Kung Fu Yoga

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This one floats a bit under the radar, but can be found on Amazon Prime (Canada) for those who are looking to quench that thirst for a good martial arts movie. It has come highly recommended by a few close friends as one of those movies that's just plain and simply off-the-wall awesome. I can say with all honesty that it doesn't disappoint in the least. I absolutely loved it.

Renound Chinese professor,  Jack (Jackie Chan) teams up with a young Indian professor named Ashmita (Disha Patani) to search for the lost Magadha treasure in Tibet. Together, they assemble a team or archaeologists and other specialists, Jones Lee (Aarif Rahman), Xiaoguang (Lay Zhang), Kyra (Amyra Dastur) and Noumin (Miya Muqi). Eventually, using modern technology, they locate the treasure under a frozen lake. Here, they are ambushed by a group of mercenaries led by Randall (Sonu Sood), but our hero team escapes with a diamond that could lead to the Magadha Treasure.

Soon, it becomes a race to get to the lost treasure first, very much in the style of 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'. In fact, this movie with all of its ideas borrows a great deal from 'Indiana Jones', but think of it this way; what if Indiana Jones knew martial arts? While the film isn't entirely original in plot, it's made up for with the idea of bringing the art of Kung Fu together with the art of Yoga, and the film shows they hold as many differences as they do similarities. They are both used quite a bit throughout the film, and you get you Jackie Chan fighting blended with other great martial artists and their individual styles. It's neat that it doesn't just stop at being a Kung Fu movie.

This is another one of those movies that certainly isn't without its flaws, but the flaws are so overshadowed by the awesomely random stuff that keeps happening. I mean, there's a scene where Jackie's in a speedy car chase with a lion as his passenger. Read that out loud and tell me that doesn't sound like something that would be cool to see. There's actually a lot of animal use in this, but I'm pretty confident it's about 99% CG. You get wolves, elephants, hyenas, snakes, horses, camels, there's a zoo in this movie. The wolf part in particular was my favorite, involving Jackie and Jones doing some Kung Fu training in order to intimidate the wolves. It looks like a one-on-one fighting game with a cool wolf/tundra background.

That actually brings me to my next point, the CG. You really have to watch this movie in a certain way, because the CG isn't what you'd call strong. You'll know everything you need to know in the opening sequence about it. My general impression was that though it looks kinda rough, it really pops with bright color and swift action, and I thought to myself that if it was a video game cut scene, it would look pretty awesome. With that, I just carried on watching the rest as if it was a high def game come to life, and it worked out pretty well.

So, if you're on the lookout for a good action movie with a good blend of martial arts, I can honestly recommend this pretty highly. You'll need to go in with an open mind, and convince yourself to let a few things slide, but all in all this is a fun movie. I will forewarn that I thought it ended very abruptly though. If I have any real complaints about it, that's probably what it would be. There's a little lesson of positivity, and then it just kinda ends. But it ends with a dance number so catchy that you almost shrug off how abrupt the ending is because at that moment it's very clear that this was something made for fun more than anything. Sit back, relax, and get a taste of that classic Jackie Chan fighting.

4/5

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