The Forbidden Kingdom
Lionsgate | Release Date: April 18, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
57
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
13
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Kung fu purists may scoff, but escapists with a sense of humor should romp through The Forbidden Kingdom. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
For martial arts action fans, The Forbidden Kingdom may be the best fantasy story since the genre was opened to a wider audience by "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
The result is joyous and exhilarating. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
To see the two of them on screen together, even past their primes, is a delight. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
The Forbidden Kingdom may be nothing but disposable fun, but it is a great, heaping, overflowing helping of fun. If you're 10, it may also seem like "Citizen Kane." Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Once past the clunky prologue, the film is great fun, with a good balance between computer effects and athleticism. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
A faithful and disarmingly earnest attempt to honor some venerable and popular Chinese cinematic traditions. Read full review
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Lavish in its approach -- it attempts some rather extravagant battle scenes -- yet it still seems modest in its goals: It's more interested in being a Saturday-afternoon entertainment than a blockbuster. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
The plot is negligible, but that's fine since it's really only a way to get from one set-piece to another. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
The special effects are effective, though not terribly special. While director Minkoff pays homage to past masters of the genre, the past masters were better at this game than he. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Although veteran choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping ( Kill Bill, The Matrix) handles the wire action, the camera work is merely okay and the sequences are on the familiar side. Still, it's fun to see Chan resurrect his loopy, staggering "drunken master" fighting style. Read full review
63
New York PostKyle Smith
It's good-natured myth-making cut into kid-size pieces. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Unashamed about giving its audience a good time, and the high spirits go a long way toward counterbalancing the cliches. Read full review
60
Village VoiceNick Pinkerton
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. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
The wisecracking Chan and the stoic Li play off their on-screen images with good humor, and if they don't have the agility they once did, it's still a joy to watch them make the most of Yuen Woo-ping's impressive choreography. Read full review
60
Film ThreatMatthew Sorrento
A dance of combat and humor saves a contrivance from drowning. Or, rather, Chan and Li elevate it enough to make it into a good time. Read full review
60
EmpireHelen O'Hara
The missing link between '00s wushu, '80s kids' fantasy and '70s chop-socky, this manages to be thoroughly entertaining - and the face-off between Chan and Li is worth the entrance price alone. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
Minkoff lets the fight scenes go on for a while, which is nice, and all the best bits are in the middle, when Jackie and Jet spend a lot of time playing off each other. Read full review
50
VarietyDennis Harvey
On its own terms, it's a handsome albeit unexceptional juvenile adventure shot on some magnificent Chinese locations. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterStephen Farber
Will please its core audience but won't enthrall anyone over the age of 16. (Even that might be stretching the point.) Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneTasha Robinson
It's perhaps best suited for genre vets who can be satisfied with spot-the-reference games and Chan and Li's chemistry, or for undiscriminating kids who'll enjoy the "Karate Kid" vibe. But it's less a culmination of Li and Chan's careers than a passable footnote to better things. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
At best, The Forbidden Kingdom counts as an amiable time-waster for kids, but much more should be expected from the momentous union of two kung-fu titans. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJoshua Katzman
Pairing Jackie Chan and Jet Li would seem like a slam dunk, but this big-budget martial arts drama, which borrows liberally from "The Wizard of Oz," is something of a disappointment. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
There's nothing really wrong with all this in theory, but the overall doofiness of the execution is finally too much to overcome. The filmmakers come off like their protagonist, wide-eyed tourists in an exotic realm. If you've been looking for a martial arts film to take granny and the kids to, this might be the one, but a Jackie Chan-Jet Li collaboration deserves better than that. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
Feels a bit too much like six hours of movie packed into 113 minutes - imagine if New Line had made Peter Jackson cram the entirety of "Lord of the Rings" into one film. Read full review
40
Washington PostDesson Thomson
A movie that jumps between two worlds can be a powerful experience, as any fan of "The Wizard of Oz," "Back to the Future" or "The Terminator" can tell you. But this phoned-in epic is simply a celebration of the inauthentic. Read full review
25
Entertainment WeeklyAdam Markovitz
This kingdom really should be forbidden. Read full review
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