Jason is not a fighter, but he does enjoy watching people fight. Especially when it comes to pulpy martial arts movies—foreign flicks named Monkey in the Tiger's Eyes Challenge or Master With Cracked Fingers which star folks like, say, Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Jason's room looks like a shrine to kung fu icon Bruce Lee, and he spends most of his free hours in a Chinatown pawn shop/video store run by a wizened chap called Old Hop.

Enter the bullies. Led by a punk named Lupo, these ruffians convince Jason—aided by their fists and feet of fury—to lead them to Old Hop's shop so they can rob the place. Old Hop, when he realizes he's been had, thumps one of the thieves with an ancient-looking staff. And gets a bullet in the chest. The old man, apparently in the throes of death, pushes the staff into Jason's hands and tells the bewildered boy to return it to its "rightful owner."

Never mind that the rightful owner is the Monkey King, a mythical figure in Chinese lore, or that returning the staff to him will involve a trip back in time, space and reality. Never mind that the fearsome Jade Warlord, his white-haired witch and his inexhaustible army stand in Jason's way. After all, he has help. There's the drunken beggar Lu Yan. The stoic Silent Monk. And Golden Sparrow, a beautiful girl who has the habit of talking about herself in the third person and a talent for killing folks with her hair pins.

:: Review
You'd expect to see a lot of martial arts combat in a martial arts movie. And The Forbidden Kingdom fulfills the promise of its genre. If talk is cheap, this movie isn't. The air is full of flying fists, feet and assorted weaponry. Most of the violence is bloodless, though. And its choreography is intricate. Of particular note: The beggar and the monk square off at one point, fulfilling a heretofore unrequited longing of many a kung fu fan to see respective stars Jackie Chan and Jet Li go mano a mano.

No one makes violence more fun than Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Despite the occasional crass behavior and muddy religious current that runs through this film, I can't help but appreciate its fast action, beautiful scenery and nice little life lessons (camaraderie, loyalty and perseverance) squirreled in between the fight scenes.

As I watched, though, I began to think: When we see violence in film, what form is more menacing? The graphic, horrific violence we might see in an R-rated Oscar winner such as No Country for Old Men? Or the graceful, cartoonish crowd-pleaser violence we see in The Forbidden Kingdom? One makes you wince and cringe. The other makes you smile and cheer. But is one more damaging than the other?

The answer, I think, depends on the person watching, in part. And it depends on the story that's being told. And it depends on the writer who created the story. And the director who executes it. Nobody's ever been able to fully answer this question to the satisfaction of all interested parties. But I guarantee you that it's a question well worth asking all the same.

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