The martial arts stars Jet Li, left, and Jackie Chan in their first movie together, The Forbidden Kingdom, directed by Rob Minkoff. Watch the trailer: http://movies.aol.com/movie/the-forbidden-kingdom/29832/main
We planned to see 88 Minutes starring Al Pacino but the dreadful reviews and 'R' rating (Mom Alert) scared us away for now. We decided to take Mom to see The Forbidden Kingdom since she enjoyed Jackie Chan in Rush Hour 3. She never saw a martial arts type of film and the NY Times' positive review (link below) stated this movie is made for those unfamiliar with this genre as well as for fans. This one was our second choice so it worked out well for everyone.
I gave Mom a quickie summary of martial arts film and biographies of Chan and Jet Li, their first movie together. Chan supplies the comedy while Li anchors the film in a more serious part as a traveling monk. Both actors play two roles and the rest of the cast blends in well. The villains facial expressions and gestures define their nastiness and the good guys bear their nobility on their shoulders. The movie is part Karate Kid, part Wizard of Oz in its framing device, and bits from various Chinese martial arts films, all mixed together in a highly entertaining romp. Special effects are outstanding as well as the actual location scenery and costumes. The music score has the correct epic tone for this type of quest movie. Actually there's a few quests going on here and everything is resolved at the conclusion; who survives is the question.
This movie is sure to be a crowd pleaser and deservedly so as much care was put into the production. http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/movies/18king.html
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