Potential Spoilers!*
This is a work in progress – mostly found on IMDb (and message boards) – so if you can think of anything interesting to add, please let us know in the comments!
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This movie marks the very first collaboration between martial arts masters Jet Li and Jackie Chan.
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This is the first movie that Jackie Chan has made in Hollywood where he hasn’t served as martial arts choreographer.
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Based on the Chinese epic story ‘Journey to the West’, one of the four great classic novels of Chinese Literature. The novel is a fictionalized account of the legends around the Buddhist monk Tang Sanzhuang’s pilgrimage to India during the Tang dynasty in order to obtain Buddhist scriptures. Many programs have been based on this tale, such as television show “Saiyûki” (1978), and anime series “Dragon Ball Z” (1989/I) holds a few loose facts from the same story.
The characters are mostly taken from Chinese mythology and adventure pulps. Lu Yan is a famous Taoist Saint. The Jade Emperor is the ruler of the Heavens in Chinese myth. The Monkey King is from a 16th Century fantasy epic by Wu Cheng En. Golden Swallow was the name of the character played by Cheng Pei Pei in a number of Shaw Bros films like Da zui xia (1966). The White Haired Demoness is the anti-heroine of a pulp novel by Liang Yusheng (filmed twice) with the same title.
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Jason Tripitikas’ last name is derived from Tripitaka, the monk whom Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, accompanied in “Journey To The West.”
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Just before Swallow throws the dart at the Jade Warlord, she says “Come Drink with Me” which is the English title of the old Cheng Pei Pei movie.
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The song playing in Lu Yan’s pawn shop in the beginning of the film is a 1930s song called “Waiting 4 U.” You can find it on the compilation Shanghai Lounge Divas, which can be found on Amazon.com.
The movie playing on the TV in Jason’s room is the 1966 Shaw Brothers movie “Monkey Goes West” directed by Ho Meng Hua that starred Yueh Hua as Sun Wu Kong, the Monkey King.
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The beloved 128-bit Sega game system Dreamcast can be spied in Jason’s bedroom back in Boston. Jason also makes reference to XBox game Virtua Fighter.
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The Kung fu styles in the epic battle between Lu Yan and Silent Monk starts out with regular freestyle fighting. Jackie then uses DRUNKEN GUARD and gets the upper hand. Jet Li then uses PRAYING MANTIS. Then Jackie uses TIGER. When they get the staff back and are fighting over it, Jackie Chan switces to CRANE.
More fighting styles in the movie: The Monkey King uses Monkey Boxing. Lu Yan uses Drunken Boxing and Hung Gar. Golden Sparrow is an expert of Lightweight Kung Fu. There are bits and pieces of other styles like Tiger Claw, Snake Fist, Leopard Style, Crane Boxing, Eagle Claw, Praying Mantis, Tan Tui and more.
In a partnership kicked off with The Forbidden Kingdom, Huayi Brothers, a leading Chinese film studio, joined with Jet Li’s One Foundation to donate 10 Chinese cents for each ticket purchased for films produced by the Huayi studio. Any cinema screening their films will also donate 1 cent per ticket.
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