''The Forbidden Kingdom'' ( zh, c=功夫之王: ''Gong Fu Zhi Wang'' (

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

) or ''Gung Fu Ji Wong'' (

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

) and translated ''King of Kung Fu'' ( English);

Working title A working title is a preliminary name for a product or project. The usage is especially common in film and TV, gaming, music and publishing. It is often styled in trade publications as (wt) and is synonymous with production title and tentative ...

: ''The J & J Project'') is a 2008 Chinese-American

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

wuxia ( , literally "martial arts and chivalry") is a genre of Chinese literature, Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Although is traditionally a form of historical fantasy literature, its popularity ha ...

film written by

John Fusco John Fusco is an American screenwriter, producer, and television series creator born in Prospect, Connecticut. His screenplays include '' Crossroads'', '' Young Guns'', ''Young Guns II'', ''Thunderheart'', '' Hidalgo'', '' Spirit: Stallion of t ...

and directed by

Rob Minkoff Robert Ralph Minkoff (born August 11, 1962) is an American director, animator, and producer. He is best known for co-directing ''The Lion King'' (along with Roger Allers), and live-action films including ''Stuart Little (film), Stuart Little'' (1 ...

, starring

Jackie Chan Fang Shilong (born Chan Kong-sang; 7 April 1954), known professionally as Jackie Chan,; is a Hong Kong actor and filmmaker, known for his slapstick, acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, and innovative stunts, which he typically perf ...

Jet Li Li Lianjie (courtesy name Yangzhong; born 26 April 1963), better known by his stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese-born Singaporean Martial arts, martial artist and actor. With a Jet Li filmography, film career spanning more than forty years, Li is re ...

Michael Angarano Michael Anthony Angarano (born December 3, 1987) is an American actor. He became known for his roles in the film ''Music of the Heart'' (1999) and the television series '' Cover Me'' (2000–2001), as well as for playing a recurring role as Elli ...

Liu Yifei Liu Yifei (; born August 25, 1987) is a Chinese-born American actress. She has appeared multiple times on ''Forbes'' China Celebrity 100 list and was named one of the New Four Dan actresses of China by Tencent Entertainment in 2009. She is k ...

Collin Chou Collin Chou (born 11 August 1967), sometimes credited as Ngai Sing, is a Taiwanese actor and martial artist. Personal life Chou attended Pierce Community College in Los Angeles, United States. In addition to his native Mandarin Chinese, Mand ...

, and

Li Bingbing Li Bingbing ( zh, c=李冰冰, p=Lǐ Bīngbīng; born February 27, 1973) is a Chinese actress. She gained critical acclaim for her role in '' Seventeen Years'' (1999) and received widespread success with films such as '' A World Without Thieve ...

. Loosely based on the 16th-century Chinese novel ''

Journey to the West ''Journey to the West'' () is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en. It is regarded as one of the Classic Chinese Novels, great Chinese novels, and has been described as arguably the ...

'', the plot revolves around Jason Tripitikas (Angarano), a modern-day American teenager who is transported back to ancient China after discovering

Sun Wukong Sun Wukong (, Mandarin pronunciation: ), also known as the Monkey King, is a literary and religious figure best known as one of the main characters in the 16th-century Chinese novel ''Journey to the West''. In the novel, Sun Wukong is a monk ...

Ruyi Jingu Bang Ruyi Jingu Bang (), or simply Ruyi Bang or Jingu Bang, is the poetic name of a magical staff wielded by the immortal monkey Sun Wukong in the 16th-century classic Chinese novel ''Journey to the West''. Anthony Yu translated the name simply a ...

. He accompanies

Lu Yan Lu Yan ( zh, 路巖; 829–874), courtesy name Luzhan (魯瞻), was an official of the Tang dynasty of China, serving as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Yizong. Background and early career Lu Yan was born in 829, during the reign of ...

/ Old Hop (Chan) and

/ Silent Monk (Li) on their quest to return the staff to its rightful owner while trying to avoid the minions of the evil

Jade Emperor In the Chinese mythology, myths and Chinese folk religion, folk religion of Chinese culture, the Jade Emperor or Yudi is one of the representations of the Primordial Divinity (Tai Di), primordial god. In Taoist theology, he is the assistant of ...

(Chou). The action sequences were choreographed by

Yuen Woo-ping Yuen Woo-ping (; alias: Yuen Wo-ping; born 1945) is a Hong Kong people, Hong Kong Stage combat, martial arts choreographer and film director who worked in Hong Kong action cinema and later Hollywood films. He is one of the inductees on the Avenue ...

. The film is regarded as the first co-production helmed by an American director to make a primarily English-language wuxia genre film set in ancient China for a global audience. Heavily promoted as the first film starring both Chan and Li, it was distributed in the United States through

Lionsgate Lions Gate, Lion Gate or similar terms may refer to: Gates *Lion Gate at Mycenae in Greece *Lion Gate, one of the entrances to the ancient Hittite city of Hattusa, now in Turkey *Lion Gate, one of the entrances to the gardens of Hampton Court Pala ...

and

The Weinstein Company The Weinstein Company, LLC (usually credited or abbreviated as TWC) was an American independent film production and distribution company, which was founded in New York City by Bob and Harvey Weinstein on March 10, 2005. TWC was one of the larg ...

, and through The Huayi Brothers Film & Taihe Investment Company in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. ''The Forbidden Kingdom'' grossed $128 million against a budget of $55 million.

Plot

South Boston South Boston (colloquially known as Southie) is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay (Boston Harbor), Dorchester Bay. It has under ...

martial arts film Martial arts films are a subgenre of action films that feature martial arts combat between characters. These combats are usually the films' primary appeal and entertainment value, and often are a method of storytelling and character expression a ...

fan Jason Tripitikas dreams of a battle between

and celestial soldiers in the clouds. He visits a

pawn shop A pawnbroker is an individual that offers secured loans to people, with items of personal property used as collateral. A pawnbrokering business is called a pawnshop, and while many items can be pawned, pawnshops typically accept jewelry, ...

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

to buy

DVDs and discovers a golden

. On his way home, Jason is harassed by some hooligans, whose leader Lupo attempts to use him to help them rob the shop's owner Hop, who is shot by Lupo. Hop tells Jason to deliver the staff to its rightful owner and Jason flees with it. He is cornered on the rooftop before being pulled off the roof by the staff. When Jason regains consciousness, he finds himself in an ancient Chinese village under attack by soldiers. They attempt to seize his staff, but he is saved by the inebriated traveling scholar

, a supposed "immortal", who remains alert and agile even when drunk. Lu tells him the story of the rivalry between

and

Erlang Shen Erlang Shen, or simply Erlang, is a god in Chinese folk religion and Daoism, associated with water (flood control), justice, warriorhood, hunting, and demon subdual. He is commonly depicted as a young man with a third, truth-seeing eye in the mi ...

, who tricked the Monkey King into setting aside his magical staff,

, and transformed him into a stone statue, but the Monkey King cast his staff far away before the transformation. Lu ends the tale with a prophecy about a "Seeker" who will find the staff and free the Monkey King. Just then, they are attacked by the Jade Warlord's men again, but manage to escape with the help of Golden Sparrow, a young woman whose family was murdered by the Jade Warlord. Meanwhile, the Jade Warlord, upon learning about the staff, sends the witch Ni-Chang to help him retrieve it in exchange for the elixir of immortality. Jason, Lu and Sparrow meet the Silent Monk who joins them in their quest to free the King. As the four travel to Five Elements Mountain, Lu and the Monk teach Jason

kung fu Chinese martial arts, commonly referred to with umbrella terms Kung fu (term), kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (sport), wushu (), are Styles of Chinese martial arts, multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater Ch ...

along the way. After crossing a desert, they encounter Ni Chang, who offers to return Jason home in exchange for the staff. When he refuses, a battle ensues and ends after Ni Chang shoots an arrow which mortally wounds Lu. Jason's team escapes and takes refuge in a monastery, where they learn that Lu is not an immortal as he claimed to be, and only the Jade Warlord's elixir can save his life. Jason goes to the Jade Warlord's palace alone to exchange the staff for the elixir. However, the Jade Warlord promised the elixir to Ni Chang already. As the Warlord can only give the elixir to one of them, Jason must duel Ni Chang for it. Sparrow, the Silent Monk, and the monks from the monastery arrive to join the battle. Silent Monk fights the Jade Warlord, and Sparrow fights Ni Chang. While she is distracted, Jason manages to grab the elixir and tosses it to Lu, who drinks it and recovers. Lu then fights Ni Chang on the balcony then kicks her off it. Ni Chang tries to strangle him with her hair to climb back up to the balcony; he cuts her hair, causing her to fall to her death. The Monk is mortally wounded by the Jade Warlord and passes the staff to Jason, who uses it to smash the King's statue. The Monkey King is freed and the Monk is revealed to be one of the Monkey King's clones. Sparrow is killed, and the Jade Warlord is eventually stabbed by Jason after being defeated by the Monkey King and falls into a

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a Natural satellite, moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a Fissure vent, fractu ...

pit to his death. The

, having returned from his meditation, praises Jason for fulfilling the prophecy and grants him one wish. Jason asks to be returned home. Jason finds himself back in the present. Then, he overpowers Lupo and drives the other hooligans away. Hop survives being shot and claims that he is immortal, indicating that he is actually Lu. After checking in on him, Jason meets a young woman who resembles Sparrow. Jason then continues honing his kung fu skills, while Lu narrates the King's search for truth.

Cast

/ Old Hop *

/ Silent Monk *

as Golden Sparrow / Chinatown Girl *

as Ni Chang *

as Jason Tripitikas * Morgan Benoit as Lupo *

* Wang Deshun as

Production

Development

While the character

came from

Wu Cheng'en Wu Cheng'en (, c. 1500–1582Shi Changyu (1999). "Introduction." in trans. W.J.F. Jenner, ''Journey to the West'', volume 1. Seventh Edition. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press. pp. 1–22. or 1505–1580), courtesy name Ruzhong (), was a Chines ...

's famous classical novel ''

'', in an interview with Screen Power magazine, actor

denied that the plotline would be related to the novel. The details of the plot were devised by screenwriter

along with actor

. Li explains, In a behind the scenes article he wrote for ''Kung Fu Magazine'', screenwriter John Fusco also stated he derived the surname for the Jason Tripitikas character from "the wandering monk,

Tripitaka There are several Buddhist canons, which refers to the various scriptural collections of Buddhist sacred scriptures or the various Buddhist scriptural canons.

, from ''Journey to the West''". The Golden Sparrow character was inspired by

Cheng Pei-pei Cheng Pei-pei (6 January 1946 – 17 July 2024) was a Hong Kong-American actress who was considered cinema's first female action hero. Popularly known as "Queen of Swords" and "Queen of Martial Arts Films", Cheng starred in numerous successful ...

's character Golden Swallow from the

Shaw Brothers Shaw Brothers (HK) Limited () was the largest film production company in Hong Kong, operating from 1925 to 2011. In 1925, three Shaw brothers— Runje, Runme, and Runde—founded Tianyi Film Company (also called "Unique") in Shangh ...

film ''

Come Drink with Me ''Come Drink with Me'' ( zh, t=大醉俠, l=Great Drunken Hero, p=Dà Zuì Xiá) is a 1966 Cinema of Hong Kong, Hong Kong ''wuxia'' film produced by Shaw Brothers Studio and directed by King Hu. Set during the Ming dynasty, it stars Cheng Pei- ...

''. Before trying to kill the Jade Warlord, Golden Sparrow refers to the 1966 film, telling him to "Come drink with" her. Lu Yan is a famous Taoist Saint, better known as

Lü Dongbin Lü Dongbin is a legendary Chinese scholar and poet who lived during the Tang dynasty whose lifetime supposedly spanned two hundred and twenty years. Elevated to the status of an immortal in the Chinese cultural sphere by Daoists, he is one of ...

, one of the

Eight Immortals The Eight Immortals () are a group of legendary ''Xian (Taoism), xian (immortals)'' in Chinese mythology. Each immortal's power can be transferred to a vessel () that can bestow life or destroy evil. Together, these eight vessels are called the ...

referenced in

Drunken Master ''Drunken Master'' (), also known as ''Drunken Master The Beginning'', is a 1978 Hong Kong martial arts comedy film directed by Yuen Woo-ping and produced and co-written by Ng See-yuen. The film features much of the same crew as Yuen's '' ...

films. The White Haired Demoness Ni Chang is the anti-heroine of the iconic pulp novel

Baifa Monü Zhuan ''Baifa Monü Zhuan'' is a wuxia novel by Liang Yusheng first published as a serial between 5 August 1957 and 10 December 1958 in the Hong Kong newspaper ''Sin Wun Pao''. Considered the first part of the ''Tianshan'' series of novels by Liang Y ...

Liang Yusheng Chen Wentong (5 April 1924 – 22 January 2009), better known by his pen name Liang Yusheng, was a Chinese-born Australian novelist best known for being a pioneer of the "new school" of the wuxia genre in the 20th century. Along with Jin Yong ...

, adapted as the film ''

The Bride With White Hair ''The Bride with White Hair'' is a 1993 Hong Kong wuxia film directed by Ronny Yu, starring Brigitte Lin and Leslie Cheung. The film's main character, Lian Nichang, is loosely based on the protagonist of Liang Yusheng's novel ''Baifa Monü Zhu ...

''. The

is the ruler of the Heavens in Chinese myth.

Filming

Filming began in early 1 May 2007 in the area around the

Gobi Desert The Gobi Desert (, , ; ) is a large, cold desert and grassland region in North China and southern Mongolia. It is the sixth-largest desert in the world. The name of the desert comes from the Mongolian word ''gobi'', used to refer to all of th ...

in Mongolia. Before filming began, the entire cast did a costume fitting and a script read through, certain dialogues were altered to suit the different actors' English speaking abilities; this was due to the majority of the cast having English as their second language. Chan described the first day of shooting as "very relaxing" because the shots only required drama and walking, with no action. When the two martial arts veterans (Chan and Li) did film action scenes together for the first time, they both expressed how easy it was to work with one another. Chan explained: Filming finished on August 24, 2007, and the film went into post-production on September 29, 2007.

Soundtrack

Reception

Box office

''The Forbidden Kingdom'' grossed a total of $127,906,624 worldwide — $52,075,270 in the United States and $75,831,354 in other territories. In its opening weekend in the United States and Canada, the film grossed $21,401,121 in 3,151 theaters, ranking No. 1 at the box office opening weekend and averaging $6,792 per theater.

Critical response

The review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reports that 63% of 131 surveyed critics gave the film positive reviews; the average rating is 6/10. The consensus reads: "This hotly-anticipated pairing of martial arts legends Jackie Chan and Jet Li features dazzling fight scenes but is weighed down by too much filler."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

reports the film has an average score of 57 out of 100 based on 26 reviews, indicating mixed or average reviews. Perry Lam wrote in ''Muse'' magazine, "As a Hollywood blockbuster, ''The Forbidden Kingdom'' offers no apologies for its American-Centrism. In fact, it wears it with pride like a badge of honor". The film was nominated for Best International Film at the

Saturn Awards The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films bel ...

but lost to '' Let the Right One In''.

Home media

''The Forbidden Kingdom'' was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

9 September 2008. It sold about 1,199,593 units which translated to revenue of $22,921,609, bringing its worldwide total to $151,758,670. It is sold on single disc and two-disc special editions. The single disc edition has no extras but contains widescreen and full screen presentations of the film. The special edition includes a commentary by director Rob Minkoff, deleted scenes with commentary, featurettes (''The Kung Fu Dream Team'', ''Dangerous Beauty'', ''Discovering China'', ''Filming in Chinawood'', and ''Monkey King and the Eight Immortals''), a "Previsualization Featurette" with commentary by writer Fusco and director Minkoff, and a blooper reel. In addition to these extras, the Blu-ray release contains a

digital copy A digital copy is a commercially distributed computer file containing a media product such as a film or music album. The term contrasts this computer file with the physical copy (typically a DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, or Ultra HD Blu-ray disc) wit ...

References

External links

* * * *
Official Kung Fu Magazine "Behind the scenes" article by Gene Ching
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forbidden Kingdom 2008 films 2008 action films 2000s action adventure films 2000s fantasy action films 2000s fantasy adventure films American fantasy action films American multilingual films American martial arts films Chinese fantasy action films Chinese multilingual films Chinese martial arts films Religious fantasy films 2000s English-language films Films directed by Rob Minkoff Films produced by Casey Silver Films set in Boston Films set in China Kung fu films 2000s Mandarin-language films Martial arts fantasy films Relativity Media films 2000s films about time travel Films based on Journey to the West Wuxia films Chinese fantasy adventure films Lionsgate films American fantasy adventure films Films with screenplays by John Fusco 2008 martial arts films Films scored by David Buckley 2000s American films 2000s Chinese films 2008 multilingual films English-language action films English-language fantasy adventure films Cantonese-language American films Chinese-language American films Huayi Brothers films The Weinstein Company films