My Bloggy Wog

Take The Wizard of Oz, add a healthy dollop of The Karate Kid, blend some Rush Hour and finish with a bit of Hero; et voila – The Forbidden Kingdom. The film is a sweet and mild-mannered ‘tweenage’ action adventure whose goals are modest and refreshingly possesses no pretensions. It’s more Saturday afternoon escapism than a massive treetop kung-fu blockbuster.

Jason Tripitikas (Michael Angarano) is a shy Boston teenager who adores martial-arts films and dreams of Crouching Tiger-esque scenarios. He rents the films from a sleepy Chinatown hovel run by an elderly man called Old Hop (a barely recognisable Jackie Chan). In said establishment’s staff only quarters, Jason finds an antique ceremonial staff purportedly used by China’s fabled but now ubiquitous Monkey King (Li, in appropriate simian gear). After helping some neighbourhood bullyboys to rob the feeble old man, Jason wakes to find himself whisked back to ancient China. The mystical turn of events sets our time-travelling protagonist on a journey (not so much a yellow brick road as a dusty Himalayan trail) to finally return the staff to its rightful owner.

His allies in this dangerous mission are Lu Yan (Chan again), who's constantly swigging from his jug of wine, and a serene monk (Li again) with flowing white robes who is also a skilled fighter. On their way to The Emerald City, er, golden fortress, they meet a beautiful young warrior maiden named Sparrow (Liu Yifei). The quartet must fight an evil warlord (Collin Chou) along with his subordinate Ni Chang (Li Bingbing), a fierce, ambitious beauty whose streaming white locks of hair are part of her weaponry. By vanquishing them both, Jason and co will be able to free the Monkey King from his half century entombed in stone.

Li as the Zen master and Chan as his more comical sidekick build on their familiar personas and demonstrate their trademark chops that devoted fans appreciate. Angarano is rapidly establishing himself as one of the most promising young, if slightly cheesy, American actors. Under the direction of Rob Minkoff (Stuart Little, The Lion King), everything unfolds rather predictably. The fight scenes (including Jason's climactic battle with the bullies back in south Boston) are fun, but the ninety minutes or so in between lacks that necessary kick. The Forbidden Kingdom will definitely please its core audience but alas, won’t have anyone over the age of sixteen chomping at the bit to see it. 

Released on DVD 27 October