Thursday, January 15, 2009

The Forbidden Kingdom



I'd been looking forward to showing Khalil "Wall-E" so I came over after work with the DVD in my briefcase and the inevitable Roberto's bag in my hand. We split the Italian Cheeseburger and bottle of Sunkist, and sat down in front of the TV. Unfortunately the DVD player didn't like the disc - it didn't even make it to the opening credits. So Khalil showed me one of his favorites: "The Forbidden Kingdom". It was quite intriguing: obviously not meant primarily for adults, it had story elements and special effects that were over-the-top enough for young people to really enjoy, but not enough to turn off an adult who's ready for a popcorn flick. Jackie Chan is every bit as entertaining as usual in a role that reminds me more than a little of his performance in "Drunken Master". I have to admit that, up until looking up the actors just now, I thought that was Jackie under the Monkey King makeup. Not so: it was Jet Li! It's fun watching him, as the Monkey King, being every bit as impish as Jackie. While we watched the movie Khalil once again showed me his Pokémon book. I'm still a bit amazed that the fascination with Pokémon has held on so long.

We only had time to watch about half of the movie because the season premier of "Smallville" was coming on, and Khalil and his mom are fans. Just as I got up to get my jacket, leaving became much harder. The costumes of those mysterious super-powered teenagers seemed strikingly familiar, and just before they said who they were I knew: members of The Legion of Super-Heroes! It was both weird, and a huge gas, to see a television version of those comic characters I've known since my childhood. So that's one more geek point I get to share with Khalil!

No comments: