Details
Release Date: 4/18/2008
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 113min
Genre: Action/Adventure
Distributor: Lionsgate
Director: Rob Minkoff
Cast: Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Michael Angarano, Collin Chou, Yifei Liu and Bingbing Li
Producer: Ryan Kavanaugh and Casey Silver
Writer: Ch'eng-En Wu and John Fusco
Cast: Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Michael Angarano, Collin Chou, Yifei Liu and Bingbing Li
Producer: Ryan Kavanaugh and Casey Silver
Writer: Ch'eng-En Wu and John Fusco
The Forbidden Kingdom
The plot is pure choose-your-own-adventure: A bullied wuxia fanboy from South Boston (Michael Angarano) is teleported back into a LARP fantasia of feudal China, where he’s singled out as the long-anticipated “Chosen One” prophesied to topple the despotic warlord. Our nominal hero then recedes behind the two Mr. Miyagis who adopt him: a Lisa Bonet–bewigged Jackie Chan and warrior-monk Jet Li (English line readings: 75 percent intelligible). This is the first collaboration between kung fu’s Astaire and Kelly, and, as that, it disappoints. Like so much here, the fight arrangements by choreographer Yuen Woo-ping aren’t so much bad as undistinguished: The camera placement is off, the tempo unvaried, and Chan’s movements are obscured by his piled-on robes. The cinematography lacks storybook indelibility; Collin Chou’s Jade Emperor is a stock archvillain (though Li Bingbing’s bullwhip-toting “White Haired Demoness,” announced with apocalyptic reverb, is lovely) . . . and then there’s the scene where Li actually pisses in Chan’s face—a degradation familiar to viewers incensed by the demographic-outreach casting of white-dude Angarano. Taken as a whole, though, it’s an amiable lost-and-found of epic-adventure tropes. As I still illogically treasure Willow, many a 10-year-old who sees Forbidden Kingdom will remember it fondly in spite of its flaws. (Nick Pinkerton)Playing Today
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(10:30 AM), 1:40 PM, 4:35 PM, 7:55 PM, 10:35 PMAlderwood 16
18733 33rd Ave. W.Lynnwood, WA 98037
800-326-3264 806
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(11:40 AM), (2:45 PM), 5:20 PM, 8:00 PM, 10:30 PMCrossroads
1200 156th Ave. N.E.Bellevue, WA 98007
800-326-3264 x401
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(11:10 AM), 1:45 PM, 4:25 PM, 7:20 PM, 9:50 PMFactoria
3505 Factoria Blvd. S.E.Bellevue, WA 98006
425-641-9206 x803
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(11:40 AM), 2:15 PM, 5:05 PM, 7:50 PM, 10:20 PMLincoln Square
700 Bellevue Way N.E.Bellevue, WA 98004
425-454-7400
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DLP-Digital Projection (12:30 PM), (3:20 PM), 6:20 PM, 9:00 PMMeridian
1501 Seventh Ave.Seattle, WA 98101
223-9600 x808
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(11:40 AM), 2:25 PM, 4:55 PM, 7:35 PM, 10:20 PMWoodinville
17640 Garden WayWoodinville, WA 98072
425-398-1400 8x12
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