The Forbidden Kingdom (Chinese: 功夫之王) is a 2008 Hollywood martial arts-adventure film from Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company directed by Rob Minkoff. It is the first film to star together two of the best-known names in the martial arts film genre, Jackie Chan and Jet Li. The action sequences were choreographed by Yuen Woo-ping.

The movie is distributed in the United States through Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company, and through The Huayi Brothers Film & Taihe Investment Company in the People's Republic of China.

East meets West and kung-fu legends collide as Jackie Chan and Jet Li square off in the fists-a-flying, family-friendly FORBIDDEN KINGDOM. Based on the classical Chinese novel JOURNEY TO THE WEST, the film begins in modern-day Boston. The film opens during a battle between Sun Wukong, the Monkey King (Jet Li), and heavenly soldiers amongst the clouds. It is then revealed the sequence was a dream when a young teenager, Jason Tripitakas (Michael Angarano), awakens in his room plastered with vintage kung fu movie posters. After getting dressed, he makes his way to a pawn shop in Boston's China town to buy some new Kung fu DVD's. There, he converses with Hop (a prosthetics-laden Jackie Chan), the shop's elderly owner, and, while thumbing through some DVD's, he is drawn to room full of antiques and notices a golden staff. Hop tells him that the staff is to be delivered to its rightful owner and then closes the door. On his way back home, Jason is attacked by local bully Lupo (Morgan Benoit) and his cronies who force him to take them to the store so they can steal some money from the old man. Feeling betrayed, Hop tries to attack the thieves with the staff, but is shot. He tells Jason that he must deliver the staff to its rightful owner. Jason takes the staff and runs from the thieves. On top of a building, he is surrounded by the bullies and suddenly he is pulled off the roof by the staff and travels back through time.

When Jason wakes up he has been transported back to ancient China. There he is attacked by Jade Warriors who try to take the staff away from him. He is helped by the Drunken Immortal, Lu Yan (Jackie Chan). Later that night, seated in a restaurant, Lu tells Jason a story of how the Monkey King caused havoc at the banquet celebrating the Jade Emperor's forthcoming 500 year period of meditation and drank of the elixir of immortality. The Emperor took a liking to the Monkey King and decided to award him a heavenly title, much to the chagrin of the Jade Warlord (Collin Chou), a heavenly general. The Emperor then left the Jade Warlord in charge of heaven before retreating to his period of seclusion. The Jade Warlord later challenged the Monkey King to a duel, and turned him into stone by tricking the Monkey King to set aside his magic staff. But before he was fully immobilized, the Monkey King cast his staff into the mundane world. Lu ends the tale by stating a person known as the "Seeker" will be the person to find the staff and free the Monkey King. Lu and Jason then get into a fight with the Jade Warriors who track them to the restaurant and are saved by a mysterious woman, who turns out to be the Orphaned Warrior, Golden Sparrow (Liu Yi Fei). Golden Sparrow's family was killed by the Jade Warlord, and she has vowed vengeance against him.

The Jade Warlord is notified by his men that they have seen the magical staff. The Jade Warlord then sends his bounty hunter, the white-haired assassin Ni-Chang (Li Bingbing), to retrieve it for him. When Jason wakes up in the morning he is attacked by a person dressed in white clothes, who takes the staff away. Jason, Lu, and Golden Sparrow follow the trail of the mysterious man. They reach upon a temple where the man is meditating. There, Lu confronts the Silent Monk (Jet Li), who was the mysterious man. There they both fight for the staff. The Silent Monk later learns that the staff is meant for the traveler. The four head towards the Five Elements Mountain in a quest to free the Monkey King and destroy the rule of the Jade Warlord.

On the way to the Mountain, Lu and the Silent Monk teach Jason Kung Fu. After crossing a great desert, they are attacked by Ni-Chang and the Jade Warriors, but the four escape on their horses with the staff intact. Ni-Chang fires an arrow into the air after them, and Lu is hit with the arrow and falls from his horse. They take refuge in a monastery where they find out that only the elixir of immortality from the Jade Warlord will heal Lu from his mortal wound. Jason wanting to help Lu, heads toward the palace with the staff to exchange it for the elixir. Once at the palace he learns that the elixir was promised to Ni-Chang if she brought back the staff, but since Jason brought it, he has to fight Ni-Chang to death, the winner getting the elixir. The Silent Monk discovering that Jason has left with the staff and pursues Jason along with Golden Sparrow. Back at the palace, Jason and Ni-Chang fight. Though Jason had developed some skill in Kung Fu, the more experienced Ni-Chang easily defeats him. But before she can kill him, the Jade Warlord orders her to stop and, instead, sets his own men on Jason. The boy's life is once again saved when the Silent Monk and Golden Sparrow arrive (with Lu Yan in the rear being carried by monks from the monastery who join in the fight with the Jade Army with their staffs) and intervene. The Silent Monk duels the Jade Warlord while Golden Sparrow fights Ni-Chang. During the fight, Jason manages to grab the elixir and throws it to Lu Yan, who drinks it and regains his strength and energy. Lu then fights Ni-Chang on the balcony. The Silent Monk is mortally wounded during his battle with the Jade Warlord and throws the staff to Jason. Jason takes the staff and frees the Monkey King from his statue form. The Silent Monk dies from injuries and reverts into a golden hair, revealing him to be a magical human familiar created by the Monkey King prior to his imprisonment. The fight between the Monkey King and the Jade Warlord commences. Golden Sparrow tries to kill The Jade Warlord, but is killed instead. After a long battle, Jason is able to kill the Jade Warlord and Lu Yan kills Ni-Chang. He is then thanked by the Jade Emperor for his bravery and fulfilling the people's prophecy. He is then transported back to modern day Boston.

When Jason wakes up, he is attacked by Lupo's gang, but this time he uses his newfound Kung Fu skills and defeats Lupo. He then goes to see if Hop is alright, and Hop responds to Jason, stating that he is immortal, leaving it questionable whether or not Hop is Lu Yan or not. Hop is taken to the hospital, before Jason leaves the scene, he sees a girl who looks like Golden Sparrow. She thanks him for being brave and tells him she will see him later. She then goes into her store (Golden Sparrow). Jason, surprised but delighted to see her, leaves and goes home, where he practices his Kung Fu on the roof with a staff.

Choreographed by action impresario Woo-ping Yuen (THE MATRIX, KILL BILL) and shot on location in China, FORBIDDEN KINGDOM is an appealing family adventure about the importance of working together and the value of believing in one's abilities.

Directed by Rob Minkoff
Produced by Ryan Kavanaugh,
Lynwood Spinks,
Casey Silver,
Yuen Woo-Ping
Raffaella de Laurentis,
David U. Lee,
Philip Lee,
Zhongjun Wang
Written by John Fusco (screenplay)
Wu Cheng'en (story)

Music by David Buckley
Cinematography Peter Pau
Editing by Eric Strand
Distributed by Lionsgate
The Weinstein Company

Cast

Jet Li ... The Monkey King / The Silent Monk
Michael Angarano ... Jason Tripitikas

Jackie Chan ... Lu Yan / Old Hop
Bingbing Li ... Ni Chang
Yifei Liu ... Golden Sparrow / Chinatown Girl
Juana Collignon ... Southie Girl

Morgan Benoit ... Lupo
Jack Posobiec ... Southie
Thomas McDonell ... Young Southie
Zhi Ma Gui ... Old Woman
Shen Shou He ... Farmer
Bin Jiang ... Young Village Man
Shaohua Yang ... Jade Soldier
Yu Yuan Zeng ... Inn Keeper
Deshun Wang ... Jade Emperor
XiaoLi Liu ... Queen Mother

Collin Chou ... Jade Warlord
Xiao Dong Mei ... Inn Keeper's Wife
Mathew Tang ... Jade Officer #1
Jun Cheng Hong ... Jade Officer #2
Alan Ng ... Jade Officer #3
Michelle Du ... Painted Girl
Yang Jun ... Herald #1
Crystal Kung ... Slave Girl
Jeffrey Kung ... Herald #2
Jia Xu Wei ... Tracker
Sheng Huang Ming ... Cult Killer #1
Rui Li ... Cult Killer #2
Long Zhang Fei ... Cult Killer #3
Cheng Luo ... Cult Killer #4
Xiao Zhou ... Cult Killer #5
Bin Lin Hai ... Cult Killer #6
Jie Zhi Hui ... Cult Killer #7
Ju Shi Xiao ... Golden Sparrow's Mother
Meng Guo ... Young Golden Sparrow
Lu Cui Wen ... Goat Herder
Yong Li Xiao ... Young Monk #1
Zhen Zhang ... Young Monk #2
Xiao Keng Ye ... Abbot
Wan Zhao Zi ... Medicine Monk
Matthew Grant ... Paramedic
Alexis Bridges ... Kam

Running time 1 hour and 53 minutes
Country USA
Language English / Mandarin
Budget $55 million

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