Point-by-Point: Forbidden Kingdom 6/10

A teenager finds himself transported to a mystic land (which looks a lot like China) where he must restore the power of the Monkey King, the only person who can stop the Jade Warlord. Will he learn the ways of the warrior on his quest, or just be more careful about where he buys his drugs?

The Good: If you have Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Woo Ping working on your movie, you will have fun fight sequences.
The Bad: The whole frame story seemed a bit "after school special." Say no to peer pressure children. Unless those peers are armed felons.
The Ugly: I really didn't need to see Jet Li pee in Jackie Chan's face. Yes, it happened.

Points Pondered

• I'm pretty sure this movie actually starred Shia LaBeouf, but the credits say it was Michael Angarano. I'm theorizing that they're the same person, while Ann theorizes I'm an idiot. [AMF: "idiot" is perhaps the wrong word. "Conspiracy theorist" is more apt. Some people see government plots, some people see dead people, Paul just sees Shia. Everywhere.]


• Lots of pretty girls and no romance equals a filmmaker who is willing to throw away the crutch of teenage love/lust and focus on actual story. Either that or he is cursed with an inability to love and refuses to write about it for fear that his secret will be apparent.


• It's great to see Jackie Chan doing drunken fist. He's just a superb comedic actor.


• If you had to learn how to kick ass in the shortest amount of time, hanging with Jackie Chan and Jet Li would probably be in the top ten of possible plans.