The Forbidden Kingdom.

"A martial arts epic with hints of Tolkien in which a Caucasian hero teams with Jackie Chan and Jet Li to save a kingdom, win the affection of a beauty, and gain the power to kick a homicidal bully's ass, The Forbidden Kingdom plays out like the wet dream of kung-fu fanboy nation," writes Nick Schager in Slant. "Except, however, that even rabid Hong Kong cineastes will likely be underwhelmed by director Rob Minkoff's family-friendly fusion of The Lord of the Rings, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Karate Kid."

"This is the first collaboration between kung fu's Astaire and Kelly, and, as that, it disappoints," writes Nick Pinkerton in the Voice. "Taken as a whole, though, it's an amiable lost-and-found of epic-adventure tropes. As I still illogically treasure Willow, many a 10-year-old who sees Forbidden Kingdom will remember it fondly in spite of its flaws."

Updated through 4/21.

"Just as you'd want it, Chan and Li are not adversaries," notes Armond White in the New York Press. "Both play heroes - drunken Kung Fu master Lu Yan (Chan) and maverick warrior Silent Monk (Li).... Every fighting move - Drunken Fist, Praying Mantis vs Tiger, Intercepting Fist and Buddha's Palm - is presented as a fabled gesture in Hong Kong lore. It's Li and Chan's athletic and artistic supremacy doing these moves that has entranced moviegoers (especially kids) across the globe."

"So why is it that their careers have outlasted those of Western action stars?" asks Time's Richard Corliss. "Chan has been in nearly 100 films since he did bit parts as a child actor. Li's been making movies nonstop for 26 years.... The actors whom Chan and Li most closely resemble are the comedy stars of early Hollywood: Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, all onstage since youth. In films full of physical derring-do, they prided themselves on executing their own graceful maneuvers and extravagant stunts."

Ron Magid reports on the visual effects for the Los Angeles Times.

Updates, 4/18: For Grady Hendrix, writing in the New York Sun, The Forbidden Kingdom is one that "will leave most adults bored out of their skulls, but which serves as an excellent primer to the wonders of Hong Kong movies for children 12 and under." The fun part of his review, though, is his "rough guide to the references."

"It's the first big Hollywood production in two decades (i.e., since Big Trouble in Little China) to really absorb the kinds of Chinese stories that have formed the basis for much of Hong Kong action cinema," notes Andy Klein in the LA CityBeat.

"[T]he film works well enough as a primer for latecomers and a fix for insatiable martial arts lovers," writes AO Scott in the New York Times. "If you've never seen a movie like this, it might satisfy your curiosity; if you can't get enough of this kind of movie, nothing I say about it would keep you away."

"The Forbidden Kingdom is kung fu light, the kind of martial arts family film that results when the director who made Stuart Little and The Lion King gets to work with Jackie Chan and Jet Li," writes Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times. "Of course, the great martial arts films of the past didn't exactly feature scripts by Ingmar Bergman or Graham Greene. What they did have was a hard-core integrity that reveled in exhilarating action and didn't worry overly much about market share."

"Why didn't this happen 15 years ago, when they were both in their prime?" asks Scott Tobias at the AV Club. "Even if it had happened 15 years ago, how do you reconcile the austere beauty of Li's wire-fu classics like Once Upon A Time In China with the Buster Keaton-inspired slapstick acrobatics of Jackie Chan standards like Drunken Master 2? And why not entrust the project to an old Hong Kong hand like Tsui Hark or Ronny Yu, instead of the guy responsible for The Haunted Mansion? At best, The Forbidden Kingdom counts as an amiable time-waster for kids, but much more should be expected from the momentous union of two kung-fu titans."

"Yeah, it's a dopey kid's movie, but - significant detail - one that feels like it was actually written for kids, rather than slumming thirtysomethings easily amused by pop-culture references," writes Andrew Wright in the Stranger. "Also, whenever things threaten to get too schlocky, this amazing villainess with a magic bullwhip shows up."

"The good news is that the picture is so good-natured, it's easy enough to disregard many of its flaws," writes Salon's Stephanie Zacharek. "The Forbidden Kingdom is lavish in its approach - it attempts some rather extravagant battle scenes - yet it still seems modest in its goals: It's more interested in being a Saturday-afternoon entertainment than a blockbuster."

"[W]ith the exception of the special effects, it resonates mostly as a throwback to the days of films such as The NeverEnding Story, when ancient fantasies were book-ended by tales of modern-day misfits who get their lunch money taken but later exact revenge on their tormenters with a furry flying dragon," writes Peter Hartlaub in the San Francisco Chronicle.

"As the latest entry in the category of 'low expectation, Asian-themed, English-language movies written and directed by respectful American creative talent,' the film is slightly above average entertainment," writes Peter Martin at Cinematical. "But I grow tired of having to lower my expectations in exchange for the pleasure of seeing talented Asian performers make an appearance on the big screen in America."

"It pains me to note that The Forbidden Kingdom has the feeling of a valedictory about it," writes Bryant Frazer.

Quint talks with Jackie Chan for AICN.

Update, 4/19: Susan King profiles Michael Angarano for the Los Angeles Times.

Update, 4/21: "Unable to muster the competency and imagination to mount a rousing kung fu-fantasy epic, Minkoff makes do with aping under the guise of influence," writes Francis Cruz.

Posted by dwhudson at April 17, 2008 2:05 AM