BOTTOM LINE: This is a very well executed and visually impressive kung-fu fantasy, delivering the great martial arts team-up of Jackie Chan and Jet Li on screen for the first time. It’s only let down by a weak opening and conclusion that are unfortunately necessary to get its “Never Ending Story” style premise off the ground.

THE GOOD: I did not have any expectations walking in to this film and I found myself pleasantly surprised. This Asian kung fu fantasy that on a visual level looks more expensive than what it is, entertains throughout with a solid story, entertaining characters, spectacular visuals and of course, some brilliantly choreographed kung fu, made all the more better by the fact that we get to see both Jackie Chan and Jet Li fight together for the first time in a film. There’s a simple story at its heart; Jason (Michael Angarano) stumbles in to the Forbidden Kingdom after procuring a golden staff from a pawn shop in Chinatown which sends him in to a fantastical world of monkey kings, immortals and kung fu fighters. He is rescued by drunk immortal Lu Yan (Jackie Chan) after a fight with the soldiers of the Jade Warlord (Collin Chou). Lu Yan tells Jason that the Golden Staff he carries belongs to the Monkey King (Jet Li), who did battle with the Jade Warlord but was tricked in to giving up his staff and was imprisoned forever in a statue. If the staff is returned to the statue, the Monkey King will be freed. Along with orphaned warrior Golden Sparrow (Liu Yi Fen) and Silent Monk (also played by Jet Li), Jason and Lu Yan trek across the Forbidden Kingdom to return the staff to the statue of the Monkey King. This story provides some big set-piece kung fu sequences, but perhaps the best one involves the first fight between Chan and Li which is as entertaining as you would expect as you see these two martial arts masters traverse elegantly across the screen in their myriad of fight moves. Aside from the kung fu, this film boasts some spectacular visuals that have a fantastical, comic-book quality to them, not just with the landscapes but with the characters as well with examples being the Monkey King and the white haired witch Ni Chang (Li Bingbing) who are brilliantly rendered on screen, both by the actors portraying them and in the make-up and wardrobe departments. The characters are well rounded. The funniest character belongs to Jackie Chan; his drunken immortal is both lethal and highly amusing all at the same time. Jet Li is also great in his dual role, and surprisingly provides a mischievous quality to the Monkey King. Liu Yi Fen offers a strong female presence in her role as Golden Sparrow, as does Ni Chang as the white witch. Collin Chou is great as the Jade Warlord. Even Jason, who initially appears to be an annoying nerd comes across very well. Overall, this is a solidly entertaining film that will take you away from reality for a couple of hours and enthral you with some impressive kung fu and fantasy.

THE BAD: All the scenes that do not take place in the fantasy world are weak. There’s Jason’s set up where we see him on a Bastian-style Never Ending Story journey where he goes to a pawn shop in Chinatown to rent old kung fu movies and stumbles across the Monkey King’s Golden Staff which then magically transports him in to the fantasy. Although it’s more modern and hard-edged than “The Never Ending Story”, these scenes are very similar and cringe-worthy, particularly with the bullies that pick on Jason and the eventual resolution of this story at the end of the film with Jason getting his own back by using his newly acquired kung fu skills on them. There are some nice touches; characters from the fantasy world have corresponding characters in Jason’s world, but ultimately these scenes let the film down because of their adolescent nerdiness. Also, the motivation of the main bully who shoots the old Chinese owner of the pawn shop seems way over the top for a high school bad boy, although it does provide a nice touch when the old Chinese owner, who is also played by Jackie Chan, says he’s not surprised he survived because he’s immortal.