Jet Li and Jackie Chan - together for the first time ever…!
Ah, that got your attention! Sounds good doesn’t it? Except the line continues ‘…from the director of Stuart Little and The Lion King.’ Only it’s actually not that bad. Sure, it’s a kids movie, but with plenty of knowing references and top-notch fight choreography there’s enough here to keep both children AND adults entertained.
Jason Tripitikas (Michael Angarano, 24, Seabiscuit) is an obsessed martial arts fan, tracking down bootleg kung fu movies in old stores in Chinatown. Only when local thugs bully him into helping rob his favourite pawnshop, Old Hop’s, he finds a mystical staff does a lot more than beat off ruffians. Before you can say Never Ending Story (or should that be Wizard Of Oz?) Jason is transported back into ancient China. His only hope of getting home to release the imprisoned Monkey King (a very hairy Jet Li) from the evil Jade Warlord’s stronghold (Collin Chou, Flash Point, The Matrix Reloaded).
Jason is soon joined by master Lu Yan (Jackie Chan), an advocate of the Drunken Master style, the ‘Silent’ Monk (Jet Li) and the vengeance bound Golden Sparrow (Liu Yi-fei) on his quest, but will they be enough to face the Warlords legions, his ally the White Haired Demoness (Li Bingbing, Silverhawk), and the Warlord himself?
Drawing heavily on Wu Cheng’en’s classic Chinese novel Journey To The West that spawned the Monkey series such a cult hit in the late seventies, John Fusco’s script shamelessly uses every cliché in the kids movie repertoire to rewrite the Monkey King’s 500 year imprisonment and eventual release, and even size things up pretty neatly for a sequel.
Only it could be a lot worse. Fusco packs the script with more than enough references to keep the adults happy. From the quizzical looks from Li and Chan when Jason mentions Bruce Lee, to the very deliberate allusions to their old movies - such as recreating scenes from Drunken Master with Jackie taking Simon Yuen’s role, or Li looking much as he did in his debut feature The Shaolin Temple.
There’s plenty of references to Shaw brothers movies too, from the opening credits that use their posters, to the names of some of the characters, like Sparrow, named after Golden Swallow played by Cheng Pei Pei in Come Drink With Me and its eponymous sequel. Not to mention the name dropping of easternKicks.com fave The Bride With White Hair (‘It’s actually really good!’) half a dozen times, even though it does seem to be purely to set up Li Bingbing’s character later on. On reflection Fusco, who previously scripted Hidalgo and Young Guns, seems surprising knowledgeable on the subject. (It turns out kung fu is a bit of a passion for him too).
What really makes the film work is it feels like much more of a proper collaboration than we’ve seen before, like for instance in the wake of interest from Hollywood that came from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon’s success. Perhaps it’s just the necessity of shooting on location in China, but the crew is as full of Chinese and Korean names as it is American.
Most obvious in the participation of action choreographer Yuen Woo-ping, who has worked with both Chan and Li in the past, recreating the scenes he originally directed with Chan in Drunken Master and Snake In The Eagles Shadow, he also worked with Li on Tai Chi Master and Once Upon A Time In China.
Unlike the current trend for more ‘realistic’ action in Hong Kong movies, this is much more ‘old school’ kung fu, all tricky hand moves and sweeping kicks, that always looks spectacular on the big screen. The much-anticipated clash between Chan and Li is rewardingly exhausting squabble for the staff, as the two attempt to outsmart each other. It’s easy some of the best fighting we’ve seen from Chan in a Hollywood film, and amongst the best we’ve seen from Li in a while. Though often Minkoff’s direction doesn’t quite do them as much justice as he could.
Also on board is cinematographer Peter Pau, who won an Oscar for his work on Crouching Tiger. He made his name on some of Hong Kong’s most visually exciting movies, including The Killer and, of course, The Bride With White Hair. With less obtrusive use of CGI, this is a definite improvement on his recent work for The Promise.
Of course, with the upcoming Dreamworks animation Kung Fu Panda and next Mummy sequel (also starring Li) both taking some inspiration from the East, there’s definitely something of a trend going on here. It’s difficult to tell whether Hollywood is really trying hard to dominate the Asian box office as it does the rest of the world, or if it’s just excitement over the Beijing Olympics? But in this case the balance seems right. (Woo-ping even gets an executive producer credit!)
Chan and Li are pretty reliable in their roles, almost making up for some of their disastrous previous US efforts. And they do get to speak in Mandarin a bit for a change. Angarano isn’t as annoying as these leads tend to be. Particular standouts are the leading ladies, Yi-fei and Bingbing, who both have a relatively small body of previous work, and Collin Chou as the Warlord - though he might want to try and avoid getting typecast as the bad guy next time?
One thing that will be interesting to see is what certificate this film gets on it’s UK release. In the states it’s gotten a PG-13, which has to affect much of it’s target 8-12 audience? A 12 would have a similar impact here, though it’s hard to see what they might be reacting too (I’m sure Monkey was just as violent?!)
Honestly, I really didn’t think I’d enjoy this movie, but it’s actually a pretty successful kids movie. Surprisingly so… and if just a few people check out The Bride With White Hair, then that’s even better.
(Now can someone please tell me what the name has to do with the film?)
The Forbidden Kingdom is released by Lionsgate in the UK on 11 July.
