Review by Justin Bateman
Stars Yishan Zhang, Jackie Chan, Xiaobin Zhou, Bingyan Yan | Written by Xuan Hua & Jiamin Wu
UK cert 12 | UK RRP £12.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 85 minutes | Directed by Gangliang Fang & Ping Jiang
Failing his classes and being teased by his peers, a 15-year-old Chinese schoolboy dreams of becoming the next Jackie Chan, able to beat up his bullies and be a global martial arts superstar. Seeing that Jackie is filming in Beijing, he heads to the city to find and meet him. But that path to realising his fantasy is strewn with challenges.
Originally released in 2009 as Looking for Jackie, this has been timed to coincide with Jackie Chan’s big screen role in the remake of The Karate Kid. But unlike that, here his presence is very much that of a cameo with the focus on the wannabe kung fu kid, Yishan Zhang. His adventure in trying to find his hero is a well-worn one and rarely feels authentic. Maybe that’s not the point but when there’s not a lot else going for it, these things begin to matter.
For a start, there’s not nearly enough proper martial arts action. Zhang has a few moves but rarely gets to use them, while Chan himself does his most impressive work before the opening credits. So what we’re left with is Zhang being kidnapped during his trip to the big city and moaning about not being able to find Chan. While the message of the film is clear (do your school work, think about your long-term goals, being good at fighting isn’t everything), it makes Zhang hard to like which is a bit of an issue when he’s in virtually every scene.
It certainly isn’t terrible and there are some decent performances but there’s a lack of excitement and dramatic tension which prevents this from being much more than a run of the mill kids’ adventure story, and not a very inspiring one at that.
EXTRAS None