Movie Review: The Forbidden Kingdom

The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) 

Directed by Rob Minkoff 

Written by John Fusco 

Starring Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Michael Angarano

Release Date April 18th, 2008 

Published April 19th, 2008

The first teaming of Jackie Chan and Jet Li delivers one solid fight scene. In a monastery the two masters face each other down and neither can capture a full advantage. It's an alright scene, a good fight but with both Chan and Li playing good guys in The Forbidden Kingdom it is a brief fight and the better man is never close to decided.

In The Forbidden Kingdom Michael Angarano stars as  Jason, a Boston teenager with a love of kung fu movies. One day, when visiting his favorite Chinatown pawn shop, run by his friend, the kindly old Hop (Jackie Chan), he comes across a beautiful golden staff. Hop tells Jason that the staff must be returned to it's rightful owner and keeps Jason away from it.

Later, when Jason is attacked by local bullies they take him back to Hop's shop where they plan on his help robbing the old shop keep. In the ensuing chaos, Jason is given the staff by Hop and told to take it to it's rightful owner. Soon, Jason is unconscious and when he awakens his somewhere in China and somewhere in the past.

Taken in by martial arts master Lu Yang (Jackie Chan, again), Jason explains his extraordinary journey and Lu Yang tells Jason the story of the staff. It belonged to the Monkey King who was an immortal master, beloved by the gods but envied by the Jade Emporer (Colin Chou). Seeing the Monkey King as a threat to his power he tricks him and encases him in Jade, not before the Monkey King delivered his staff into the future.

Jason and Lu Yang must return the staff to the five elements mountain where the statue of the Monkey King resides and release him if Jason is to be returned home. Along the way they are joined by Golden Sparrow who is seeking revenge on the Jade Emporer and the Silent Monk (Jet Li) whose connection to the Monkey King is will be recognizable to the most observant viewers.

The Forbidden Kingdom succeeds when keeping things light and high off the ground. When Jackie Chan, Jet Li and the rest are flying around as if gravity were merely a choice, Forbidden Kingdom is alot of fun. However, when grounded and spouting about Monkey King's, the gods, the elements and what not, it grows tired quickly.

Director Rob Minkoff (Haunted Mansion) has a good eye for the kung fu and high wire acts but a tin ear for character and dialogue. The thudding plot doesn't too often get in the way of Chan and Li flying with the greatest of ease, but it does get in the way enough for the plot to trip along the way. Things are not helped by young Michael Angarano who looks like Ralph Macchio minus the appealing personality.

The Forbidden Kingdom doesn't exactly hit a home run for the first teaming of Jackie Chan and Jet Li. However, with these two kung fu masters getting up there in age we really cannot expect much more. We get one good face off and a number of good fights where they are on the same side. Would I liked to have seen them head to head a little more? Sure, who wouldn't but that is a different movie.

The Forbidden Kingdom is a family movie with some kung fu not a kung fu movie. Judging the intent, it's not a bad family movie. A little clunky and disposable. But not bad.

Movie Review The Lion King

The Lion King (1994)

Directed by Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff

Written by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, Linda Woolverton 

Starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Matthew Broderick, James Earl Jones, Jeremy Irons 

Release Date June 15th 1994

Published August 11th, 2003 

It is a quirk of timing that the same week our poll question asked whether traditional animation was dead, the animated classic The Lion King would open in the IMAX theater in my hometown of Davenport Iowa.

I am of the belief that traditional hand drawn animation is finished as far as its box office appeal. As an artform, however, it is as strong as ever. While my evidence for that is nearly 10 years old, it's not as if it's gotten worse since The Lion King debuted in the summer of 1994. Traditional animation was merely surpassed in both quality and entertainment value by computer animation that allows for more visual flourish, picture clarity and surprise.

It is an interesting question to ask, just how appealing would The Lion King be if it had competed against the likes of Shrek, Toy Story or Finding Nemo? Would it have become the highest grossing animated feature of all time? (A title that now belongs to Finding Nemo) Would opening after the computer animated films I named previously diminish Lion King's legacy as an animated classic?

That question can never be answered, and regardless of whether The Lion King is the all time animated box office champion, it's legacy is in place. The reformatting of the film for the IMAX screen is a reassurance of Lion King's classic status.

In the wilds of Africa, the king of the jungle is a Lion named Mufasa (the resonant voice of James Earl Jones) who has had a son. The heir to Mufasa's throne is Simba (voiced by Jonathan Taylor Thomas), a playful adventurous kid eager to learn the family business. Standing in his way is his evil uncle Scar (Jeremy Irons) and his army of hyenas. The only way Scar can become the king is if both Mufasa and Simba are dead, so using his hyena army he orchestrates a stampede that forces Mufasa to trade his own life for Simba's. Scar then convinces Simba that it was his fault that his father died, leading Simba to flee the kingdom and allow Scar to become king.

Simba wanders off into the wild where he meets a strange tiny little animal, a meerkat named Timon and his buddy, a warthog named Pumba. Together Timon and Pumba help Simba grow into a man and soon Simba, with some inspiration by a lioness named Nala (Moira Kelly), is ready to reclaim his father’s throne.

The film’s story is about death, family, and facing your fears. It's about growing up and realizing who you are. All wonderful elements that are never overplayed. One of the marks of a good animated film or any film aimed at a younger audience is its ability to deliver a message without sacrificing entertainment value.

The animation in The Lion King was the height of Disney's animation renaissance of the late 80's- early 90's. Blown up to the IMAX six-story screen, it becomes even more impressive. The visuals in The Lion King are as impressive as anything made specifically for the IMAX. Though there is an odd shadow that pops up occasionally, it doesn't detract from the beauty of this animated classic.

When you combine the film’s visuals blown up to six stories with it's memorable soundtrack blasted through the mind-blowing IMAX sound system and you get a true masterpiece. Indeed traditional theater sound is very impressive, but it can't compare with the IMAX sound. The Lion King’s African drum score and it's numerous catchy pop tunes are absolutely mind-blowing in IMAX.

Whether traditional animation has a future is debatable but whether The Lion King on IMAX is a masterpiece is unquestionable. 

Movie Review The Haunted Mansion

The Haunted Mansion (2003) 

Directed by Rob Minkoff 

Written by David Berenbaum 

Starring Eddie Murphy, Terence Stamp, Wallace Shawn, Jennifer Tilly 

Release Date November 26th, 2003 

Published November 25th, 2003 

It may be time to finally put our memories of Eddie Murphy 'comic genius' away for good. It seems we will never see Murphy's talent ever again. With every mediocre family movie in which he picks up an eight figure paycheck, the Eddie Murphy of our memory dies a little. Eddie can't go and make an edgy, raunchy, action comedy anymore because it might cost him his next family movie paycheck. With his latest mediocre family movie, The Haunted Mansion, Murphy pounds yet another nail into the coffin of his former comic persona.

In The Haunted Mansion, which is based on the Disney theme park ride, Murphy is real estate maven Jim Evers of Evers and Evers Real Estate. The family's cringe-inducing catchphrase is “Evers and Evers making your family happy for Evers and Evers.” Yikes. In an all too familiar plot, Jim works way too much, and his wife Sara (Marsha Tomason) is upset that he doesn't spend enough time with the kids, daughter Megan (Aree Davis) and son Michael (Marc John Jeffries).

To that end, Jim proposes a family trip to the lake with no work at all for the entire weekend. No work until a new client comes calling with a huge property to sell. It's a gothic 1800s mansion called Gracie Manor and if the Evers want the listing they have to come immediately. In what is supposed to be a quick detour from their trip, the family stops at Gracie Manor to meet the owner and wind up spending the night with ghosts, zombies, and various other horror movie staples.

The ghosts in the Haunted Mansion are Master Gracie (Nathaniel Parker) and his staff, headed up by Ramsley (Terrence Stamp) the butler and his assistants played by Wallace Shawn and Dina Spybey. Jennifer Tilly also shows up as a gypsy in magic ball. The ghosts of Gracie Manor can only escape if their curse is lifted and the vagaries of the curse involve a woman who looks exactly like Sara Evers. When Sara is captured by the ghosts, it's up to Jim to save her and find some other way to lift the curse.

Eddie Murphy, as he does even in his worst films, shows flashes of the kind of comedy we know he's capable of. Murphy remains charismatic and occasionally that comic spark comes back. But sadly, for the most part, Eddie Murphy in The Haunter Mansion is in pick up a check mode. Murphy's Jim Evers is a bumbling scaredy cat channeling Abbott & Costello meet Frankenstein, until it's time for him to save the day. That might not sound bad but Murphy's strength is not being Abbott or Costello and his idea of broad physical comedy is forced and unpleasant. 

Poor Terrence Stamp looks, in every scene, as if he can barely keep from rolling his eyes. Stamp's boredom with this lame material is evident in his every gesture, facial expression and line of dialogue. Like Murphy, he's not here to make The Haunted Mansion good, he's here to get his paycheck and go do something else. This is a feeling that permeates the entirety of The Haunted Mansion, a complete disinterest in actually making a good movie. 

Director Rob Minkoff is one of those studio hacks that Disney keeps on the payroll just for movies like this: Mediocre, inoffensive family comedies that need merely to transfer script to screen. Minkoff shows little directorial flair in The Haunted Mansion. It's likely he could spend his entire career turning out mediocre hits like this one or another Stuart Little movie. The Haunted Mansion is not an offensively bad movie. Merely a mediocre movie. Of course I've often wondered just which is worse, mediocre or just plain bad.