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.