On the surface, Shanghai Noon seems to be little more of a retelling of Chan's previous US hit Rush Hour, this time set in the Old West. HK film fans will also see similarities between Shanghai Noon and the Jet Li film Once Upon a Time in China and America. Thankfully, Shanghai Noon is better than either of those films. In fact, I would say it's Chan's some of best work in years. While there may not be enough action to please some (and it's also obvious that Chan was doubled extensively for the stuntwork), Shanghai Noon packs something many films don't -- a good script. While it's nothing deep or mind-blowing, Noon's script is fast-moving and funny with very little melodrama. Owen Wilson also makes a great sidekick for Chan, adding in a talent for vocal comedy that's not present in many of Chan's films (and no, it's not as annoying as Chris Tucker in Rush Hour).

A lot of the humor plays off of cultural differences, which may have also been the attempt of Rush Hour but it is much more successful here. Again, Rush Hour was Chris Tucker doing his black thing while Jackie did his Chinese thing and it happened to result in jokes sometimes. Shanghai Noon makes complex statements about understanding, interpretation and tolerance.

When Jackie meets a group of Indians – and the term "Indians" is used because it’s a western and they weren’t saying “Native Americans” back then – he tries the same ways of communicating with them that many insulting Englishmen try on foreign people. He speaks louder and slower, and the Indians make fun of him, in subtitles, for thinking that will correct their lack of communication. Another brilliant joke has American settlers mistaking the Chinese ambassador’s for Orthodox Jews.

Most importantly, Shanghai Noon has the kind of intricate, drawn out action scenes that were missing from Rush Hour. Jackie's fans could have watched him catch falling vases for 20 minutes, but we only got a minute and a half. And that was the longest of any fight scene in that movie. In Shanghai Noon, that would be the shortest..

Some highlights of Shanghai Noon include a forest fight with a rival Indian tribe in which Chan flies through the trees to defeat the enemies. Only Jackie could use trees as action set pieces (although do not forget Mark Whalberg running from the car in The Big Hit.) Another is a bar fight that uses props like the best Jackie Chan scenes. And the climax is one of those beautiful on-and-on action scenes that keeps going every time you think it will end. The action scenes incorporate some of Jackie’s classic bits with new material to both acknowledge the loyal fans and impress the new ones.

Chan shows his ability at Jim Carrey-style humor with his mugging faces and the film’s gag reel includes one of the funniest out-takes in 20 years of Jackie Chan movies. Jackie also does some nice acting. Not that this is a huge dramatic piece, but there are some sincere scenes with his character admiring Lucy Liu’s princess character that show more emotion than most of Chan’s work. Liu does nicely with a small role that manages to defy gender conventions in the little time she has on screen and Brandon Merrill makes an impressive debut as Jackie’s Indian “wife” who bails him and Wilson out of trouble. Let’s hope to see more from her in future movies.

Shanghai Noon looks like a star-making vehicle for Wilson and confirms Chan’s ability to make movies in America. Commercial director Tom Dey balances American buddy movie style with Hong Kong action and brings out the comedic potential of both styles. Lucy Liu does nicely with a small role that manages to defy gender conventions in the little time she has on screen.

There are dead spots, though - the movie doesn't need to be 110 minutes. And some of the gags are warmed over Mel Brooks. Still, the pairing of goofball Wilson ("Armageddon," "Bottle Rocket") with the hard-working and likeable Chan makes up for a lot.

Famous as a martial arts master who performs his own stunts, Chan is also a decent physical comedian who has modeled himself on Buster Keaton. Wilson's off-the-wall character, an Old West train robber with a hint of Sean Penn's surfer-stoner from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," is a winning creation by itself, but also makes sparks with Chan's character. As an onscreen team, they're as tight as a bronco buster and his saddle sores.

The time is 1881, and after set-up sequences in China's Forbidden City, the action switches to the American West. The Princess Pei Pei (Lucy Liu) has been tricked into leaving her homeland in a kidnap plot, and Chon Wang (Chan), a lesser member of the imperial guard, is among a contingent sent to ransom her. (The writers toss in a few groaners about the characters' names - does "Chon Wang" remind you of a certain cowboy movie star? - lest we mistake this for, say, a Bergman film.)

In the Nevada desert, Roy O'Bannon (Wilson), an inept if polite bandit leader who dislikes violence, tries to hold up the train carrying the imperial guards, setting off the movie's first martial arts set piece. Chon Wang gets to show off his awesome array of kung fu moves, and while there's plenty of fighting, it's not threatening; the point is fancy choreography, not graphic brutality.

After Chon Wang encounters some highly intelligent Indians - and acquires an Indian bride (Brandon Merrill) who will help him out of several scrapes - he and O'Bannon pair up in Carson City, where the evil Lo Fang (Roger Yuan) is holding the princess. Lo Fong, who oversees Chinese railroad laborers kept in slavelike conditions, is in cahoots with the nasty sheriff, Van Cleef (a small joke for those who know their spaghetti westerns).

The plight of the Chinese workers is addressed squarely, just one of the ways the film acknowledges American racism - but, commendably, without losing its buoyancy. Wilson is key in maintaining the mood; his Roy is just a laid-back guy who took up outlawing to attract women, and likes nothing better than a mellow evening at the Carson City bordello. He has an amusing/dumb bonding scene with Chon Wang as the two play drinking games while soaking in bath tubs. And he is continually astounded at his friend's martial arts dexterity, using such nonstandard weapons as moose antlers and horseshoes.

Chan is Chan: personable, self-deprecating, forthright, but a wizard with fists and feet. He seems, as always, to be having tremendous fun. Liu is underused, though she does get to show off some fighting moves. In his first feature, director Tom Dey makes good use of his background in commercials: The comedy and actions sequences are, for the most part, crisply paced. The writers, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, throw in gags by the bucketful, and lo, some shtick. There's impressive Big Country photography by Dan Mindel.

But the real inspiration of "Shanghai Noon" was putting together Chan and Wilson - better filmmaking through chemistry.