Be forewarned that while there are comic moments in the film, it is primarily a dark film about innocents being caught up in a war outside of their control. Jackie Chan plays a farmer who was drafted into his kingdom's army. He is the last surviving member of his family and wants nothing more than to return to the land and raise a family. He survives a horrible battle and captures the enemy general. If he can get the general back to the capital, he can get five acres of land as a reward and become a farmer again. It is one of Jackie Chan's best performances but don't go expecting Shanghai Knights. Beautifully photographed with a compelling story line it is, in the end a melancholy film.

Jackie Chan, graverobber...? Indeed- and it's one of his finest performances ever. Chan is learning how to mellow with age, and LITTLE BIG SOLDIER enables him to rely more on his carefully-honed acting skills than his death-defying antics. (Surprisingly, there's a cgi/wirework sequence here, but it turns out to be nothing more than a dream sequence- thankfully.) Chan's funnier than ever, too. He wears a fake arrow-through-the-chest rig that comes in handy when he's captured. The barbarian bandits are easily the coolest characters we've seen this side of the original Robert E. Howard CONAN stories (which are NOT to be confused with the alleged "feature films") (nor the live-action nor the cartoon teleshows). When a captured general escapes, Chan, as "Samll Potato," observes: "Just a general. Next time, I'll catch a king." There are some GREAT locations throughout LITTLE BIG SOLDIER and the ending is very dramatic, indeed. Another winner.

Jackie Chan comedies are funny, but have become clichés and a bit ridiculous at moments. "Little Big Soldier" is a refreshing comedy, action, adventure in which Jackie's performance is better than any of his latest movies. Even though he's a bad ass, kung-fu fighting farmer, he appears to be a coward, which later on proves to be otherwise. His humor is not as immature as before, I even felt like it came from his roots. The Chinese have proved themselves to be witty before, and Jackie really portrays that in this title. It really shows you how the Chinese history was, how the people thought and acted, and adds a big pile of good comedy on top of it. I enjoyed it more than expected and especially liked the twist at the end. I did not, for one minute, mind that this movie was in Chinese. Actually, I enjoyed not watching Jackie suffer with his English, even though it tends to be funny. This movie really deserves a larger audience than I believe it gets, but, I guess not everyone is ready to watch a Chinese movie. Loved it, and I would love to see more of this kinds of movies from Jackie.

I hate to give a negative review to anything Jackie Chan does since he's simply one of the most likable actors around. Even in poor movies, he generally shines, which he does here. The problem is the lack of any breadth or depth to this story. There's just not much in this movie. To summarize, Jackie Chan plays a lone surviving Liang soldier who captures the only other surviver, the enemy general from Wei, in hopes of taking him home and being rewarded. What transpires is a road picture of sorts as the mismatched pair quarrel, fight, and find common ground on the journey to Liang, all while trying to evade a band of uncivilized nomads and a young Wei prince who has reasons of his own for wanting the general back.There's a basis for a story here, but it's not fleshed out in any way. This film desperately needed some "Meanwhile, back at the palace in Wei...," or "Meanwhile, back at a farm in Liang...," scenes to provide some background, context, and emotional heft to the story. The political and filial rivalry between the Prince and the general is never fully explored in any detail and the resolution of that conflict is incredibly weak. And some things just don't make sense. Why would a prince, supposedly the next ruler of his kingdom, go off in search of the general himself and take only a handful of soldiers to protect him? Wouldn't he be leading a fairly substantial army? All the actors do their job; Chan is his usual funny, endearing Everyman and I especially liked the actor who portrayed the young Prince Wen. He was suitably haughty and proud. But, there just isn't enough here to recommend the film.