Jet as the Monkey King was the most relaxed and genuinely playful I've ever seen him.ĭue to Jason having to deal with humiliations and set-backs, he didn't come across like a white savior-too much. The fight between Jet and Jackie was entertaining and felt like two skilled friends fighting. The fights incorporated wire-fu and CGI given the characters' super kung fu powers which wasn't unexpected in a kingdom with magical beings. There were also some humorous fights using the young disciple. Yuen Woo Ping who has choreographed fights for both Jet and Jackie amongst a plethora of other films made the best use of two aging action stars. The cinematography and scenery were gorgeous. The movie follows a formula right to the end, even for the female warriors, much to my chagrin. Li Bing Bing plays a White Haired Witch looking to snag the staff so that she can obtain the immortal elixir from the Jade Warlord (Collin Chou in a delightfully campy performance). Before you can say "wax on, wax off", Jason is proficient enough to hold his own in a fight. Jason is completely inadequate in a fight so Lu and the monk begin to teach him kung fu like two tigers on a mountain. Along the way they pick up a monk (Jet Li-who played a lot of Shaolin monks early in his career) and head for the Five Elements Mountain to return the staff to the Monkey King. He meets up with drunken beggar Lu Yan (Chan again) and soon he, Lu, and Sparrow (Crystal Liu-her character named after Cheng Pei Pei's famous Come Drink with Me character who also appeared in other Shaw movies, the Golden Sparrow) are being chased by the Jade Warlord's thugs who want the staff, which it turns out belongs to the rock encased Monkey King. Soon Jason is transported back to China in ye olden times. One night during a robbery a wounded Old Hop gives him a staff and tells him he has to return it to its owner. He frequents Old Hop's (Jackie Chan) shop to buy bootlegged movies like early Shaw Brothers films. Jason Tripitikas (JTTW reference) is a teenager obsessed with old kung fu movies. ![]() ![]() There were shout outs to old kung fu movies which will be fun for fans, but a bland American in a fish out of water trope may be more taxing to deal with. The movie felt like a mixture of Journey to the West and The Wizard of Oz making for an uneven story and one that won't hold many surprises for anyone. Two tigers cannot live on the same mountain! Jackie Chan and Jet Li finally had the chance to team up in 2008's The Forbidden Kingdom.
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