KungFu Yoga ... Bent into boredom

JACKIE Chan plays Professor Jack, China's most famous archaelogist, in director Stanley Tong's English and Mandarin film KungFu Yoga. This is a running joke in the film, as whenever someone calls him that, he looks abashed and demurely says: "One of the best."

  A modest Chan? Age must be catching up with the 63-year-old martial arts proponent, who's rehashing his films so often that one can say that if you've seen a Chan film lately, you've seen it all.
  There are exotic locations, Chan pairing up with a foreign male or female sidekick, and an abundance of his slick moves. Viewers would have been impressed with all these a long time ago, but now, they'll just yawn their way through and keep sighing.
   This is what happened to me, and it wasn't a good sign to welcome Chinese New Year.
  Jack teams up with lithe and sexy Indian Professor Ashmita (Disha Patani) and her equally lithe and sexy teaching assistant Kyra (Amyra Dastur) to find an ancient hidden Indian treasure.
   Jack's sidekick is young and handsome treasure hunter Jones Lee (Aarif Rahman), in a nod to Indiana Jones. Jack dresses as if he's Indy, but without the hat and whip.
   His team also includes Xiaoguang (Yixing Zhang) and lithe and sexy Noumin (Miya Muqi), who will

Jackie Chan and Disha Patani look to attract viewers
to 'KungFu Yoga'.

charm everyone in a white swimsuit.
  Their adventures take them to a cave in a freezing mountainous region in China, then the clean streets of Dubai that are perfect for a car chase, and finally, lovely and rustic India.
  Their adversary is rich slick-haired Indian Randall (Sonu Sood), a vulture whose life is based on the law of nature. His baddies will provide considerable but eventually ineffective opposition to Jack's team.
  Jack espouses the official Chinese line on respecting and protecting national heritage.
  Viewers can appreciate the hard work that went into making this film, and Chan does his best to keep them entertained, but the feeling of deja vu is hard to dispel.

1 1/2 stars out of 5

   

Jackie Chan boosts Chindian ties with his slick moves.