KungFu Yoga review: Jackie Chan takes you on ridiculous treasure hunt

So there is tonnes of kung fu but no yoga going on here. With a title like that we would have expected Jackie Chan to at least incorporate some yoga into his fight sequences or fight yoga gurus with his kung fu or some such. But alas....

Chan is ageing and lacks the steam to carry off even some of the basic kung fu sequences. He makes up with his sheer screen presence and his comedy; his best turn in the film is, perhaps, the dance moves he displays in the Bollywood-inspired number at the end, with Chinese backup dancers.

That is where young Arif Rahman, who plays Jones Lee, comes into play. He delivers some the movie's best action moves and displays his agility in a scene where he is stuck with Amyra Dastur in a cage full of CGI hyenas!

A car chase sequence shot in Dubai with an unexpected guest in the back seat, a lion, is quite hilarious too, and so is the limp climax which channels Indiana Jones (Chan even makes a reference to the film).

But this adventure comedy has a very simplistic plot and some of the laughs arise out of the ridiculousness of the sequences that take you on this treasure hunt.

Director Stanley Tong's film (his last film The Myth, also with Chan, had turned out to be a dud) revolves around Chan as archaeologist Jack (the same character he played in Chinese Zodiac and The Myth), who is approached by professor Ashmita (Disha Patani) and her assistant, Kyra (Amyra Dastur), to help locate the lost treasures of the Magadha empire. But a descendant of the Magadha dynasty, Randall (Sonu Sood), wants all of the treasure for himself.

Yes, this film has been made with four-year-olds in mind. It uses age-old myths like a levitating sadhu, the great Indian rope trick and snake charmers among others in an attempt to incorporate Indian elements. And infusing some action and comedy does not absolve the makers of this caricaturish presentation.

Dastur and Patani are decent, but their sketchy parts don't allow them to shine. Sood, on the other hand, is seen pulling off what could easily be termed his worst performance ever. The silly dialogues he is asked to deliver don't help either. 

KungFu Yoga is a mish-mash of Chinese and Hindi movie elements and is super light and frothy. So you shouldn't have trouble breezing through it with a hint of a smile at the ridiculousness of it all. But Chan doesn't have anything new or different to offer here and the plot at best is a silly version of a children's fantasy novel. In the end, you may feel exactly like that lion in the film, that gets sick after his adventurous roller-coaster car ride.

Reviewed by Suparna Thombare