There is epic action and adventure in this film, to be sure, and some humour too - but it is all directed towards a conclusion whose devastating impact is not even undone by the touches of mawkishness that get us there.

A better screenplay, tougher editing and less commercial direction might have made the tale more substantial and even funnier -- as it is, Chan keeps it all going.

Jackie Chan has made plenty of cracking films in his native tongue, but Little Big Soldier, a rambunctiously tragicomic martial epic set during China's Warring States period, is regrettably not one of them.

Chan puts his heart and soul into the part of Big Soldier, and it's a reminder that there is more to the actor than Hollywood cinemagoers may have witnessed.