43 reviews
...with a budget of almost 90 million US dollars(biggest Chinese movie budget to date), and this is what they came up with? there were many major problems with this movie, first off having Donnie Yen as the monkey king was a big big no no. the mans facial features are as expressive as wood and recently you can tell how egotistical he has become. he wants every big role in a big movie even if it isn't right for him and in this movie he makes a fool out of himself till 3/4's of the way thru. he is known for his action movies and there isn't much of that as the movie is almost all cgi and wire-fu.
for most of the movie the cgi was almost laughable, i've literally seen better in video games, and they had help from the cgi team that did Avatar( i think the team took the money and ranned ). it was going to be hard to cgi the right way cause the book was so detailed and deep.
i went into this movie not expecting much and wind up not getting much, there were no development of characters, some of the costumes were laughably bad and the other 2 leads weren't that interesting either. basically just about nothing works in this movie...and now for its saving grace.
if you watch this movie make sure you finish it, because the last quarter of the movie is freakin awesome and makes up for sitting thru the first 2/3's to 3/4's of the movie. everything picked up close to the end...it almost seemed like a different team stepped in to finish the movie, in every aspect. the fighting got good( you actually see real fight moves from Donnie). the story and acting got tighter and best of all, the cgi looked as good as any that Hollywood can put out, and it was exciting.
so, if the movie isn't that appealing...just make sure you watch the last third or quarter and you'll feel a lot less screwed...the ending of the movie was its saving grace and just might save the movie from disaster. i give this movie a 5.8 out of 10. save the popcorn for the last 30 minutes of the movie.
for most of the movie the cgi was almost laughable, i've literally seen better in video games, and they had help from the cgi team that did Avatar( i think the team took the money and ranned ). it was going to be hard to cgi the right way cause the book was so detailed and deep.
i went into this movie not expecting much and wind up not getting much, there were no development of characters, some of the costumes were laughably bad and the other 2 leads weren't that interesting either. basically just about nothing works in this movie...and now for its saving grace.
if you watch this movie make sure you finish it, because the last quarter of the movie is freakin awesome and makes up for sitting thru the first 2/3's to 3/4's of the movie. everything picked up close to the end...it almost seemed like a different team stepped in to finish the movie, in every aspect. the fighting got good( you actually see real fight moves from Donnie). the story and acting got tighter and best of all, the cgi looked as good as any that Hollywood can put out, and it was exciting.
so, if the movie isn't that appealing...just make sure you watch the last third or quarter and you'll feel a lot less screwed...the ending of the movie was its saving grace and just might save the movie from disaster. i give this movie a 5.8 out of 10. save the popcorn for the last 30 minutes of the movie.
The Monkey King is pretty famous. Even if Western audiences are unfamiliar with the actual "Journey to the West", they may have grown up reading and/or watching Dragonball. Sun Wukong (or Son Goku, if you prefer) brings to mind a charming combination of being guileless, kind and armed with earth-shattering power. To this end, Sun Wukong is faithfully portrayed. Let's be clear: Journey to the West, like many other classical Chinese stories, has been done to death on TV as a drama series/anime adaption. It is not easy to maintain the gravitas of classical Chinese literature, the authenticity of the Ancient Chinese setting and also live up to Hollywood level CGI effects and modern filming conventions.
How well has this interpretation done? Better than any previous one. Is it a classic on its own like Peter Jackson's LOTR? Nope.
The GOOD:
The combat CGI looks at times to have come straight out of a cartoon; nevertheless it beats all previous films. The scenery is quite beautiful, albeit too dependent on CGI and thus guilty of unnaturally sprightly colour palettes. Sun Wukong as the lead is decently portrayed.
The BAD:
The Bull Demon King is not badass in the original story, so it comes off as a rather strange character contortion seemingly to fit Aaron Kwok's admittedly dreary character archetype. The same goes for Er Lang Shen, who is supposed to be the combat equal of Wukong and not some cheap political schemer.
Many of the deities look like regular patrons of SK2 with their ridiculously flawless skin. Comes across as weird and unnecessary. Costumes are improved, but still anime-like. No need to dress every character like a peacock.
The worst of all is the soundtrack: what passes as a reasonably exciting and eyecatching fight scene by today's standards is often ruined by the cheap, mostly non-thematic and garbled orchestral pieces that reflect neither the grandeur of the ancient East nor the Monkey King's capacity for romance. Again, think LOTR. Think of the gravitas of Princess Mononoke's soundtrack. This soundtrack is amateurish compared to those two masterpieces, and unfittingly so for one of the four Great Novels.
Regardless, it makes for a reasonably entertaining watch if you can ignore its pitfalls. just don't expect anything spectacular.
How well has this interpretation done? Better than any previous one. Is it a classic on its own like Peter Jackson's LOTR? Nope.
The GOOD:
The combat CGI looks at times to have come straight out of a cartoon; nevertheless it beats all previous films. The scenery is quite beautiful, albeit too dependent on CGI and thus guilty of unnaturally sprightly colour palettes. Sun Wukong as the lead is decently portrayed.
The BAD:
The Bull Demon King is not badass in the original story, so it comes off as a rather strange character contortion seemingly to fit Aaron Kwok's admittedly dreary character archetype. The same goes for Er Lang Shen, who is supposed to be the combat equal of Wukong and not some cheap political schemer.
Many of the deities look like regular patrons of SK2 with their ridiculously flawless skin. Comes across as weird and unnecessary. Costumes are improved, but still anime-like. No need to dress every character like a peacock.
The worst of all is the soundtrack: what passes as a reasonably exciting and eyecatching fight scene by today's standards is often ruined by the cheap, mostly non-thematic and garbled orchestral pieces that reflect neither the grandeur of the ancient East nor the Monkey King's capacity for romance. Again, think LOTR. Think of the gravitas of Princess Mononoke's soundtrack. This soundtrack is amateurish compared to those two masterpieces, and unfittingly so for one of the four Great Novels.
Regardless, it makes for a reasonably entertaining watch if you can ignore its pitfalls. just don't expect anything spectacular.
- The-Sarkologist
- Feb 7, 2014
- Permalink
On paper, everything about The Monkey King screams blockbuster. It's an adaptation of Journey To The West, the classic Chinese novel which tells the hugely-beloved tale of a daring, gifted monkey who falls from the heavens and must find his way back again. It stars three of Chinese cinema's most familiar and respected faces: Donnie Yen, Chow Yun-Fat and Aaron Kwok. Hollywood talents have been recruited to oversee the make-up and special effects for the film. In theory, this is a film to get enormously excited about.
In practice, everything about The Monkey King screams travesty. The movie is remarkably faithful to some elements of the novel, and deviates tragically in others. All three stars are hamstrung in their roles, forced to play the fool or brood anti-heroically in place of a script that actually gives them something real and meaty to do. The CGI is mostly awful, and the make-up/costumes almost laughably amateurish. Brew all those mistakes together, and director Cheang Pou-Soi has really mucked it up big-time.
The film opens with an epic war in the heavens, one that results in the goddess Nüwa having to sacrifice herself to rebuild the celestial palace of the Jade Emperor (Chow). Monkey (Yen) is one of the vestiges of Nüwa's grace, cast down to the mortal realm and trapped in a mountain. Monkey's fate, so it seems, can bring peace or chaos; his own mischievous personality balanced between good and evil. As he trains with a pack of human disciples who mock him for being more simian than they are, Monkey picks up skills, weapons, and a monumental ego. Soon, he establishes himself as the King of Huaguo Mountain, where he lives with his obedient flock of monkeys. But, under the manipulative influence of the Bull Demon King (Kwok), Monkey soon finds himself returning to the heavenly palace to wreak havoc beyond anyone's worst nightmares.
Journey To The West is, truly, a marvellous source of material for a film adaptation: it's morally rich, thematically complex and spiritually enlightening, with huge helpings of adventure, fantasy and derring-do. The allegory, of course, is one that chimes with the Buddhist scriptures: the hubris of Monkey doubles as that of humankind, the notion that we believe ourselves to be somehow greater and more important than we are, that we can rail against the heavens and win. Monkey's journey is one of humility and, eventually, enlightenment.
Almost miraculously, The Monkey King - which focuses on Monkey's fall from grace, a mix of his own arrogance and the demonic lies he unfortunately chooses to believe - wastes almost every iota of the novel's magic and potential. The script is dreadful, blundering from scene to scene with little care for continuity or character development. It dutifully checks off each stage of Monkey's rebellion against the Jade Emperor - from anointing himself the Great Sage Equal To Heaven to, briefly, becoming the divine horsekeeper and later eating forbidden celestial peaches - but fails to connect any of them in a meaningful way. In fact, it shambles about so much that it becomes unintentionally funny.
You might think that the three actors holding up the film might salvage it in some way. They do, and they don't, largely because the terrible script prevents them from doing much good. Yen manages to be charismatically cheeky as Monkey, even though he seems to think that acting like a monkey involves blinking a lot and very fast. He gets approximately one scene to tumble through the air with his trademark acrobatic grace, after which he's submerged beneath a maelstrom of CGI and wirework. Kwok has been set to dark, brooding mode, which he does quite well, but he never really bothers to snap out of it. Chow, with his blue contact lenses, is the only one who seems to be in on the joke, twinkling his way through scenes that require him to throw off extraneous lines of dialogue or float unconscious in mid-air.
It's hard to shake the feeling, too, that most of the film's budget went to securing the services of Yen, Kwok and Chow. The other actors seem to have wandered in from a grade-school production of Journey To The West, dressed in costumes they might as well have made themselves. Peter Ho, in particular, is hilariously bad as Er Lang Shen, the devious celestial deity who has it in for Monkey. Through much of his unfortunately considerable screen-time, Ho looks permanently constipated. Cameos from the likes of pop singers Kelly Chen and Gigi Leung - the former plays Guan Yin, Goddess Of Mercy, and the latter the immortal moon-dwelling Chang'E - add to the generally trippy effect of the film.
The special effects are, on the whole, terrible: a lot of the time, the film feels like a creaky albeit well-intentioned television adaptation from the 1970s, which is unfortunate given the forty intervening years of technological development. Everything is green-screened within an inch of its life, and almost all of it feels awfully fake. Some moments are nicely-rendered, but those are soon forgotten beneath the deluge of psychedelic Buddhas and sparkly goddesses. Leave us not forget the costumes, which look as if they were picked up from a store dumping its unwanted Halloween stock.
If you can suffer through the first two-thirds of the film, The Monkey King actually seems to find its feet in its final half-hour. The action beats have a genuine snap of tension and the drama is rounded out by a welcome touch of comedy. It's still a surreal and not altogether well- put-together mess, but it's a great deal more effective in a narrative sense. Too bad it comes about an hour after the audience has run out of doubt from which the film can benefit.
In practice, everything about The Monkey King screams travesty. The movie is remarkably faithful to some elements of the novel, and deviates tragically in others. All three stars are hamstrung in their roles, forced to play the fool or brood anti-heroically in place of a script that actually gives them something real and meaty to do. The CGI is mostly awful, and the make-up/costumes almost laughably amateurish. Brew all those mistakes together, and director Cheang Pou-Soi has really mucked it up big-time.
The film opens with an epic war in the heavens, one that results in the goddess Nüwa having to sacrifice herself to rebuild the celestial palace of the Jade Emperor (Chow). Monkey (Yen) is one of the vestiges of Nüwa's grace, cast down to the mortal realm and trapped in a mountain. Monkey's fate, so it seems, can bring peace or chaos; his own mischievous personality balanced between good and evil. As he trains with a pack of human disciples who mock him for being more simian than they are, Monkey picks up skills, weapons, and a monumental ego. Soon, he establishes himself as the King of Huaguo Mountain, where he lives with his obedient flock of monkeys. But, under the manipulative influence of the Bull Demon King (Kwok), Monkey soon finds himself returning to the heavenly palace to wreak havoc beyond anyone's worst nightmares.
Journey To The West is, truly, a marvellous source of material for a film adaptation: it's morally rich, thematically complex and spiritually enlightening, with huge helpings of adventure, fantasy and derring-do. The allegory, of course, is one that chimes with the Buddhist scriptures: the hubris of Monkey doubles as that of humankind, the notion that we believe ourselves to be somehow greater and more important than we are, that we can rail against the heavens and win. Monkey's journey is one of humility and, eventually, enlightenment.
Almost miraculously, The Monkey King - which focuses on Monkey's fall from grace, a mix of his own arrogance and the demonic lies he unfortunately chooses to believe - wastes almost every iota of the novel's magic and potential. The script is dreadful, blundering from scene to scene with little care for continuity or character development. It dutifully checks off each stage of Monkey's rebellion against the Jade Emperor - from anointing himself the Great Sage Equal To Heaven to, briefly, becoming the divine horsekeeper and later eating forbidden celestial peaches - but fails to connect any of them in a meaningful way. In fact, it shambles about so much that it becomes unintentionally funny.
You might think that the three actors holding up the film might salvage it in some way. They do, and they don't, largely because the terrible script prevents them from doing much good. Yen manages to be charismatically cheeky as Monkey, even though he seems to think that acting like a monkey involves blinking a lot and very fast. He gets approximately one scene to tumble through the air with his trademark acrobatic grace, after which he's submerged beneath a maelstrom of CGI and wirework. Kwok has been set to dark, brooding mode, which he does quite well, but he never really bothers to snap out of it. Chow, with his blue contact lenses, is the only one who seems to be in on the joke, twinkling his way through scenes that require him to throw off extraneous lines of dialogue or float unconscious in mid-air.
It's hard to shake the feeling, too, that most of the film's budget went to securing the services of Yen, Kwok and Chow. The other actors seem to have wandered in from a grade-school production of Journey To The West, dressed in costumes they might as well have made themselves. Peter Ho, in particular, is hilariously bad as Er Lang Shen, the devious celestial deity who has it in for Monkey. Through much of his unfortunately considerable screen-time, Ho looks permanently constipated. Cameos from the likes of pop singers Kelly Chen and Gigi Leung - the former plays Guan Yin, Goddess Of Mercy, and the latter the immortal moon-dwelling Chang'E - add to the generally trippy effect of the film.
The special effects are, on the whole, terrible: a lot of the time, the film feels like a creaky albeit well-intentioned television adaptation from the 1970s, which is unfortunate given the forty intervening years of technological development. Everything is green-screened within an inch of its life, and almost all of it feels awfully fake. Some moments are nicely-rendered, but those are soon forgotten beneath the deluge of psychedelic Buddhas and sparkly goddesses. Leave us not forget the costumes, which look as if they were picked up from a store dumping its unwanted Halloween stock.
If you can suffer through the first two-thirds of the film, The Monkey King actually seems to find its feet in its final half-hour. The action beats have a genuine snap of tension and the drama is rounded out by a welcome touch of comedy. It's still a surreal and not altogether well- put-together mess, but it's a great deal more effective in a narrative sense. Too bad it comes about an hour after the audience has run out of doubt from which the film can benefit.
- shawneofthedead
- Feb 1, 2014
- Permalink
Do not watch this at the cinema as it not worth your time or money. Don't even bother renting it as you are better off not seeing this version of "The Monkey King". Why you may ask.. well I'll list it in point form below (spoilers free.. no worries). 1. Poor writing, dialogues and story line. 2. Not faithful to the source material. 3. Worst CGI ever to grace the silver screen. Literally... Even a sub par video game CG is much better than this and this movie consist of 70% CG which is really really unbearable to watch and to sit through. Lots and lots of lazy CG work where they copy and paste the same model over and over again. 4. Fight sequence are horribly choreographed. Even Donnie Yen's star power can't save it. 5. No character development in the story whatsoever. You don't even bother or care about any of the characters on screen. 6. The costumes for the animals humonoid are simply horrible. Even sesame street is better than this.
When THE MONKEY KING debuted the teaser trailer sometimes last year, I was doubtful whether Donnie Yen was really up for the legendary Sun Wukong role or not. Even the glimpse of the special effects doesn't look engaging enough to convince me whatsoever. However, upon finally watching it, this nearly four-years-in-the-making production proves to be a well-worthy cinematic experience after all.
WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?
During an ongoing war between god and demon on the Heavenly Palace, Bull Demon King (Aaron Kwok) lost the battle against Jade Emperor (Chow Yun-Fat). However, Jade Emperor's daughter, Princess Iron Fan (Joe Fan), begs her father for mercy because she loves Bull Demon King very much. Jade Emperor ends up banishing both of them to the Fire Mountain and forbids them to enter Heavenly Palace ever again. Meanwhile, a monkey spirit is born out from Princess Nuwa's (Zhang Zilin) magic stones which later grows up as a mischievous adult. Soon he is trained under Master Puti (Tian Hai Yi) and names him as Sun Wukong. After Wukong completed his master's training, he returns to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits where he originally belongs to reunite with his fellow monkey clan and calls himself as Handsome Monkey King. Trouble arrives when Bull Demon King sees Wukong as his golden opportunity to use him as bait to access Heavenly Palace, while waiting for the right moment to wage war against the god all over again.
THE GOOD STUFF
Last seen in 2012's MOTORWAY, Soi Cheang's direction is colorful and yet entertaining enough to please most of the die-hard fans of the Sun Wukong story. Speaking of story, Szeto Kam Yuen's and Edmond Wong's screenplay is a fairly satisfying combination of action, comedy, romance and fantastical elements all rolled into slick package. Christopher Young's music score, in the meantime, is simply majestic. The action sequence, which is choreographed by Donnie Yen himself, is often exhilarating and epic in scope.
As Sun Wukong, Donnie Yen has successfully delivers one of his best performances ever seen since IP MAN (2008) and IP MAN 2 (2010). And likewise, he proves to be such a nimble fighter as usual, especially when he uses his golden staff. Other actors, such as Peter Ho as the scheming Erlangshen and Chow Yun-Fat as the noble Jade Emperor, are equally acceptable as well.
MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT(S)
The "all-hell-breaks-loose" duels during the movie's spectacular finale.
THE BAD STUFF
Despite the hefty amount spent on the budget, the special effects are average at best. Even there are times the special effects looks like a rushed job. Some of the other cast, including Aaron Kwok's villainous turn as Bull Demon King, Kelly Chen as Guanyin and Gigi Leung as Chang'E, are sadly underwritten.
FINAL WORDS
While THE MONKEY KING is far from the best movie adaptation ever seen from Wu Cheng'en's classical novel of Journey to the West, it remains a satisfying effort worth checking out for this Chinese New Year.
caseymoviemania.blogspot.com
WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?
During an ongoing war between god and demon on the Heavenly Palace, Bull Demon King (Aaron Kwok) lost the battle against Jade Emperor (Chow Yun-Fat). However, Jade Emperor's daughter, Princess Iron Fan (Joe Fan), begs her father for mercy because she loves Bull Demon King very much. Jade Emperor ends up banishing both of them to the Fire Mountain and forbids them to enter Heavenly Palace ever again. Meanwhile, a monkey spirit is born out from Princess Nuwa's (Zhang Zilin) magic stones which later grows up as a mischievous adult. Soon he is trained under Master Puti (Tian Hai Yi) and names him as Sun Wukong. After Wukong completed his master's training, he returns to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits where he originally belongs to reunite with his fellow monkey clan and calls himself as Handsome Monkey King. Trouble arrives when Bull Demon King sees Wukong as his golden opportunity to use him as bait to access Heavenly Palace, while waiting for the right moment to wage war against the god all over again.
THE GOOD STUFF
Last seen in 2012's MOTORWAY, Soi Cheang's direction is colorful and yet entertaining enough to please most of the die-hard fans of the Sun Wukong story. Speaking of story, Szeto Kam Yuen's and Edmond Wong's screenplay is a fairly satisfying combination of action, comedy, romance and fantastical elements all rolled into slick package. Christopher Young's music score, in the meantime, is simply majestic. The action sequence, which is choreographed by Donnie Yen himself, is often exhilarating and epic in scope.
As Sun Wukong, Donnie Yen has successfully delivers one of his best performances ever seen since IP MAN (2008) and IP MAN 2 (2010). And likewise, he proves to be such a nimble fighter as usual, especially when he uses his golden staff. Other actors, such as Peter Ho as the scheming Erlangshen and Chow Yun-Fat as the noble Jade Emperor, are equally acceptable as well.
MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT(S)
The "all-hell-breaks-loose" duels during the movie's spectacular finale.
THE BAD STUFF
Despite the hefty amount spent on the budget, the special effects are average at best. Even there are times the special effects looks like a rushed job. Some of the other cast, including Aaron Kwok's villainous turn as Bull Demon King, Kelly Chen as Guanyin and Gigi Leung as Chang'E, are sadly underwritten.
FINAL WORDS
While THE MONKEY KING is far from the best movie adaptation ever seen from Wu Cheng'en's classical novel of Journey to the West, it remains a satisfying effort worth checking out for this Chinese New Year.
caseymoviemania.blogspot.com
- caseymoviemania
- Feb 2, 2014
- Permalink
Well, as much as I'm a big follower and a big enthusiast of Donnie Yen's movies or should I say... fantasy movies, lately I'm not quite satisfied with Mr. Donnie Yen's recent ventures. When I go and try to watch a fantasy movie, I do of course go there and expecting to see a lot of visual candies with the use of such colorful special effects. The movie I should say upon seeing this movie is still quite a bit, well really, it is still very RAW specially with the not so special cg efforts, they are not so special effects, they are just failed efforts on trying to create a visual effect, to tell you the truth you can go to YouTube and you can find home-made, amateur videos with better special effects done by kids. The movie is a Total Disappointment for me, very MEDIOCRE film making. I actually had second thoughts on giving it a two star, I was gonna go for 1. "Take Care Yourself"
No spoilers... It is just a intro to Chinese folklore....I got It...for westerners this it is a fun fare. I know the history...but they left out so much...but I found it to be very entertaining.It was funny emotional and very captive, I thought that Donnie... like always...he delivers and goes thru all the way...listen don't put it down so much, put the bias a side and you will find it shorter that the long hour of watching the whole soap...I like it and I watched those long month of the soaps...enjoy...I did...I would like to see what the sequel hold for us...man I love it...they got me from beginning to end. Yet To me Donnie Yen could do no wrong...ass does Jet Li.
- rodneyrivera
- Apr 21, 2014
- Permalink
Holy Atrocity Batman.. how did that cost $88M to make? wow. I'm trying to watch this right now and I am doing everything in my power to keep my eyes open.
The subtitles are terrible, the costumes look like they came out of a giant gum ball machine, the CGI is choppy.. almost looks like there's been scenes spliced together without any consideration to the context in the movie. The strangest thing is, the CGI looks like animation..
The CGI reminds me Dr. Who or Quantum Leap. If this is the pinnacle of Chinese special effects, they have a long way to go.
If Mystery Science Theatre 3000 was still on TV, this movie would make its debut... how did that POS make it to the states. Its horrible.
How do I make my vote a 0?
The subtitles are terrible, the costumes look like they came out of a giant gum ball machine, the CGI is choppy.. almost looks like there's been scenes spliced together without any consideration to the context in the movie. The strangest thing is, the CGI looks like animation..
The CGI reminds me Dr. Who or Quantum Leap. If this is the pinnacle of Chinese special effects, they have a long way to go.
If Mystery Science Theatre 3000 was still on TV, this movie would make its debut... how did that POS make it to the states. Its horrible.
How do I make my vote a 0?
- thompsonj81
- Mar 23, 2014
- Permalink
- thesimpsonatsixam
- May 9, 2014
- Permalink
Being an American imbued in this ego-mongering, greed-centric culture and it's pitifully vacuous religious folklore and totally unfamiliar with the story behind the 'Monkey King', I was hesitant to watch this since I had to read subtitles which turned out to be difficult at best due to translation issues, but I did manage to get the gist of the story as it unfolded, and I couldn't help becoming involved in the characters soon after it began. The special effects were not the cutting edge I've grown to expect from Hollywood, but considering the complex fantasy nature of the story, I'm glad that they didn't waste time and money trying to go that route since this story is obviously full of ancient iconic elements that have such a nebulous foundation with each other and history that the relationships between them and the time-line of events would not have flowed as well if they had. I thoroughly enjoyed the spirit of innocence and interminable joy demonstrated by the Monkey King at each stage of his travels. The spirit of his appreciation for life was contagious, and I found myself feeling better about my own reality as a result.
- briantumor1023
- Mar 30, 2014
- Permalink
Watching this is like the after taste of eating a rotten fruit .... leaving a foul revolting sensation that not only torment your taste bud but scar you mentally...
every production involve CHINA now, turn to turd, they hire actor and actress based on popularity than fitting the role nor basic acting skills required... so sad...
A wooden plank has better personality than the likes of emotionless dead fish Aaron Kwok... even the crappy CGI cum dragon ball wannabe fight scene could not save it.... u are warn... avoid the crap like a plague...
every production involve CHINA now, turn to turd, they hire actor and actress based on popularity than fitting the role nor basic acting skills required... so sad...
A wooden plank has better personality than the likes of emotionless dead fish Aaron Kwok... even the crappy CGI cum dragon ball wannabe fight scene could not save it.... u are warn... avoid the crap like a plague...
- hwoarang45
- Apr 3, 2014
- Permalink
- Leofwine_draca
- Jul 29, 2017
- Permalink
- angelsjuliana
- Jul 19, 2015
- Permalink
I watched the first 20 minutes and couldnt watch anymore, i know this movie supposed to be adventure and unreal but its a mess really a big mess, i like adventure and action movies but this one is a comedy movie for childern age under 12 , if you like flying and fighting scenes and transforming to creatures then go and watch this movie but trust me its done very badly.
Although it is true that the big part of the original (huge) book was about the Pilgrimage mentioned in the Synopsis, there are two things you should know: the pilgrimage was more an adventure full of battles, monsters, magic powers, and epic Characters, rather than just a pilgrimage; and this movie concentrates on the first part of the book, before the pilgrimage (actually the Monk does not even appear), on the genesis of the Monkey King. The book was written by a great Taoist monk and it is full of hidden knowledge which not everybody can consciously understand, but it is so well done, so full of adventure and action and funny things, so intriguing and entertaining, that in the centuries it became one of the (if not the) most important books in the popular Chinese culture. There are many layers in it and it was made in such a way that almost anybody can enjoy it. The Monkey King became an extremely popular character, and even Dragonball comes from that book! This film is a bit strange, the special effects are not the best, and some things in the realization will need a bit effort from the western audience, but it is OK, you must understand that as said this is a Chinese story and obviously not made with the western people as main target. But whether you are interested or not in the background of the story, the film is pleasant and entertaining and you can surely enjoy it :) Now I just hope there will be other movies with the rest of the book!
- lemonademouth100
- Apr 3, 2014
- Permalink
I really enjoyed this movie despite its obvious shortcomings. It it a good live-action remake of the 1965 animated feature of the same name (well worth checking out if you're a fan of art films). Donnie Yen does OK as the lead but western fans of his previous films may be left confused and/or disappointed a long time before the 120 mins of 'Fantasy Action' ends - It really helped that I was already familiar with the story as a lot happens in that time. I wonder how the second part will compare with the excellent Journey To The West: Conquering the Demons (2013) as the story from that follows this one - that's not a spoiler is it?
- dewi-taylor
- Apr 11, 2014
- Permalink
My wife and I watched the first 30-35min of the movie before giving up, so I can't comment on the last ~80min. But the first quarter was consistent, so I can only assume the rest was much the same.
It felt like a movie created by a very new director with such a passion for CGI that s/he decided the whole thing should be about that. Therefore minimal plot, minimal acting, minimal character development, minimal kung fu. The acting being especially laughable. I think in the first quarter, with about 10min of character time, Chow Yunfat (Zhou Runfa) said about three lines and gave 1-2min of slow, exaggerated facial expression. The rest was his semi-animated body flying around the screen, in a battle with the antagonist, in an uncontrolled burst of CGI.
To make things worse, the CGI itself is nothing special. It would be impressive in a computer game, but is too unrealistic for this kind of big budget movie - it comes of as cheesy. And just to really emphasise the cheesiness, many of the characters are wearing stage/theatre style costumes, reminiscent of early versions of movies like the Wizard of OZ. Costumes that nowadays feel like an lighthearted educational TV show for children.
Male, female, Chinese, Australian, neither of us found anything of value within the first 15min. We love some of the main actors and gave it the benefit of the doubt, watching for another ~20min, and sadly had to give up.
Fingers crossed, The Monkey King 2 (2016) will have a lot less animation to make room for some genuine acting and character development.
It felt like a movie created by a very new director with such a passion for CGI that s/he decided the whole thing should be about that. Therefore minimal plot, minimal acting, minimal character development, minimal kung fu. The acting being especially laughable. I think in the first quarter, with about 10min of character time, Chow Yunfat (Zhou Runfa) said about three lines and gave 1-2min of slow, exaggerated facial expression. The rest was his semi-animated body flying around the screen, in a battle with the antagonist, in an uncontrolled burst of CGI.
To make things worse, the CGI itself is nothing special. It would be impressive in a computer game, but is too unrealistic for this kind of big budget movie - it comes of as cheesy. And just to really emphasise the cheesiness, many of the characters are wearing stage/theatre style costumes, reminiscent of early versions of movies like the Wizard of OZ. Costumes that nowadays feel like an lighthearted educational TV show for children.
Male, female, Chinese, Australian, neither of us found anything of value within the first 15min. We love some of the main actors and gave it the benefit of the doubt, watching for another ~20min, and sadly had to give up.
Fingers crossed, The Monkey King 2 (2016) will have a lot less animation to make room for some genuine acting and character development.
- heath-jeffrey
- Jan 2, 2017
- Permalink
I just saw this film with my mother, a 65-year old Chinese woman (who has trained under some masters of kung fu), who grew up reading the stories of the Monkey King (whereas I'm more familiar with the Japanese Series, 'Monkey Magic'). My mother was delighted at how faithful this film was, with so many of the characters and substories being very close to how she remembers them.
Unlike other reviewers, we found the CGI to be quite good (a couple of bad spots, but in other places, stunning!) We thought the acting and direction was also really good. Donnie Yen is such a wonderful and naughty monkey. His movement is fantastic, whether he was fighting or being a lazy monkey. Chow Yun Fat a benevolent Jade Emperor, and Aaron Kwok a coolly evil demon king.
The film is also incredibly fun. This isn't going to win any Oscars, but if you're out to have fun, it's a better adaptation of the beginning of Journey to the West than most.
Unlike other reviewers, we found the CGI to be quite good (a couple of bad spots, but in other places, stunning!) We thought the acting and direction was also really good. Donnie Yen is such a wonderful and naughty monkey. His movement is fantastic, whether he was fighting or being a lazy monkey. Chow Yun Fat a benevolent Jade Emperor, and Aaron Kwok a coolly evil demon king.
The film is also incredibly fun. This isn't going to win any Oscars, but if you're out to have fun, it's a better adaptation of the beginning of Journey to the West than most.
First, let me say I mean no disrespect to anyone who genuinely enjoyed this movie. I wasn't aware this movie was based off a novel, but if your interested in the film because you enjoyed the book, this review is not for you. The second this film was over, I made it my mission to create an account solely to write this review. My brother suggested this movie to me as a "joke", hoping I would watch it and waste 2 hours of my life. Well the jokes on him because I loved it! I laughed more during this film than most comedies I've ever seen. I've never seen a high budget film produce such horrible English subtitles. However, they made the movie! I truly believe the subtitles were a copy/paste job from an online translation website. There is enough of a storyline, coupled with average action scenes to keep your interest in between laughs, and the ending is absolutely priceless. If you enjoy cult films that are celebrated for reaching new heights of terrible, then this is your film. Only mistake I can find is that it wasn't properly labeled as a comedy ; ).
- devintparks
- Apr 17, 2014
- Permalink
My expectations cool graphics beautiful star cast explosive action. Some Chinese mythology to enrich. What I got. Pathetic graphics, some times its really cartoon some times it was mind blowing absolutely a let down for me in the end though. Star cast was indeed good, acting was good particularly the man acting as monkey and almost all of them did a good job. My fav character was the master who taught the monkey, he was a good mentor, he dies saving the monkey king. I actually felt sorry for the demon king because for no fault of his he has to be a slave and if he tries to come up in status he is told a crap explanation called balance in the world and kept slave another beautiful character was his wife who always stood by him no matter what. About the jade king he looks like a decent man but his idea of world balance is pathetic cos if he really wants world balance he should sacrifice his and his people's comfort and work hard for the world that's what I call love for humanity not for power no I am not talking altruism but extreme capitalism is imbalance too. Bringing Buddha in the climax was a very nice touch but unfortunately this Buddha did not help the slave demons not once that is a slight spooky though what if I was a demon king. How can his people be slaves and he be king that's self contradicting no wonder the movie did badly in the box office. This review is only to save people of their precious 2hrs of time and not to hurt anyone anyway. I actually came out with questions like are really the people in heaven deserve it and are the so called demons really demons ? how can freedom be too much of a ask ? If this is what Chinese people watch for entertainment I am actually scared of Chinese too. The climax was a let down too the demon kings horn is broken and then he becomes a tamed animal ??? that again weird . The score I have given is only for the hard work put in by people who worked hard for this movie to come out well.
- pawanrulez
- Jul 31, 2014
- Permalink
I can only feel sorry for the Chinese people fond of their cultural heritage. Donnie Yen's Monkey King was painful to watch. Specially the costumes were so kitsch I wanted to shout of annoyment: 'What the hell have U done with the 100M$ budget, fools!" Next and near as bad as the costumes, the CGI/special effects pathetically trying to imitate a bunch of various styles in an awkward way bordering the look of a college project movie. It's actually hard to believe that such mediocre production can be achieved today with that kind of budget, particularly since a few 'international experts' were working on this flick and anyone who has any idea about what these people could do with that kind of money will be bewildered to witness the end result. Finally, I have read from Chinese reviewers that the original story has gone very much out of tracks with this movie and it is a pity to think that such a classic part of their culture is being mixed up by modern 'story tellers' who have no respect for the very material they use to make money. If Donnie Yen wished to do one more take on the Monkey King, He could at least have respected the source material rather than releasing a distorted and immature production for the whole world to absorb, thus diluting slowly the accuracy of the original epic story. For one thing, if U are just someone who wanna take kids to the theater to see some Asian movie, then this might be working for them at the condition that they are under 6-7 or didn't yet develop a critical sense about movies. Hehe. I give it a 4/10 for some OK sequences, and I feel somehow generous.