Not since the legendary battle between Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris in a Coliseum cage match in Return of the Dragon have I anticipated a match between two fighting equals.  They are both accomplished Hong Kong action superstars.  They both are skilled in the real art of kung fu.  One was a graduate from the prestigious China Drama Academy (called a Chinese opera school) where most of today's most famous martial arts stuntmen and fight choreographers come from.  The other was a child prodigy from the Beijing Wushu Academy where its national team can seriously kick some major kung fu ass.

Jackie Chan and Jet Li appear together for the first time in the movie, The Forbidden Kingdom.  For the first time, we get to see who is better at kung fu.  The result: a fight worth repeat viewings on YouTube.

Jason Tripitikas (Michael Angarano, Black Irish) is a teenager obsessed with all things kung fu.  When he comes across a golden staff, he travels back in time to ancient China where he battles the Jade Warlord (Collin Chou, Serapth in The Matrix) and a white-haired Jessica Alba looking assassin (Bingbing Li).  He is assisted by Lu Yan the Drunk (Chan), the Silent Monk (Li), and the beautiful Golden Sparrow (Yifei Liu).  Together they go on a mission to free the Monkey King (also played by Li).

Most of the humor lies in the sudden English that is spoken among the Chinese and how hip they speak.  The fight scenes are equally shared back and forth between Chan and Li without the other taking away each other's screen time.  Chou plays an impressive big bad and we can be sure we will see more of him in upcoming Hollywood movies as he can speak English fluently.  But the surprise belongs to Michael Angarano who effectively remains memorable in a movie where the whole box office money goes to see Chan vs. Li.  He could have easily been forgotten but proves to be a rising star and it's refreshing to see new talent besides Shia LeBeouf or Zac Efron.  Both Bingbing Li and Yifei Liu bring the international charm that has continually graced the American screen like Chinese actresses, Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh. 

The Forbidden Kingdom is an American cliff notes version of the popular Chinese classical literature, Journey to the West, focusing on the adventures of the Monkey King.  Similar to The Wizard of Oz, it is a fantastic adventure for the whole family.  Though the kung fu action sequences may seem unbelievable, the stunning creativity of the fight scenes allow for pure enjoyment thanks to Yuen Woo-Ping (also attended the same opera school as Chan).  If you don't know the name, then you probably have seen his other works in The Matrix trilogy, Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill double feature, and the Oscar-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

The only thing I missed seeing are the outtakes during the closing credits.  It would have been neat to see possible action bloopers between Chan and Li.

By Victor Ho