A bullied Boston teenager and martial-arts film aficionado (Michael Angarano) gets transported through the Gate of No Gate to a kind of kung-fu Shangri-La, where he learns to fight from the best (Jackie Chan, Jet Li), while fulfilling a prophecy of returning a magic golden staff to Five Elements Mountain, freeing the immortal Monkey King from bondage, and overthrowing the wicked Jade Warlord. Just your average modern adolescent fantasy. The film, which begins with a literal dream, really doesn’t feel so much like a dream as like a prelude to a dream. Or in another word, a soporific. Directed by Rob Minkoff. (2008) — Duncan Shepherd
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