Journey to the Forbidden Valley
2017
Action / Adventure / Family

Journey to the Forbidden Valley
2017
Action / Adventure / Family
Plot summary
After a small airplane crash lands in a remote area of Central China, several passengers survive, including a Chinese boy and his American guardian. As they wait to be rescued, they soon encounter the mysterious Yeren-- an elusive ape-man creature rumored to have inhabited the Shennongjia mountains for many centuries. When ruthless poachers arrive to capture the Yeren, our heroes must decide if the unique creature is their friend or foe.
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
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6 out of 10
Basic, old fashioned, more down to Earth sci fi
The creature here is a bit of a Yeti, and it's a more interesting creature than we get in most modern sci fi. It's a throw back to old sci fi when "creatures" had some motivation instead of just doing whatever a Hollywood hack writer wants it to do.
The Asian characters get most of the dialog, so much of this is in subtitles, but we've learned with classic films like "Seven Samurai", "Nankyoku Monogatari" and others, that subtitles can work quite well. Here, nothing is lost in translation.
The heroine is a "girl next door" type, a 7/10 by normal standards, but more 5/10 compared with Hollywood model types, so they're going with the girl next door look, and that almost always works. A cuter girl shows up later in the police rescue squad for the eye candy.
What's good is that this isn't just a blood fest to appease the Beavis and Butthead crowd that usually rate and review these movies. As of now, we haven't heard from them yet.
There is more "damage" than "death" in this movie, which gives it a more realistic feel. The characters are motivated. The greedy American anti hero is annoying, and that keeps this from being rated higher. He's too much of a rich brat, and not relatable to most people.
The Asian characters are the ones we can empathize with, and that works in the film's favor. The American duo should have been even more like Raymond Burr add in characters to make this a better film.
Easily the best "yeti" style film I've seen since Tucker and Cushing, and I've seen about seven since then.