Monday, October 9, 2017

Film Review: Kung Fu Yoga by Roberta J. Downing

Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Mystery
Release date: January 2017
Written and Directed by Stanley Tong
Produced by Jackie Chan
Starring Jackie Chan, Disha Patani and Amyra Dastur
Story Line: A Chinese professor of archeology (Jackie Chan) pares up with another professor and her assistant travel to Tibet in search of a long lost treasure. There they find an army said to have disappeared with the treasure and are taken by surprise by a man who comes from a long line of a rival arm. They then travel to Dubai to retrieve a diamond that came from the ice cave in Tibet and then to India in hope of using the diamond to reveal the treasure all the while dealing with traps, ambushes and double crossing.
The beginning of the movie shows the battle from the armies that fought. A lot of this battle is CGI, which there isn’t anything wrong with that – but I do have to say that a lot of the fighting moves used are really not possible. But this IS the legend Jackie Chan after all who is well known for making some very interesting martial art moves (which brings to mind one of his earlier works where he could only fight if he were dunk) but, I digress!!
We then are transported to the present day China where the professor (Chan) is teaching an archeology class on the actual battle and the treasure. This is the first movie I’ve ever seen with Jackie Chan speaking is native language of Mandarin and I find it quite refreshing! Subtitles are provided at the bottom of the screen for everyone to follow along.
I find it quite funny that the professor’s name in the movie is Jack Chan. This is no doubt one of those comical things we have all come to expect from Jackie. He just loves to entertain with his martial arts and comedy and when they are put together as martial art comedy it’s even funnier.
One of my favorite scenes is where Jackie Chan steals a jeep and is giving chase to the bad guys in a hummer and then finds out there is a very large “kitty” in the back. The phrase “Nice kitty” takes on a whole new comical meaning! It will also have you saying “poor kitty” with all the twists and turns. What makes this scene even funnier is that Jackie is talking to the lion asking it if it can speak English and “no matter what don’t get mad.” Then to find out the lion’s name, I literally laughed so hard I had tears rolling down my cheeks and had to hold my side.
Finally we come to the end of the movie where Jackie Chan does something I have yet to see… -Roberta J. Downing

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