I am very much a fan of films where a character starts off as weak and naïve, but soon trains and becomes stronger and smarter. There’s the obligatory, but still fun, training sequences where Chan’s Lu is the teacher giving the young man a necessary tough time.
Any experienced fan of movies will spot references to stuff like The Matrix, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and particularly Bloodsport. It takes the action/fight sequences from these movies, and many others of course, and employs them similarly here. But it’s too innocent, if I may use such a word, to be seen as ripping anything off. Rather, because the type of film it is, it can be looked at as homage.
There’s a fair share of Crouching Tiger-style action involving what is clearly wires, but it adds to the whole feel of it being magical, mystical, and very much fantasy like. It’s not only Chan and Li who get into the thick of it; even our young protagonist uses his training to fight what seems to be an everlasting, recuperating group of soldiers in a number of scenes, adversaries which match his stature and, of course, the leading bad guy. They are very well choreographed and ultimately very entertaining to watch.
The film is a little cheesy in a fair few of its scenes, particularly those involving Angarano and a young female traveler, and there’s the long lasting complaint of why they are speaking English instead of the native language of the land, but it’s not in any way enough to weigh the film down to any sort of irredeemable level.
The Forbidden Kingdom is not Citizen Kane, or more applicable Seven Samurai (although, to be fair, I don't think it was aiming to be), and it’s not quite the quality of movie you’d hope for from an inclusion of an on-screen partnership of Jet Li and Jackie Cha, but it is solid entertainment. It is a fun and worthwhile kung-fu frolic that serves its purpose well.
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