Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2132 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-11-17
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English, Mandarin Chinese
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 108 minutes

Synopsis
East meets West and kung-fu legends collide as Jackie Chan and Jet Li square off in the fists-a-flying, family-friendly FORBIDDEN KINGDOM.
Based on the classical Chinese novel JOURNEY TO THE WEST, the film begins in modern-day Boston. There, while teenage kung-fu flick enthusiast Jason (Michael Angarano) is buying bootleg DVDs from his favourite shopkeeper, Old Hop (Chan, aged by prosthetic makeup), he is drawn to an ancient golden staff. When a local bully forces weakling Jason to help rob Old Hop, Jason escapes with the staff and is magically transported to ancient China. He is soon rescued from the forces of the Jade Warlord by Lu Yan (Chan), a raggedy wanderer whose wine-guzzling ways conceal his kung-fu mastery. Yan reveals the truth of the staff, and that Jason is the fabled Seeker who must return it to the Monkey King (Li) to prevent the warlord's evil plans. The two are joined in their quest by a kung-fu master, Silent Monk (Li), and a beautiful orphan (Liu Yifei) who harbours her own personal vendetta. Despite their differences, the two masters teach Jason the ways of the kung-fu warrior. And when Lu Yan is gravely wounded by the warlord's sexy assassin, Jason must bring his newfound skills and courage to bear if he is to save one world and return to his own.
Choreographed by action impresario Woo-ping Yuen (THE MATRIX, KILL BILL) and shot on location in China, FORBIDDEN KINGDOM is an appealing family adventure about the importance of working together and the value of believing in one's abilities.

Customer Reviews

Brilliant, breathtaking and beautiful - one to watch again and again
A movie with Jackie Chan and Jet Li is a mouth watering prospect to me, so to hear that this was to be released was great news.
The Forbidden Kingdom is the story of Jason, who lives an ordinary life in South Boston. Jason loves his kung fu flicks, and after awakening from a dream of The Monkey King (Jet Li) finds his life starts to turn upside down.
Michael Angorano plays Jason very well, his character development is fun to watch and the characters he meets are all manner of weird and wonderful.
There are numerous homages to old kung fu heroes and kung fu movies throughout the film and this alone warrants another viewing.
Jet Li is brilliant as The Monkey King (and as another character - The Silent Monk) - great humour. Jackie Chan is as funny as ever as The Drunken Immortal and there is a great supporting cast of immortals/mortals to enjoy.
The action is fantastic, some great fight scenes, some wonderful battle sequences and an intruiging and great story to go with it.
This is a wonderfully made, well thought out action/fantasy film. Not too taxing on the brain, great to watch, beautifully directed and some great acting - all in all this is a lot more than a kung fu flick and is highly reccommended.

A tribute, rather than a great film itself...
Is this either Jackie Chan's or Jet Li's finest hour? No.
Is it one of the greatest Martial Arts or chop-socky movies ever? No.
The american protagonist is not particularly engaging either. I can't help but at least partially agree with another reviewer that less western and more eastern influence would have helped this movie a lot.

However, for those who have been entertained by both Jackie Chan and Jet Li for many years, this film is still a good tip-of-the-hat. In fact, the first fight between the two is especially good.

Superb
I've just finished watching this and I thought it was fantastic. The fight scenes, the music, the acting, the scenery, the story - all of it, I thought it was a superb film. If you're a fan of martial arts (especially Jackie Chan and Jet Li) mixed with fantasy and loads of special effects, then you'll love this. It's good to see the two J's fighting side by side. I hope they create more films like this.