Line #4 YMMV/TheForbiddenKingdom


1	* ClicheStorm:
2	** A young, bullied teenaged kid gets spirited off to fantasy world based on ancient China where he learns Kung-Fu from (a) wise mentor(s), rescues a princess, gets teleported back to his world and proceeds to kick the crap out of the bullies who used to torment him. Not exactly the most groundbreaking plot of the year here.
3	** A special mention should be given to the soundtrack. While it does it intentionally, it still scratches the whole list of cliche sound cues and music compositions for a not-so-serious wuxia production.
4	* CompleteMonster: [[BigBad The Jade Warlord]] is the [[EvilOverlord ruthless immortal general]] that rules over Five Elements Mountain and the Chinese kingdom. Once serving under its ancient ruler, the Jade Emperor, the Jade Warlord was angered when the party-crashing [[Literature/JourneyToTheWest Sun Wukong]] insulted him and attempted to defeat him in combat to prove his superiority. When that didn't work, the Warlord tricks Wukong into laying down his magical staff and turns him to stone rather than lose to him. The Jade Warlord spends the next 500 years invading each region, slaughtering innocent people and mortals in order to find the staff, and killing those who defy him, like Golden Sparrow's parents who he completely forgot about. When Jason Tripitikas comes to him demanding the elixir for the staff, the Warlord has him fight his henchman, the witch Ni-Chang, in a one-sided battle, mocking him for thinking he ever stood a chance. The Warlord then attempts to destroy the staff so Wukong will forever stay as stone and to [[AGodAmI prolong his tyrannical reign over the land]]. Portraying himself as a powerful god and king above mortals, the Jade Warlord in truth is a vain and petty psychopath.
5	* CriticalDissonance: On Metacritic, this film has a critic rating of 57 and an audience rating of ''72''.
6	* EnsembleDarkhorse: For the brief amount of time he has in the movie, a lot of people cite the parts with the Monkey King to be their favorite, especially when he makes a fool of the Jade Warlord.
7	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Any film with either Jackie Chan or Jet Li in it has a huge fandom in Asia. So put them both in a movie and....it might do just as well as either, despite having both. This only if the fandoms have a large amount of overlap.
8	* JustHereForGodzilla: If anybody tells you they saw this movie for a reason other than to see '''Creator/JackieChan''' vs. '''Creator/JetLi''', they're probably lying[[note]]Unless they are there for Li Bingbing and Liu Yifei duking it out at each other[[/note]]. That or they wanted to see it due to vibes similar to ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', which is a different breed of "Godzilla".
9	* MagnificentBastard: [[Literature/JourneyToTheWest Sun Wukong]], the Monkey King, is a playful immortal warrior who brought chaos and discord across ancient China. Crashing a party held by the other immortals on Five Elements Mountain, Wukong, after [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu refusing to bow before the Jade Warlord]], is challenged to a duel where he bests him, showing off his eccentric but masterful style of combat. When about to be petrified by the Jade Warlord's magic, Wukong casts his staff into the kingdom and with it a piece of his hair that becomes a [[SelfDuplication clone taking the form of a stoic monk]] tasked with ensuring the staff is returned to him. As the monk, Wukong deceives everyone around him into [[ObfuscatingStupidity thinking he is a silent or aloof monk]], helps instruct and train Jason Tripitikas to ensure he would free his original self and is even willing to sacrifice Yu Lan to complete his mission. Unable to afford losing him, Wukong rescues Jason when he goes after the Jade Warlord which in turn allows him to free his original self and defeat the tyrant. A powerful combatant and a master of deception and trickery, Wukong offers his thanks to Jason for freeing him and wishes him good luck on his journey.
10	* NightmareFuel: The death of the Jade Warlord. After flying into someone stabbing you with the one thing that can kill an immortal, he falls into his own lava pit to be slowly turned into a charred corpse. You see his eyes move until the camera moves away.
11	* RetroactiveRecognition: From the primary cast, Liu Yifei was "who?" when the film came out - she just had her big breakthrough in China, and was totally unknown outside of it.
12	* TheScrappy: Jason. Much like [[Film/TransformersFilmSeries Sam Witwicky of the live-action Transformers films]], fans saw Jason as a distraction from [[JustHereForGodzilla the true main attractions.]] Most of the time he's getting hurt with no clue what he's doing or what to do and The Monk and Lu Yan look at him with annoyance at times with him even getting TheReasonYouSuckSpeech from Jackie Chan during the first half of the movie. When he grows up and trains under them and start really learning what martial arts is about during his training, he's able to defeat the Mooks but knows he doesn't stand a chance against The Jade Emperor and his Dragon. He was inserted as "the staff carrier".
13	* SignatureScene: Most people know this movie as "that movie where Creator/JetLi and Creator/JackieChan fight."
14	* SoOkayItsAverage: Not a lot of people seem to hate Jason and thought the film was okay, although there are some to feel there could have been a balance between him and Jackie and Jet.
15	* SpecialEffectsFailure:
16	** A variety of the composition shots are just... [[UnintentionalUncannyValley off]]. This is particularly visible in horseback riding scenes, where all the fast movement greatly increases the issues with camera work and focus.
17	** When fleeing from Ni Chang in the cherry orchard, Lu Yin kicks the pipa towards Golden Sparrow. It's blatantly obvious it's a CGI object, especially since when the camera follows it, it refocuses on Sparrow already holding the physical object in her hands, creating a jarring transition between the artificial and real.
18	* {{Squick}}: Jackie Chan drinking from the remains of his bottle of wine? Fine, but not after an incredibly dusty fight which has probably put all sorts into it!
19	** Jet Li pisses on Jackie Chan's face. Yes, that is a ''real'' thing that happens in this movie. It's supposed to be PlayedForLaughs, but it's horrifyingly disgusting and probably would only make ''very'' small children laugh.
20	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: More than a few felt the film would have been miles better if it cut the 'bullied teenagers gets transported to another world and learns Kung-Fu' elements and focused purely on Jackie Chan and Jet Li having to learn to work together to save the land.
21	* {{Tearjerker}}: [[spoiler: Sparrow's death - after spending her life pursuing revange, she dies by the hand of Jade Warlord, right after failing to assassinate him. And even the Jade Emperor can't bring her back from the dead.]]

Context YMMV / TheForbiddenKingdom