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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Forbidden Kingdom, The
Lionsgate


7.7

based on 27 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 47 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for sequences of martial arts action and some violence

Starring Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Michael Angarano, Collin Chou, Crystal Liu Yi Fei, and Li Bing Bing

While hunting down bootleg kung fu DVDs in a Chinatown pawnshop, Jason Tripitikas 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 powerful Jade Warlord. Jason is joined in his quest by wise kung fu master Lu and a band of misfit warriors including Silent Monk. But only by learning the true precepts of kung fu can Jason hope to succeed--and find a way to get back home. (Lionsgate)

GENRE(S):	Action \| Adventure
WRITTEN BY:	John Fusco Ch'eng-En Wu
DIRECTED BY:	Rob Minkoff
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: September 9, 2008 Theatrical: April 18, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	113 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Kung fu purists may scoff, but escapists with a sense of humor should romp through The Forbidden Kingdom.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

For martial arts action fans, The Forbidden Kingdom may be the best fantasy story since the genre was opened to a wider audience by "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

The result is joyous and exhilarating.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

To see the two of them on screen together, even past their primes, is a delight.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The Forbidden Kingdom may be nothing but disposable fun, but it is a great, heaping, overflowing helping of fun. If you're 10, it may also seem like "Citizen Kane."

The New York Times A.O. Scott

A faithful and disarmingly earnest attempt to honor some venerable and popular Chinese cinematic traditions.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

Once past the clunky prologue, the film is great fun, with a good balance between computer effects and athleticism.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

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.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

The plot is negligible, but that's fine since it's really only a way to get from one set-piece to another.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Although veteran choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping ( Kill Bill, The Matrix) handles the wire action, the camera work is merely okay and the sequences are on the familiar side. Still, it's fun to see Chan resurrect his loopy, staggering "drunken master" fighting style.

New York Post Kyle Smith

It's good-natured myth-making cut into kid-size pieces.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

The special effects are effective, though not terribly special. While director Minkoff pays homage to past masters of the genre, the past masters were better at this game than he.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Unashamed about giving its audience a good time, and the high spirits go a long way toward counterbalancing the cliches.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

The wisecracking Chan and the stoic Li play off their on-screen images with good humor, and if they don't have the agility they once did, it's still a joy to watch them make the most of Yuen Woo-ping's impressive choreography.

Film Threat Matthew Sorrento

A dance of combat and humor saves a contrivance from drowning. Or, rather, Chan and Li elevate it enough to make it into a good time.

Empire Helen O'Hara

The missing link between '00s wushu, '80s kids' fantasy and '70s chop-socky, this manages to be thoroughly entertaining - and the face-off between Chan and Li is worth the entrance price alone.

Village Voice Nick Pinkerton

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.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

Minkoff lets the fight scenes go on for a while, which is nice, and all the best bits are in the middle, when Jackie and Jet spend a lot of time playing off each other.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

There's nothing really wrong with all this in theory, but the overall doofiness of the execution is finally too much to overcome. The filmmakers come off like their protagonist, wide-eyed tourists in an exotic realm. If you've been looking for a martial arts film to take granny and the kids to, this might be the one, but a Jackie Chan-Jet Li collaboration deserves better than that.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

Feels a bit too much like six hours of movie packed into 113 minutes - imagine if New Line had made Peter Jackson cram the entirety of "Lord of the Rings" into one film.

Variety Dennis Harvey

On its own terms, it's a handsome albeit unexceptional juvenile adventure shot on some magnificent Chinese locations.

The Hollywood Reporter Stephen Farber

Will please its core audience but won't enthrall anyone over the age of 16. (Even that might be stretching the point.)

Chicago Tribune Tasha Robinson

It's perhaps best suited for genre vets who can be satisfied with spot-the-reference games and Chan and Li's chemistry, or for undiscriminating kids who'll enjoy the "Karate Kid" vibe. But it's less a culmination of Li and Chan's careers than a passable footnote to better things.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

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.

Chicago Reader Joshua Katzman

Pairing Jackie Chan and Jet Li would seem like a slam dunk, but this big-budget martial arts drama, which borrows liberally from "The Wizard of Oz," is something of a disappointment.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

A movie that jumps between two worlds can be a powerful experience, as any fan of "The Wizard of Oz," "Back to the Future" or "The Terminator" can tell you. But this phoned-in epic is simply a celebration of the inauthentic.

Entertainment Weekly Adam Markovitz

This kingdom really should be forbidden.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.7 (out of 10) based on 47 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Andy A gave it a9:
The cast says it all and it lives up to every bit of it. If you like these movies you will get your moneys worth.

Aaron F. gave it a10:
I think it was absolutely brilliant. The style was a lot of fun to watch, and they handled a plot that could have been incredibly cheesy with a lot of finesse and believability. From a critical standpoint, they did a great job with this movie in the atmosphere they intended. In reviewing any movie, you have to consider what the intent of the movie was before you decide if it was good "for you". More critics (at least profession ones) need to learn to review from the point of view of the intended audience, not the reviewer him/herself, to decide whether the movie was good.

Paul S. gave it a6:
I wanted to like this movie -- I really, really did. Jackie Chan and Jet Li are (well, were) the best at martial arts action films, and the prospect of them as a kind of chop-socky Odd Couple was irresistible. I'd been looking forward to it for months, and went to see it on opening day. What I didn't realize was that this was neither a martial arts comedy (like Chan is known for) or an epic (like Li has done) but rather, at its core, a children's movie. It's like The Karate Kid meets The Neverending Story -- complete with training montages, "real world" bookends, and a gawky hero that was a little too aggressively banal to like. There are moments of excellence; Jet Li's exuberance as the trickster Monkey King is genuinely delightful, and both the good-girl and bad-girl characters are ridiculously attractive. In the end, though, all I could think about was how much I would've enjoyed the film if I were 11. To be fair, parents of 11-year-olds should definitely consider this one for a Saturday afternoon. The rest of us, however, should save our money.

Miguel A. gave it an8:
Though the storyline, as well as some choregraphy seem recycled from older movies, it's a breath of fresh air in the kung fu flick genre. It's great to see that Jackie and Jet are working together as well, and together, they made art in the style of martial arts. My only problem is the teenage boy who seems to ruin the movie at certain points.

John M. gave it a4:
Fighting is fine, but not a believable story. Don't take your watch with you, you'll be looking at it regularly.

P L gave it a10:
This movie is so entertaining that I want to see it again. It is hilarious and doesn't take itself seriously. Beautiful cinematography and well done CG, with awesome kung fu. Simply put, I love it. It should've been marketed as summer blockbuster movie. I highly recommend it.

Jack R. gave it an8:
While the dialogue in the movie is cheesy at times this movie is definately entertaining.

Forbidden Kingdom, The Lionsgate

Forbidden Kingdom, The
Lionsgate