The movie was filmed on location in China and looks beautiful, although some sets feel almost purposefully feel artificial, like the foggy mountaintops in the beginning and end of the film. You know in The Princess Bride when Westley and Inigo swordfight atop the Cliffs of Insanity, and it's obviously a soundstage but it still looks cool? It's like that, which really contributes to the old-fashioned nature of the whole thing. For once, it's a movie not trying to dazzle us with digital effects or elaborate computer-painted landscapes, but rather with wires and real, hand-painted sets. And what do you know? The results are magical.

Movie Grade: B

Synopsis:

While hunting down bootleg kung-fu DVDs in a Chinatown pawnshop, Jason makes an extraordinary discovery that sends him hurtling back in time to ancient China. There, Jason is charged with a monumental task: he must free the fabled warrior the Monkey King, who has been imprisoned by the evil Jade Warlord. Jason is joined in his quest by wise kung fu master Lu Yan and a band of misfit warriors including Silent Monk. But only by learning the true precepts of kung fu can Jason hope to succeed - and find a way to get back home.