King.
One of the film's biggest selling points is the first ever pairing of Hong Kong's most accomplished kung fu stars, Jackie Chan and Jet Li, and their presence proves to be a joy.
Chan's tongue-in-cheek slapstick combined with Jet Li's effortless kung fu complement each other perfectly, resulting in some truly spectacular and original fight sequences.
With the majority of the film in English, however, its Chinese actors are often lost in translation and the audience is left wondering why and how they can speak English in the first place.
The film's heavy morality whiffs ever so slightly of month old cheddar but those with a gag reflex will be able to see pass this and enjoy it for what it is - a corny but fun fantasy adventure.
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