The Forbidden Kingdom (Chinese: 功夫之王: Gong Fu Zhi Wang (Mandarin) or Gung Fu Ji Wong (Cantonese) and translated King of Kung Fu (English); Working title: The J & J Project[6]) is a 2008 Chinese-American fantasy wuxia film[7][8] written by John Fusco and directed by Rob Minkoff, starring Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Michael Angarano, Liu Yifei, Collin Chou, and Li Bingbing.

Loosely based on the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West, the plot revolves around Jason Tripitikas (Angarano), a modern-day American teenager who is transported back to ancient China after discovering the Monkey King's magical staff.

He accompanies Lu Yan / Old Hop (Chan) and Sun Wukong / Silent Monk (Li) on their quest to return the staff to its rightful owner while trying to avoid the minions of the evil Jade Emperor (Chou).

In South Boston, martial arts film fan Jason Tripitikas dreams of a battle between Sun Wukong and celestial soldiers in the clouds.

They attempt to seize his staff, but he is saved by the inebriated traveling scholar Lu Yan, a supposed "immortal", who remains alert and agile even when drunk.

Jason's team escapes and takes refuge in a monastery, where they learn that Lu is not an immortal as he claimed to be, and only the Warlord's elixir can save his life.

Sparrow is killed, the Warlord is eventually stabbed by Jason after being defeated by the King and falls into a lava pit to his death.

Jason then continues honing his kung fu skills, while Lu narrates the King's search for truth.

While the character Sun Wukong came from Wu Cheng'en's famous classical novel Journey to the West,[12] in an interview with Screen Power magazine, actor Collin Chou denied that the plotline would be related to the novel.

[13]In a behind the scenes article he wrote for Kung Fu Magazine, screenwriter John Fusco also stated he derived the surname for the Jason Tripitikas character from "the wandering monk, Tripitaka, from Journey to the West".

Lu Yan is a famous Taoist Saint, better known as Lü Dongbin, one of the Eight Immortals referenced in Jackie Chan's Drunken Master films.

The White Haired Demoness Ni Chang is the anti-heroine of the iconic pulp novel Baifa Monü Zhuan by Liang Yusheng.

[16] When the two martial arts veterans (Chan and Li) did film action scenes together for the first time, they both expressed how easy it was to work with one another.

The consensus reads: "This hotly-anticipated pairing of martial arts legends Jackie Chan and Jet Li features dazzling fight scenes but is weighed down by too much filler.

[21] Perry Lam wrote in Muse magazine, "As a Hollywood blockbuster, The Forbidden Kingdom offers no apologies for its American-Centrism.