What a great and glorious year it is for introducing your children to the wonders of kung fu movies. I remember the heady days of my youth, drinking deep from the Shaw Brothers cup every Sunday on USA's Sunday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater. I would sit down and watch tales of honor and glory and martial prowess before I'd go over to my best friend's house and replay the movie in the backyard.

Well, recently it has been kind of hard to show the kids the glory of Kung Fu. After some brainiac at the MPAA decided that getting kicked in the head amounted to an R rating, movie studios decided that if they were going to get an R rating anyway they might as well REALLY earn it. So martial arts films aren't exactly the kind of thing we can show kids these days. That is, until this summer.

Two wonderful martial arts family films found their way into theaters and both became big hits. One was Kung Fu Panda (out on DVD a little later this year) and the other was the movie kung fu fans have been waiting almost two decades for, The Forbidden Kingdom.

First things first. There is one reason every and any kung fu fan needs to see this. A 7-minute fight between the film's leads -- one Jackie Chan and one Jet Li. This fight has been one of the most posited-about match-ups in geek history, right there next to "Who would win in a starship battle, James T. Kirk or Jean-Luc Piccard?" You wanna know who wins? We do. The fight is everything you want it to be. But more importantly, the movie (which is PG-13) is every bit as family-friendly as a kung fu movie can be. Made with the young specifically in mind, it's a kung fu Wizard of Oz.

A young girl boy gets caught in a tornado falls off of a building and wakes up in the magical land of Oz China where it is soon discovered that she he must return a magical broomstick bo staff to the Wizard Monkey King. Along the way, our hero encounters three strangers, a Scarecrow Drunken Master, a Tin Man Kung Fu Monk and a Lion young orphan seeking revenge.

Unfortunately for them, they are pursued by an evil witch and her legion of flying monkeys kung fu assassins who wants the magic slippers staff for herself. Along the journey there is much in the way of singing and dancing kung fu and there is a journey of self-discovery in which our hero learns that true power comes from within and that if you believe in yourself, there is no evil witch that can stop you.

Needless to say, despite the obvious familiarity, the movie is a fun, fantastical romp through a gorgeous take on the Shaw Brother's universe. A wonderful introduction to the genre, mythologies and philosophies of these kinds of films, this can very well (especially when coupled with Kung Fu Panda) prove to be a sort of gateway drug for your kids into a world you yourself have long been in love with.

The Forbidden Kingdom is available now from Lionsgate on DVD (in a two-disc Special Edition + Digital Copy) and on Blu-ray.

The special features seem to have been designed with that end. At first, while watching them, I found them to be a bit simple. Even fairly obvious things like introductions to famous actors seemed much more accessible and less for the well-informed fan. There are reams of short, easily digestible material here. Making-ofs, footage of Chinese locations, some cool deleted scenes and my favorite -- a piece titled "The Kung Fu Dream Team" which features Chan, Lee and legendary action director Yuen Woo Ping (The Matrix, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Kill Bill) all talking about what it was like working together, and how they compensated for each other's amazing styles.

This disc was clearly designed with one thing in mind: getting your kids interested in and ultimately hooked on kung fu. And really, that ain't a bad thing at all. If you grew up dreaming of becoming a kung fu master, hooked on the classic martial art epics and even the shoddily produced Bruce Lee knock-offs, then isn't it about time you sit your kids down and introduce them to just how awesome Jackie Chan and Jet Li can be? I think it is.

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