By the time we get through all the production companies logos, you feel you have already watched a feature film. The very belated closure to Jeff Lau's Chinese Odyssey trilogy instantly proves to be a far cry from its predecessors - lacking all of what made the first 2 films incredible!
Swamped with poor CGI and far too much green-screen-acting, this chapter sees the return of Karen Mok as Jing Jing, and all other characters replaced - and unfortunately, not for the better. Only 20 minutes in, with director Jeff Lau failing hopelessly to recreate that wonderful opening scene from part 1, we see the Longevity Monk (now played by Wu Jing) arrive on screen dressed as Michael Jackson (waaaaay out of date on that one!) as our new Monkey King (played blandly by Han Geng) challenges the Goddess...
By the stage, the opening action scene (totally ruined by terrible CGI) fails to impress, and I'm already feeling a stroke coming on as I have still another 70 minutes to get through!!
Gone is the beautiful art direction and sets, with smoke filled scenery, wonderfully lit and full of colour...
Instead, we get CGI sets - most of which are poorly executed, with half decent ones here and there only to be marred by some crappy digital item or creature, and clean studio sound that completely removes you from the scene. At times, it feels like watching a TV movie rather than a big budgeted film from a prolific director.
Han Geng as Joker/Monkey King is absolutely no replacement for the amazing Chow Sing Chi. In fact, its an insult to think that the producers and director thought he could bring the same quality and comic timing to the role! The same can be said for Wu Jing. I love him in the many action roles he has done over the years, but his comedic side and trying to pull off a Law Kar Ying does not work well here at all..!
The film gets gradually worse, and if you are lucky to have made it any further than the first 20 minutes, should agree that the whole thing is a complete disaster that should not have been made - or at the very least, went into production 20 years ago with the original cast in place before director Lau got obsessed with bad CGI.
Dreadful!
Overall: Will break your soul to see such a disappointment, and definitely not worth your hard earned cash...
