When I bought this movie from Amazon it was under the impression of it actually being a Jackie Chan movie. Be warned though, that this is not a usual Jackie Chan movie at all, he is in it, sure, but as a guest actor only.
And to make matters worse, the DVD is titled "Jackie Chan & the Kung Fu Kid", and the movie cover here on IMDb is titled "Kung Fu Master", but in reality the movie is titled "Looking For Jackie Chan". What is up with these lame alterations of movie titles? Sure I can understand the movie company's attempt to cash in on the popularity of the remake of "The Karate Kid", but this is just downright outrageous and scandalous. It suckers people into buying the movie under false pretenses.
Anyway, the story in "Looking For Jackie Chan" is about young Chinese boy Zhang Yi-Shan who is going to school in Indonesia, bullied by classmates and failing classes, he sets out on a quest to go to Beijing, China, and seek out Jackie Chan in order to become his disciple and learn Kung Fu from him.
"Looking For Jackie Chan" is sort of a family type movie, but I assume that you have to be a Chinese family to fully appreciate this movie. I, as a Westerner, found the story to be adequate, though I felt cheated with the fake movie title on the DVD cover.
The DVD cover said, and I quote, "essential for any Chan fans". Well, I will have to put a big question mark at that statement. This is hardly a Jackie Chan movie. He just have a small supporting guest role. This is the story of a boy's journey, of coming to terms with himself, the world around him, respecting himself and his elders, and a sort of rites of passage movie. Hardly an essential Chan movie.
I am not saying that the movie in itself is bad, just don't sit down to watch it with expectations of it being a traditional Jackie Chan movie, and don't actually expect to see a lot of him on the screen. Watch it for what it is, a family movie about a boy setting out to find his idol, and that's it.
