A 21st Century American teenager takes a spellbinding, dangerous journey into martial arts legend in the new action/adventure epic THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM. Shot on location in China, THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM marks the historic ... more »first-ever onscreen pairing of martial arts superstars Jackie Chan (RUSH HOUR, DRUNKEN MASTER) and Jet Li (FEARLESS, ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA), and features the awe-inspiring action choreography of Woo-Ping Yuen (THE MATRIX, CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON).« less
A 21st Century American teenager takes a spellbinding, dangerous journey into martial arts legend in the new action/adventure epic THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM. Shot on location in China, THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM marks the historic first-ever onscreen pairing of martial arts superstars Jackie Chan (RUSH HOUR, DRUNKEN MASTER) and Jet Li (FEARLESS, ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA), and features the awe-inspiring action choreography of Woo-Ping Yuen (THE MATRIX, CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON).
CD Reviews
BUYER BEWARE The music is great (5 Stars), but product is de
Timothy | 08/03/2008
(1 out of 5 stars)
"I just wanna point out that Amazon is sending out CD-Rs of this score and not pressed disc. Now you probably already new that. But what you should also know is that a good number of people are receiving disc that still have wet smudgible ink, and there is some unremovable residue of some kind that has dripped on the recored surface of the disc that makes it unplayable. I've had to return my disc for a replacement."
Score Great, Product Terrible.
M. Tennaro | Tampa, FL United States | 08/03/2008
(1 out of 5 stars)
"This is a wonderful score, but this review is not about the music. Unfortunately, Amazon is not producing a wonderful product. My copy came with something that smears off the front side of the cd, and some sort of residue on the recorded side of the cd. The disc will not even play in my cd player.
If this were an isolated incident I wouldn't gripe, there's always one that goes wrong. But I am aware of four to six other people who have had the same experience when ordering this cd. Glue or residue on the cd making it unplayable. Who knows how many others there are I don't know about.
Amazon promised me a replacement, of course. I only hope the next one is produced to some kind of quality standard. Bad enough that they are charging us cd prices for a CD-R which has neither the quality or the lifespan of a commercially recorded cd. I hope they get their production process corrected."
I guess I'm one of the lucky ones...
Tasken Lander | New Orleans, LA USA | 08/03/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"My CD came w/out any smudging or residue and so far it it's playing great. I do agree that this is a very cheaply made CD, but I guess at this point it's better than nothing.
I'll never understand why this film had such a crummy marketing campaign that saw the production of nearly NO TYPE OF MOVIE-TIE IN's what so ever.
How many crappy/undeserving/forgettable films get soundtrack treatments and this film, barely, gets *this*... I just don't get it.
Anyway --
Great,charming, fun film/score
Unbelievably cheap product.
"
Okay music, not-so-great delivery
Kapyrna | 09/19/2008
(3 out of 5 stars)
"After seeing this film on a whim (gee, that looks interesting, let's go watch it), I looked high and low for the soundtrack. Apparently, it's only available through Amazon. Shipping it took them forever and a day, I guess it's because they make these to order, and don't keep a stock on hand. I guess that's good in keeping supply low so as not to horribly exceed demand?
Also, it was recorded onto one of those CD-R disks with the blue backing. Not sure if this is scratch protection, but some other reviews I've seen and one other person I know who bought this say that the blue stuff is gummy and ruins both the CD and player. I guess I was lucky in that it played and ripped perfectly fine.
As for the music, I can't really find a track that stands out at me. My favorite motif isn't highlighted in any specific song, and most of the album is either transition music or quiet ambient background music. It's not something I'd specifically listen to, so I'm filing it into the 'play when I want music playing for the sake of music playing" because as background goes, it's great."
A Great Soundtrack, If You Get A Working Copy
John Durant | England, UK | 08/08/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"While I was watching the film, I was thinking to myself what a good soundtrack it had, by new-comer composer - David Buckley. It took it's time to find a release, but finally it's here - albeit in a rushed CD-R... This has caused numerous problems, as you can see with the reviews here, and considering I was ordering to the UK, I was praying that I got a working copy. Thankfully, I did.
The music itself is very good overall. Many, if not all of the tracks have a fantasy / ethnic sound that fits perfectly into the film.
What I also like about this score is that it is varied, and the tracks are well placed, so you won't be tired of hearing battle tracks over and over again for example. Luckily for me, it focuses slightly more on the calm, relaxing tracks than the battle themes, although I did really enjoy the action-based tracks in this too, even if they do drag on a bit - 'J & J Temple Fight' in particular, which is a heavily-percussion based track that goes on for over 5 minutes.
Track 12 - 'Ni Chang and Her Cult Killers' (bit of a silly name, which is a minor gripe I have with some of the tracks on this score) is a track I particularly enjoyed because of the mix of action and towards the end, a more calming melody, a style that many of the tracks adopt - 'China Begins', 'Hops' Shop', and especially the epic-sounding 'The Seeker of the Prophecy'.
Track 12 also has that cool guitar that is played when the witch appears in the film, and even if it does sound very out of place, and more fitting to a stand-off in a western film, it's still a fun listen.
There are noticable influences of Harry Gregson William's music in much of this score, which makes sense considering he was Buckley's 'tutor' and the producer for this album.
My favourite track is probably track 08 - 'Two Tigers - Two Masters', which is an opinion many people share. This is played during the training montage in the film.
I do have some minor gripes with the score than prevents me from giving it a full 5 stars. The main one is obviously the format of this CD, and I feel very bad for the people who are not getting working copies. Don't give up though, it is a real treat to listen to.
As I have mentioned earlier, some of the battle tracks do drag on a bit, but that is understandable considering some of the fight scenes in the movie were quite long, and they are played mainly as background pace music.
Some of the tracks, track 1 and 8 for instance, feel badly mixed at times, by that I mean a different 'type' of music cuts in when the other finishes, and it would have worked better as two different tracks. This is particularly evident in the first track, which starts the score off with a nice, soothing sound and then leads randomly into an annoying 'adventure based' piece for the Monkey King's character.
Overall, it is a very enjoyable listen. Just be sure to keep your fingers crossed in hope of recieving a working copy."
Track Listings (20) - Disc #1