The Forbidden Kingdom DVD (ENG SUB)

$ 16.50

$ 16.50 + $ 3.50 (shipping fee)

Mandarin

English / Chinese / off

1 DVD Box Set (NTSC - All Region)

Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Michael A. Angarano, Crystal Liu, Li Bing Bing & Collin Chou

2008 Release

"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. 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.

The story line, courtesy of writer John Fusco ("Young Guns," "Hidalgo"), involves a nerdy teen who goes through "the gate of no gate" (seriously) and ends up getting mentored by legends and making kung fu history in China's mythical past. Think of "The Karate Kid" set in a "Fists of Fury" fantasyland and you'll have a rough idea of what's going on here. Though it's bland enough to have been allowed to shoot on China's mainland, what's pesky about "The Forbidden Kingdom" is that it can't be completely dismissed. It does, after all, have the first-time pairing of the world's most popular martial arts stars, their names linked on screen by the letter 'J' like two words on a Scrabble board.

More than that, the fight choreographer (and yet another executive producer) is the accomplished Woo-Ping Yuen, who did the honors for such films as "The Matrix," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Kill Bill." Though this makes "Forbidden Kingdom's" fights of interest, especially the long-awaited Chan-Li hand-to-hand face-off, it's not like the old days. Jet Li, whose last film was the considerably darker "Fearless," is not truly at home in a friendlier persona. And Chan, though he still has a phenomenally engaging presence, is in his mid-50s and no longer the daredevil he was when his tag line was "No Fear, No Stuntman, No Equal." In fact, the people whose hearts are most in the film are the Westerners. Screenwriter Fusco and helmer Minkoff (who codirected "The Lion King" and was in charge of Eddie Murphy's "The Haunted Mansion") appear to be aficionados of China and the martial arts.

A 21st Century American teenager takes a spellbinding, dangerous journey into martial arts legend in the new action/adventure epic FORBIDDEN KINGDOM. Shot on location in China, THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM marks the historic first-ever onscreen pairing of martial arts superstars Jackie Chan (RUSH HOUR, DRUNKEN MASTER) and Jet Li (FEARLESS, ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA), and features the awe-inspiring action choreography of Wo Ping (THE MATRIX, CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON).

While hunting down bootleg kung-fu DVDs in a Chinatown pawnshop, Jason (played by Michael Angarano - “24”, “Will and Grace,” LORDS OF DOGTOWN, SEABISCUIT) makes an extraordinary discovery that sends him hurtling back in time to ancient China. There, Jason is charged with a monumental task: he must free the fabled warrior the Monkey King, who has been imprisoned by the evil Jade Warlord. Jason is joined in his quest by wise kung fu master Lu Yan (Jackie Chan) and a band of misfit warriors including Silent Monk (Jet Li). But only by learning the true precepts of kung fu can Jason hope to succeed - and find a way to get back home.