Forbidden Kingdom

Cheesy storyline.

The Lingo
To some, having the characters in a period movie set in China speak English is a refreshing idea.
To me, it sucks. It's just plain weird.

I mean "Yi Shan Bu Neng Chang Er Hu" literally becomes "One mountain cannot have two tigers". And to have the Jade Emperor in Heaven speak English too was just bizzare to me. Jet Li didn't seem too comfortable speaking in English. It's just really strange to me lah hahaa.

But I do admit, there were some funny moments with the English dialogue.

And well, there are the commercial aspects....English-speaking cast, Hollywood, English audience, Good money...you get the drift.

The Costumes
I have to say I like Jet Li's appearance in the show. I liked the way his monk character looked. Uber cool. Surprisingly suave for his age..;p

Jackie was a little strange. I mean, his clothes were way way layered. Layered with so much cloth he really looks fatter than he really is.
There was so much details on his one single body alone. Alot of cloth, alot of bottle gourds, a tattered cloth bag, and god knows what else.
And they had to give him dreadlocks to add to the whole mess of details on him. He was fighting and the hair was flying all over...Chinese kungfu master with an afro twist. *rolls eyes*

Li Bing Bing was sibei chio!
Though there were certain times when the white wig prolly needed more grooming than what was given. Sometimes it seemed like as if the white synthetic fibres used for the wig were squashed by something else. It was all wiry and messy.
The times when the hair was just flat and sleek were the times when she looked the most gorgeous...Her eye make-up was wonderfully done.

Liu Yifei was pretty, sweet but abit dull in clothing. They could have given her more colour haha.

The Jade Warlord..I liked his costume!! Very intricate! haha..and his black eyeshadow was kinda cool...

The Casting
I have no qualms about all who were cast in their roles. Only two.

One, the ang moh male lead didn't look very right for his role. Somehow I can picture someone like Orlando Bloom in the role more than this guy haha. This guy looked too young, too raw and errr too nerdy??

Two, Jet Li as the Monkey King was damn funny lah..haha..kinda salah. He tried too hard to act cute too?
There's a Hong Kong actor who I thought would make a better Monkey King. But I can't remember his name...Dicky Cheung I think??

The Acting
Can't say much about the acting. Liu Yifei was wooden. Even when she was supposed to be emo she looked wooden.
Li Bing Bing was cool~! I liked the way she spoke in Chinese...wow, super sultry, I like!!

Ang Moh was um, so-so. Jackie was well his usual self, comical and talented just older and mroe haggard in this show. Jet Li was cool...

The Moves
What can I say? Put two masters together and you get sparks...!
The scene between Jet & Jackie was gooooddd...I actually think Jet has better posture & stance than Jackie. Even when he was fighting in "The Warlords" he looked good fighting. He has this cool stature when he fights...I like~!! Oozes "macho man" to me. Hahha..

Some of the other fight scenes were lame, some were good...The special effects at the end of the show was interesting..:) In fact, the fighting scenes of the movie were the only highlight of the whole show.


Oh well, overall, normal show...nothing I would rave madly about haha.
Told my Dad if he wants to watch it, he better just watch it for the fighting scenes, and nothing else.
A 2.5 out of 5 for me.