Forbidden Narnia

Imagine that "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" had been based on a classic of Chinese culture rather than on Greco-Roman mythology. And imagine that instead of communicating Christian principles, it communicated Taoist and Buddhist ones instead. To oversimplify, that movie would be "The Forbidden Kingdom." "The Forbidden Kingdom" is inspired by the Chinese classic "Journey to the West," and the central character is Monkey. In this movie Jet Li plays the part of Monkey with relish. Jet Li also plays the part of a Buddhist monk and the fight between him and the Drunken Immortal, played by Jackie Chan is priceless. They come out evenly matched, as it should be.

It can be watched as a martial arts action/fantasy and many will see it thus. But it's really more than that. And one thing that is clear is that while the Buddhist monk and the Taoist Immortal initially do not get along (especially it the desert when the Taoist master is prevailed upon to make it rain, that's a real hoot), they are willing to journey and work together. They certainly live together a lot better than the dysfunctional Children of Abraham do. And the fact that this action movie still manages to communicate some very basic ideas of both ways -- rather than trying to put one over the other -- in an undogmatic way is rather refreshing. It also offers a very different mythology that until recently has only been glimpsed in the West.

The end of the movie leaves open the possiblity for a sequel. And while the movie isn't a masterpiece, neither was "Wardrobe." And "Kingdom" was more fun too.