Kung Fu Master

When I bought this movie from Amazon it was under the impression of it actually being a Jackie Chan movie. Be warned though, that this is not a usual Jackie Chan movie at all, he is in it, sure, but as a guest actor only.

And to make matters worse, the DVD is titled "Jackie Chan & the Kung Fu Kid", and the movie cover here on IMDb is titled "Kung Fu Master", but in reality the movie is titled "Looking For Jackie Chan". What is up with these lame alterations of movie titles? Sure I can understand the movie company's attempt to cash in on the popularity of the remake of "The Karate Kid", but this is just downright outrageous and scandalous. It suckers people into buying the movie under false pretenses.

Anyway, the story in "Looking For Jackie Chan" is about young Chinese boy Zhang Yi-Shan who is going to school in Indonesia, bullied by classmates and failing classes, he sets out on a quest to go to Beijing, China, and seek out Jackie Chan in order to become his disciple and learn Kung Fu from him.

"Looking For Jackie Chan" is sort of a family type movie, but I assume that you have to be a Chinese family to fully appreciate this movie. I, as a Westerner, found the story to be adequate, though I felt cheated with the fake movie title on the DVD cover.

The DVD cover said, and I quote, "essential for any Chan fans". Well, I will have to put a big question mark at that statement. This is hardly a Jackie Chan movie. He just have a small supporting guest role. This is the story of a boy's journey, of coming to terms with himself, the world around him, respecting himself and his elders, and a sort of rites of passage movie. Hardly an essential Chan movie.

I am not saying that the movie in itself is bad, just don't sit down to watch it with expectations of it being a traditional Jackie Chan movie, and don't actually expect to see a lot of him on the screen. Watch it for what it is, a family movie about a boy setting out to find his idol, and that's it.

I love Jackie Chan as an actor, so I was pretty psyched to pick this one up at Redbox. I thought I was in for some awesome Jackie Chan action.. Boy, was I wrong. Putting Jackie Chan in big letters across the title and even having him on the cover is pretty much false advertising.

The whole movie is about some whiny kid who looks for Jackie, finds him (Jackie gets about 5 minutes of screen time), and then the movie ends. Out of all the movies I've ever watched, I'd place it in the bottom 5. It's that bad.

Save your dollar for something else.

I think the thing throwing people off here is the title. The original Chinese title is "Looking for Jackie Chan" which does describe the plot of the movie. That being said, there is only a little bit of Jackie Chan in this movie. But come on, a movie can be plenty good with other people.

This is just the story of a really dorky kid looking for his idol. It's fun, has just a touch of fantasy and a lot of silliness. Sure, it has some quaint morality themes in it, but none of those stop this from being a fun family movie, the kind of thing that was so much fun to watch when I was a kid. Watch it, enjoy it, and stop being such a pretentious person just because it doesn't have that much Chan in it.

Where is Jackie Chan? At least this movie doesn't lie to the audience, well kinda. Jackie Chan is barely in this movie and he only shows up during the final 5 minutes to pretty much give a speech to kids these days about being good and making dumb decisions.

This movie is not that bad but I am gonna give it a low score because it said "starring Jackie Chan," and the entire time I was waiting to see Jackie Chan, not some kid who goes on a journey looking for Jackie Chan.

2/10

I've recently gone back to re-watch EVERY Jackie Chan film, even one's like this where he just has a small role. To be sure, he is featured more here than some other cameo appearances, but even for a die-hard Chan fan, it's not worthwhile.

This "film" is just all kinds of horrible. There is literally no aspect that doesn't suck. It looks like it was made for TV, and two directors can't find anything original to do, they just copy well-worn shots and angles and make even Chan's fighting look slow and amateurish. To boot, many shots of him don't clearly show his face, so I don't know, it might even have been a double doing some of the stunts?? If you get Chan to appear in your movie for 5 minutes, you'd show his face as much as possible, right?!

The script by about 8 writers also has nothing new to say, nothing interesting, and more importantly, no characters to identify with. The main kid is so unlikable that I was praying one of his horrible decisions would end up killing him, as he's incredibly immature and stupid even considering he's 15. The adults in the film are all rash and unsympathetic, also making a string of foolish decisions. The film wants to show some kind of coming-of-age adventure, but the main kid doesn't grow or mature, and nobody else really helps to guide him. They just yell at him to learn manners and then give in to him anyway. Even Jackie isn't the best role model as he gives in easily.

And finally, the action. Well, the film tries to give you lots, but it's all weak, slow, motion-blurred for effect, and unoriginal. No point in watching for that.

Worst of all, the film is basically a propaganda piece for China, trying to show the awe of it's modernization, the beautiful women doing important work everywhere, the generosity of Jackie and all civil servants, the new technology and buildings everywhere, and of course the impeccable Chinese manners and morality. It's all such one-sided BS that I couldn't stand it. Anyone who's spent much time in China will easily see what I'm talking about.

With crappy music, acting, editing, and everything else, there is absolutely no reason to watch this. If you want to see the real glory of China, there are plenty of other films that represent it greatly. There are also plenty of other Chan films worth watching. This one is just punishment.