Bhoothnath: Movie Review

The Good:

• The first half. You get to laugh and enjoy the innocent charm of the movie. The characters are lively and the movie seems promising. The Bhoot and kid conjure up fervent energy first up and you are welcomed to the party. Moreover
  
• The young kid Aman Siddiqi is promising, too bad he is not given too much of a leeway to break a leg. He is charming, cute and naughty.
• Juhi Chawla provides ample support to the story, cast and to the plot to some extent.
• Mr. Amitabh Bacan as Bhootnath. His getup is good and his chemistry with the kid Banku is crackling.
• Special Effects are really cool.
• In the initial sequences the art department did a fantastic job creating the eerie look and feel and the horror quotient was just enough to keep you interested. Even the kids would get hooked.
  

The Bad:

• The second half was a let down. The movie promised and failed to deliver. The plot meandered into emotional sub terrain when tear-jerking takes over the Universe and unfortunately Mr. FunPrank failed to save the Universe.
  
• Mr. Amitabh Bachan as Mr. Nath. I think it was the misplaced subplot that was responsible and even Mr. B could not revive it.
• Vishal Shekhar have two catchy tunes which might last a little while and the rest is again average.
• The screenplay which starts like a would-up toy motor car which races ahead, slows down and grinds to a halt.
  

The Ugly:

• The sub-plot responsible for Mr. B being a Bhoot. How I wish it would have been different.

Watch it for the first half, the second half if you have patience

The Forbidden Kingdom

The Good:

• Jackie Chan and Jet Li. I think I am seeing them together for the first time and that was a big big reason for me to go and watch this movie. I'm a fan of both of them. Jet Li is fast... real fast and he can give those deadly no-nonsense scares which only mean 'get away or get hurt'. The first time I saw him was in Lethal Weapon-4 and I became a fan. Jackie Chan is an entertainer and I love his histrionics. He nearly always plays the underdog who gets the girl in the end and gets to beat the bad guys with his pyrotechnics. Watch them both fight in a sequence midway in this movie. It is nicely choreographed.
  
• The attempt to create a near ancient fairytale story where there are humans and gods, evil and good.

The Bad:

• Story: You get inspired by 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' and 'Lord of the Rings' and decide to create a nice mix of story. What a big let down! 'The divine shaft bearer passing though the gate of no-gate to take on the journey that he himself must take in order to return the shaft to the tomb of the monkey king to resurrect him in order to end the evil immortal king some blah blah.' This sounds so corny and predictable.
• Sub plots: Under developed most of the time. The love angle between the protagonist and his woman-at-arms (The Sparrow). The training of the protagonist. The love-hate relationship of Jackie Chan and Jet Li. All of them missing. It seems that the director wanted to rush through to the final sequence and be done with it.
  
• Fight Sequences: I think they have hired some of the best in the industry but the fight sequences are simply ordinary. The actors are much more capable. This might have been the only ray of hope for this movie but an opportunity lost.
  

The Ugly:

• Barring Jackie Chan who came up with cameos in between, there was a general lack of urgency in the acting department. Sometimes it felt like I was watching a TV show with bad characters spluttering their lines.
  

Watch only and only if you like Martial arts in whatever shoddy form it is served or if you are a fan of Jackie Chan or Jet Li.