Movie Review

The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)

Details Release Date: Apr 18, 2008; Genre: Action/Adventure; With: Jackie Chan

KINGDOM DUMB Jet Li (pictured) and Jackie Chan may wish they\'d been Forbidden from signing up for this martial-arts mess | The Forbiden Kingdom, Jet Li
Image credit: Chan Kam Chuen
KINGDOM DUMB Jet Li (pictured) and Jackie Chan may wish they'd been Forbidden from signing up for this martial-arts mess

The worst part of martial-arts epic The Forbidden Kingdom — in which a kung fu master (Jackie Chan) and a monk (Jet Li) help a time-traveling teen (Michael Angarano) return a magical staff to its owner — isn't the stale story, the fortune-cookie dialogue, or the fizzled pairing of action legends Chan and Li, whose fisticuffs here have all the oomph of a high-speed game of pattycake. No, it's a moment near the halfway mark when there arrives a gag that involves Chan getting a face full of urine. This kingdom really should be forbidden. D

Originally posted Apr 16, 2008 Published in issue #988-989 Apr 25, 2008 Order article reprints

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