2/5 stars

This martial arts action film with old-school characteristics is a big but scrappy affair. Geared to audiences in China, the Lunar New Year comedy tries to rekindle the exuberant spirit and high jinks of earlier Jackie Chan-Stanley Tong Kwai-lai collaborations such as Rumble in the Bronx, but falls short.

Some set pieces, such as a big car chase and multiple motor pile-up, show touches of the old flair, but Hong Kong audiences will find they have seen it all before, and seen it done better.

A China-India co-production written by Tong, Kung Fu Yoga has Chan as Xian-based archaeologist – and martial arts expert – Jack going on an adventure to reclaim an Indian gem which possesses magical powers.

His nemesis is a cool-headed villain, played by India’s Sonu Sood, who feels that the stone is part of his family heritage. With a cohort which includes Aarif Rahman, Zhang Yixing and Eric Tsang Chi-wai, Jack flits between Dubai, India, and China to look for the prized rock.

Oddly, although the title suggests a fusion of kung fu and yoga, that never happens – and that’s a big let-down. But Chan still knows his stuff, so it’s not all bad. A scene in a marketplace, loaded with racial clichés, shows he hasn’t forgotten how to use his surroundings to forge innovative action scenes; and a sequence in which he mugs with a lion which is inexplicably sitting in the back of his car is funny, even if it’s stupid.