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93
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79
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76
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73
Kung Fu Panda
71
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69
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67
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
65
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
64
Wanted
62
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The
61
Stop Loss
61
Incredible Hulk, The
58
Mist, The
57
Forbidden Kingdom, The
57
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
55
Street Kings
55
Nim's Island
55
Baby Mama
54
You Don't Mess with the Zohan
54
Get Smart
53
Sex and the City: The Movie
49
Hancock
48
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
47
Strangers, The
44
Ruins, The
41
Drillbit Taylor
37
Made of Honor
37
Shutter
37
Speed Racer
36
College Road Trip
36
What Happens in Vegas...
35
Jumper
34
Happening, The
34
10,000 B.C.
33
Superhero Movie
31
Deception
24
Love Guru, The
22
Postal
xx
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
xx
Mamma Mia!
xx
Dark Knight, The
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80
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76
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47
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80
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59
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55
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62
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37
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72
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64
XXY
67
Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
75
Young@Heart
86
Up the Yangtze
86
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
84
My Winnipeg
84
Edge of Heaven, The
83
Chop Shop
83
Paranoid Park
83
Alexandra
83
U2 3D
83
Chris & Don. A Love Story
82
Last Mistress, The
81
Tell No One
80
Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
80
Band's Visit, The
79
Reprise
79
Encounters at the End of the World
79
Visitor, The
78
Counterfeiters, The
76
Beauty in Trouble
76
Shotgun Stories
75
Young@Heart
75
Mongol
74
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
73
Duchess of Langeais, The
72
Woman on the Beach
72
Priceless
72
Tuya's Marriage
72
Surfwise
71
To the Limit
71
My Brother Is an Only Child
71
Roman de gare
70
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70
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70
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70
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69
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69
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69
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68
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68
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68
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67
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66
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66
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64
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64
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64
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64
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64
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63
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63
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63
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62
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62
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62
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62
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61
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61
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60
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60
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60
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59
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57
Flawless
56
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56
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56
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55
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55
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55
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55
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55
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54
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53
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52
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52
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52
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52
My Blueberry Nights
51
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51
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51
Savage Grace
49
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47
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45
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38
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37
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34
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33
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xx
Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Forbidden Kingdom, The
Lionsgate
FILM:
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for sequences of martial arts action and some violence
Starring
Jet Li,
Jackie Chan,
Michael Angarano,
Collin Chou,
Crystal Liu Yi Fei,
and
Li Bing Bing
While hunting down bootleg kung fu DVDs in a Chinatown pawnshop, Jason Tripitikas makes an extraordinary discovery that sends him hurtling back in time to ancient China. There, Jason is charged with a monumental task: He must free the fabled warrior the Monkey King, who has been imprisoned by the powerful Jade Warlord. Jason is joined in his quest by wise kung fu master Lu and a band of misfit warriors including Silent Monk. But only by learning the true precepts of kung fu can Jason hope to succeed--and find a way to get back home. (Lionsgate)
| GENRE(S): |
Action
|
Adventure
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
John Fusco
Ch'eng-En Wu
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Rob Minkoff
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
Theatrical: April 18, 2008
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
113 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
83
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
Kung fu purists may scoff, but escapists with a sense of humor should romp through The Forbidden Kingdom.

75
ReelViews
James 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."

75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sean Axmaker
The result is joyous and exhilarating.

75
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
To see the two of them on screen together, even past their primes, is a delight.

75
Miami Herald
Rene 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."

70
The New York Times
A.O. Scott
A faithful and disarmingly earnest attempt to honor some venerable and popular Chinese cinematic traditions.

70
New York Magazine
David Edelstein
Once past the clunky prologue, the film is great fun, with a good balance between computer effects and athleticism.

70
Salon.com
Stephanie 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.

67
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
The plot is negligible, but that's fine since it's really only a way to get from one set-piece to another.

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.

63
New York Post
Kyle Smith
It's good-natured myth-making cut into kid-size pieces.

63
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven 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.

63
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
Unashamed about giving its audience a good time, and the high spirits go a long way toward counterbalancing the cliches.

60
New York Daily News
Elizabeth 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.

60
Film Threat
Matthew 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.

60
Village Voice
Nick 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.

58
Portland Oregonian
M. 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.

50
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth 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.

50
San Francisco Chronicle
Peter 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.

50
Variety
Dennis Harvey
On its own terms, it's a handsome albeit unexceptional juvenile adventure shot on some magnificent Chinese locations.

50
The Hollywood Reporter
Stephen Farber
Will please its core audience but won't enthrall anyone over the age of 16. (Even that might be stretching the point.)

50
Chicago Tribune
Tasha 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.

50
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Scott 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.

50
Chicago Reader
Joshua 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.

40
Washington Post
Desson 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.

25
Entertainment Weekly
Adam Markovitz
This kingdom really should be forbidden.


The average user rating for this movie is 7.8 (out of 10) based on 42 User Votes
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