Xi You ji: Da Sheng gui lai

Animated version, equally cute, but little attracted me as much as the two previous films, but it's cute, the little ones will like it, I'm just not in the vibe...

So I just finished watching this on Netflix and have to say I am greatly disappointed. After doing a little research I can see why, obviously the version available on Netflix is the worse possible version to watch as it is neither the original or the US version. It is in fact an American dubbed version where not only is the script terrible for the dubbing but the voice acting is equally as bad. It's frustrating because the animation itself is impressive but honestly if you were thinking of giving this film a go don't watch it on Netflix you would be better off watching the original with English subtitles.

The animation is kind of clunky and the characterization leaves a lot to be desired, but the scenery and battles are epic, and there's something touching about the bond between the monkey king and the persistent boy monk. And it's interesting that the great jade king was cast down from heaven and became a great, corpulent, cowardly pig. My 6-year old son Sebastian particularly liked this movie.

I don't know if it was because I'm too sentimental or what, but I was literally tearing when I was watching the trailer with the moving song by Kit Chan. I went to the cinema with hesitation actually,thinking that I might have too much expectation on it, and was kind of afraid that it would let me down. After watching it, I would say it absolutely deserves my expectation and infinite applause. It is probably the first Chinese animation for adolescent and adult audience, comparing to childish Pleasant Goat& Big Big Wolf and Bonnie Bears. The latter actually made nearly 300 million RMB in China. The plot of Monkey King is quite common, especially in western movies: the fallen hero's rebirth, but this kind of themes still attracts large portion of audience and wins lots of tears, including those of the two little boys who sat next to me during the movie. The animations and features are just impressive, maybe not as good as many of the western masterpieces, but definitely good enough to describe it as unprecedented in China's animation history. The bad thing is that, because they almost used up all their budget on the film's creation and modification, they literally didn't do anything on marketing and advertising. Something even worse is that, although I admire the crew's courage and resolution, they chose to compete with extremely fan-based Tiny Times 4.0 and Forever Young, which are acted by a bunch of idols with tons of fans in China. The two I mentioned already made more than 100 million RMB on their first day respectively, but only about 20 million for Monkey King due to the lack of exposure and coverage. However, I always believes that one cannot evaluate a movie only by looking at how much it makes, neither an actor nor a director.

Advantages:

1, The character image is more mature.

In the animation image design, the film didn't use children's characters for leading roles, like Monkey King, make the characters more mature.The image of Monkey King and Pig Zhu Bajie are all adult who have a background of adult socialization, which is beneficial to the depth of the hero image, rather than the superficial adventures.

It is very distinctive that Villain the leading monster's face design for Sichuan Opera Face, and the leading monster's body feels elegant in the sky, I would like give him a name of "the beauty of evil".But after he become a big worm, disgusting, and the modeling of the worm, feel copying the image of the other films.

2, Technical level greatly ascend.

The mouth moving is more realistic;The background picture more rich layered.

Disadvantages:

1, The plot is weak.Writers had neither according to the novel, nor made innovation. The screenplay is only designed some abused poking fun which amused the audience once or twice. Even more worse, the focus is not prominent that the Monkey King turned into a hero of justice, slightly weak, it is not enough to convince me.

2, Poor continuity in action.Action before and after in a few action scene is not smooth, give me a feeling of unknown cause and effect.

3, Insert abrupt improper music.When the Monkey King, Pig Zhu Bajie, and Liu went alliance, background music style suddenly turned from the traditional Chinese opera into rock & roll, it appeared not harmonious.