Movie Reviews

The Forbidden Kingdom ***
I remember when this one came out in theaters, I thought it looked intriguing. It stars Jet Li and Jackie Chan, as well as the kid who played Jack's son on Will and Grace. It is about a kid who finds a staff that takes him back to ancient China. I know what you are thinking, you've seen/heard/watched a movie like this before. And you are right, it isn't very original. But what it is, is made well. And it has some surprisingly good actors doing it. I like both Jackie Chan and Jet Li, and they can definitely make an exciting fight scene. It has a lot of top notch people working on the movie as well, and was mostly filmed in China, some very, very pretty backdrops. Anyway, I found it funny, interesting, and an enjoyable watch. Nothing objectionable, Alisa and I were both struggling to figure out why the PG-13, even the 'reasons' given on IMDB are stretching it big time. All around good movie.

Horton Hears a Who ***

I don't think I liked this as much as the kids did, but it was because of their enjoyment that I give it 3 stars. Its a cute little movie based on the Dr. Seuss book. Jim Carrey, Steve Carrell, and several other names you would know, including my favorite one in the film, Carol Burnett as the evil Kangaroo. It was cute and fun and like I said, the kids loved it.

Pirates of the Caribbean 3 ** 1/2
I found this to be the weakest of the trilogy. It still has some good action, and I liked Chow Yun Fat in it. I continue to find Davy Jones the most interesting of the characters, and found myself by the end hoping that he and Calypso would end up together, kind of winning. But, alas, no one kills Keira Knightly, who is at her most annoying in this movie. And I think of Orlando Bloom like I always do, unless you are an elf, you need to stay out of movies altogether. Depp was good, and I enjoyed the fact that Keith Richards showed up. So, it was a pleasant enough diversionary movie, but I thought it really was a disappointment after 2, which was my favorite of the 3.