Der König der Affen

A goofy and great animated film about an anarchic Monkey King -- Sun Wukong -- who spends his days playfully directing millions of monkey children in martial arts training and bouncing around the beautiful waterfall forest they inhabit. After twice being deceptively lured into heaven by the Jade Emperor, so that he may be controlled and watched over, the Monkey King begins dismantling the Confucian hierarchies around (and above) him. Using spontaneous, creative, and subversive magic the Monkey King consistently undermines the Jade Emperor and his many minions and henchmen.

It's full of colorfully wild sequences replete with animal transformations, hilarious caricatures of military/political leaders, and jubilant, drunken rambunctiousness. The version I saw -- with English storytelling-narration leaving the Chinese dialog in its original Mandarin -- goes on forever. And the Chinese-opera styled music is a bit overwhelming at times. But the offbeat comic timing, ponderous caesuras, wavy movements, and truncated ending all make it a bizarrely entertaining experience.

Based on the early sections of the classic Chinese novel "Journey to the West", most commentators see the Monkey King in the film as representative of Mao wreaking havoc in China. Yet, with Mao's Cultural Revolution effectively eliminating the creative film industry the very next year, one may alternatively equate Mao with the oppressive Jade Emperor and his advisors desperately trying to destroy the liberated spirit of the Monkey King. Those of us born in the year of Monkey might be able to relate on a more universal level.

The 40th Anniversay Edition box contains 2 DVDs, one with the film (parts I and II) and the other with some interesting special features, such as a much earlier black & white film made on another episode of the adventures of the Monkey King (the "Flaming Mountain" episode). The "Flaming Mountain" is really funny because it is halfway between Disney's (Micky Mouse) animation and the "true" Chinese animation achieved in Uproar in Heaven-- a really strange mix! The sound and image on the DVD is very well-remastered despite many minor specks and scratches, but part II of the main film was badly preserved with nasty marks and jumpy cuts. I really liked the commemorative documentary which has interviews of a few original animators and voice actors when they were still alive-- the Jade/Heavenly Emperor is actually modelled after the chubby face of its voice actor! Unfortunately, ONLY Chinese (traditional & simplified) subtitles are provided.

P.S. A REALLY well-remastered DVD is the 25th Anniversary DVD of "Nezha Nao Hai" (Nezha Conquers the Dragon King) which comes with (Chinese &) English subtitles! It totally wipes the floor with Disney's Mulan (just my personal fanatical opinion) in terms of Chinese fantasy art and, of course, kung-fu animation.

Da Nao Tian Gong is an interesting action movie. It comes from an old Chines story. It came out in 2012 in China and the main character is Monkey king. The men behind this movie are Wan Laiming and Tang Cheng.

The movie is about Monkey King who wants to be the Jade Emperor who is the leader of the whole heaven. He goes to by himself to fight with the 10 thousand heavenly generals and soldiers. Monkey King is one of the most famous symbols of China. He is not just any normal monkey. He can make 72 changes to his shape and zsize, turning himself into different animals and objects.

If you plan to watch a movie this weekend and you want to see something enjoyable, choose this movie.

Saw it twice as a kid and I remember it still. This movie is a wonderful animation from China about the Monkey king and his adventures.

The movie consists of several earthly and heavenly adventures as the monkey king tries to (save the world?) or just get along in life (It has been over 20 years...)

It just became available for purchasing in Sweden and I am gonna get it...

9/10 as I remember it, it may even get 10/10 as a children's movie, but also risk being downgraded (as I said, 20 years) to about 8, but not lower, never...

Our knowledge of animation in China is, to say the least, patchy but this is represented as their most important work, an account of the adventures of the painted face monkey king who leads the little monkeys of the Fruit and Flower Mountain, despite the traps and combatants launched by the King of Heaven.

It's sobering to realise that the opera tradition that this film's moves and costumes echo is the one shown under attack in FAREWELL TO THE CONCUBINE which is set in the period in which this was made. The childrens' films of the socialist countries were often their only product to be dogma free and it's hard to accept proposition that the drunken, destructive monkey is a rendition of young Chairman Mao upsetting the authorities.

The flattened, scroll painting design is one of the film's distinctive features.

UPROAR IN HEAVEN doesn't have the animation set pieces of the major Disney films, the zip of the Looney Toons or the sophistication of European cartoons but it has a quality of it's own which appeals and even occasionally impresses - the battle with the gem headed scarlet serpent, the horses bathing in the clouds. Monkey King, who apparently did have a further career, may not make any Journey to the East with Pigsy but he is a more effective cartoon character than Mickey Mouse, Mr McGoo or many of those we know better.

Tinies may have difficulty taking two hours of this but segments would be sure to get them in. It is, in a good copy, one of the best examples of the Orwo process even if they never could cope with the violet-mauve-purple bit of the spectrum.