The Forbidden Kingdom

In Rob Minkoff’s film an old staff from a Chinatown pawnshop drops Jason, an American teenager steeped in kung fu, into a legendary China, where he must return it to its owner, with Lu Yan and the Silent Monk beside him. It was sold as the first film to put Jackie Chan and Jet Li together. Yuen Woo-ping arranged the fights; Peter Pau shot it. John Fusco wrote the script. By Li’s account the two had sparred for 3 years and Fusco had over 10 years of Chinese martial arts behind him. He took Jason’s surname from Tripitaka, the wandering monk of Journey to the West. Golden Sparrow comes from Cheng Pei-pei’s Golden Swallow in the 1966 Come Drink with Me, and throws that title at the Jade Warlord. Some dialogue was changed to suit the cast, most of whom had English as a second language. It opened in 3,151 American cinemas, took 21.4 million dollars and first place that weekend, finishing at 127.9 million. At the 35th Saturn Awards it was nominated for Best International Film, losing to Let the Right One In. A good fit if you want to trace which Hong Kong picture each borrowed character came from. Not for anyone who will object to an American teenager at the centre; the story rests on his view.