Synopsis:

Zhang Yi-shan (Yishan Zhang) idolizes Jackie Chan and wants nothing more than to become his disciple. So when he finds out that Jackie is shooting a movie in Beijing near where his grandmother lives he strikes out on his own to meet Jackie, and then has some unrelated adventures.

Story Revu:

Don't be fooled by Jackie's face plastered all over the cover-art. This isn't a Jackie Chan film. His screen time is limited to a little at the beginning and a little at the end of the film. He doesn't wear Bruce Lee's shirt, and he doesn't even get 10 years younger. Well played box-art photoshop technician. Well played. The majority of the film follows this 16 year old asshole named Shan, who sucks at school, but can do backflips and somehow has developed the ego to think Jackie Chan would want to train him. So, he runs off to Beijing without telling his grandparents (who raise him) or having the ability to read Chinese apparently. There he bumbles around meeting people and getting in little adventures where he learns no lessons and which don't factor in to a larger overall story about how he's kinda a dick. They try to make it seem like his grandmother is too strict... saying she makes him run for an hour, then practice music for two hours, then paint for three hours, then study for four hours... except he's a terrible student with no demonstrable skills, so either that's all bluster, or he has such a severe learning disability that it takes that much just to get him to the level of a dunce.

The actual adventures Shan goes on have no bearing on the rest of the plot. Each one has it's own cast of characters that never gets mentioned again, and after each one Shan is the same entitled douchebag that he was before. Clearly they had a script with a beginning and an ending and just filled in the middle with "whatever." It's supposed to be a kids movie, and I don't know if kids would identify with the main character, but if they do they could enjoy it. Jackie Chan is just a ball of charisma, and so his appearance at the end of the film does successfully feel like a pay off.

Action Revu:

There are more action sequences than I expected. Two from Jackie even, one at the beginning and one at the end of the film. Unfortunately they're all pretty bland. Although ably performed, they don't contain a spark of creativity that Jackie normally brings to his choreography. They're just "generic chop-socky fight scene." They're entertaining enough if you're undiscerning, and if the film were better they wouldn't drag it down any.

Overall:

Crappy as this movie is, it's not completely worthless, although about 30 minutes into it I was wondering how long till it was over, and that's never good. It struck me later how they could've easily made this a pretty great movie, without even having to hire Jackie Chan for any longer. If the adventures that Shan went on contained references to old Jackie Chan movies-- that would've made this film not only tolerable, but probably even drawn me in. They could've just used similar camera shots, or dialogue or situations or locations in Shan's adventures as Police Story and Operation Condor and Fearless Hyena and so on, and not only would it have felt more cohesive, but it would've kept fans of Jackie Chan films interested... because, honestly, who else would consider watching this thing?

1.5/5 Stars

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