Journey to the West

A great take on the classic Chinese legend, and director Stephen Chow does it with his usual finesse and sense of mixing up comedy with action.

I must admit that I was a little bit skeptic at first, given the synopsis and the legend to which the movie is based upon. But with talents such as Stephen Chow behind the wheel, it just had to be experienced. And of course, also with the lovely Shu Qi in the movie it is not one to be missed.

There is a good amount of action throughout the movie matched up with good choreographed fighting and wire stunts. But it all comes together for an enjoyable end result, which is what matters. And the comedy throughout the movie was great. If you enjoyed "Kung Fu Soccer" or "Kung Fu Hustle", then you will also enjoy "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons", no doubt about it.

The costumes and sets were great and really added a lot to the movie. But also hats off to the special effects team. They really managed to pull it off quite nicely, and these demons were quite interesting to look at, yet convincing enough to appear real. So thumbs up for that.

There is a nice continuous flow to the movie, where the alternation between comedy, action and romance is a good change of pace and makes for a great roller-coaster experience.

It should be said that "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" is the type of movie that you will only fully enjoy if you have an interest in Chinese cinema and more or less an interest in Chinese mythology.

The cast was good, and there was a great chemistry between Shu Qi and Zhang Wen on the screen, both in a comedy way, but also during the action sequences.

"Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" scores an easy 7 out of 10 stars from me.

Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons marks the very first Stephen Chow directed movie without him acting in it. So, what can I properly expect from this movie? The idea of a Stephen Chow movie is always exciting. However, I was concerned that it might be the start of an new era in which Stephen Chow will only direct movies and not act in them anymore. For that, I was both excited and scared to see this film. But finally, I decided there probably wasn't anything to expect and just walked in without expectations.

Fortunately, that ended up being the best way to seeing this movie. I ended up being really surprised and taken away by it.

It's clear that Stephen Chow's passions are now set into directing. He has improved a lot as a director; his films have become more cinematic experiences. There's less reliance on comedic dialogue, more emphasis on telling a story with stronger imagery, and has an improved sense of setup and payoff. He's much more interested in storytelling mechanics and more invested in where he can take an audience emotionally besides just laughs. With the way he structures some of his story, there's a symbiotic relationship between comedy and tragedy that he's very interested in exploring.

Wen Zhang delivers that exact balance between tragedy and comedy in his performance as Xuanzang. He is a charismatic leading man and he shoulders the film with both its funny and heartbreaking moments. When he was playing for humor, I laughed. When he was crying, I found it moving. I am buying him at every moment and he was playing me like a squeeze toy. The story gives a genuine pathos as he becomes the Xuanzang we know from the story.

Shu Qi is very affable in this role and it's nice to see her play a character with more cartoonish sensibilities. I especially liked her psychotic expressions when she was killing off demons. And yes, I can see how hard it is to reject Shu Qi if she threw herself at you like she did in this movie.

Huang Bo is a fun Monkey King and makes a very engaging antagonist. This version of Monkey King is richly complex. It's an interesting take on the character because it highlights a key point about Sun Wukong that's often glossed over: He never had a choice to join Xuanzang on his journey to the west. The Monkey King goes only because he is tamed by the magical torture crown that's he is forced to wear on his head. In this interpretation, he's not completely good or evil. Huang Bo does not play it too over-the-top by enhancing the animalistic sensibilities. Instead, what really stuck with me was how he convincingly played the desperate pain of being trapped under a mountain for five centuries.

The film's gags are executed with much discipline. The gags are zany but not random. They are all building character and moving the story forward each step of the way to it's final conclusion. It's masterful how Chow is able to use comedic moments to build towards moments of sadness and loss.

The thought of no more Stephen Chow roles anymore aches me a bit but his presence is felt here. He has delivered a well-made film. Fortunately the film is done well enough to help me get over my aching and accept him now as only a film director. I look forward to seeing him continually improve as a storyteller and to the next installment in this series.

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The style of the movie immediately brings to memory Kung-Fu Hustle, also written and directed by Stephen Chow, but its target is a reinvention of the Journey to the West story.

Unfortunately, much of the symbolism used in the film is lost on me, since I know nothing of Chinese mythology. I am sure much of the characters and word games that I suppose mean a lot to a Chinese person, to me are just wacky and incomprehensible. That being said, the film is very nicely done, combining drama and comedy in a way that is mostly foreign to western cinema, good acting and cool special effects.

I have to admit that the movie makes me want to read some translation of Journey to the West, one of the Four Great Classical Novels, so, if that was Chow's purpose, the film is a success. I also have to admit that I liked the movie, considering whether to keep it for later viewing or not. As such, it is clearly above average, but the nagging feeling that a lot got lost in translation makes me rate it only so: above average.

Fortunately, the movie packs Stephen Chow's comedic style, or I would call it contains his soul. There's Chow's usual style of comedy, action, love story, and some meaning behind life. Well, what more is needed in a blockbuster movie? Unfortunately, nothing is perfect. I went into the cinema without any expectation, and I didn't read any reviews so I could enjoy the whole movie as if I was the first to do so. I understand that Chow directed this movie, and even demonstrated to retain the "feel" of his usual style. Still, I find the first 15 minutes of the movie to be a little dry in terms of humor. As the protagonist enters the scene it was a bit difficult for me to laugh. However, as the story unfolds, and as the mainstream humor pours in, laughter floods the cinema wave after another. To add, the protagonist's wacky hair style, does resemble Chow in some ways.

The CGI is of top quality, I can see the movie spending a lot of money on CGI. Many of the scenes contain a lot of visual detail and picturesque grounds. The music is familiar and lovely, I shall not reveal too much.

Show Luo's appearance in this movie was like his usual funny-self in his TV entertainment news. I would appreciate it more if he would have neglected his usual style and adopted a new one. It's not a bad thing, but it's not a good thing too, it lies somewhere on the neutral side. I guess on the good side, his fans will love to see him.

Trying my best not to disclose too much. This movie is a prequel to his previous 2 part movie, "A Chinese Odyssey Part One: Pandora's Box, and A Chinese Odyssey Part Two: Cinderella." The essence of this movie is how it somehow relates to "A Chinese Odyssey" in terms of how life is, in its cycle. The feelings the protagonist experienced in this movie is similar to what his disciple experienced in "A Chinese Odyssey". The good news for those who haven't seen "A Chinese Odyssey", is that you can watch this movie on its own.

Lastly, there are some tear-jerking scenes. My eyes welled up at some parts, but I stayed a man. I would give this a 9.5 out of 10 because of its imperfection, but the scores only allow whole numbers. So.... enjoy the movie.

An absolute breakthrough...! From the refreshingly inventive script ("X-MEN Origins" of Pigsy, Sandy etc.), mind-boggling CGI, dazzling Kungfu, beautiful cinematography, belly-aching comedy (look out for the hilarious fish demon purification scene), to the evocative moment when your heart is touched and your eyes streaming wet; which explains why it broke China's box office records, reaching USD$100 million (over RMB$0.6 billion) in 8 days (the fastest ever), and taking in USD$12.5 million (RMB$78 million) on the opening day alone (another first).

Stephen Chow has been honing his skill as a highly specialized film-maker par excellence, notably with Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle, CJ7 and now Journey to the West - Conquering the Demons; injecting photo-realistic CGIs, comic innovations and content with a moral thread. Speaking of which, the key message that loving-kindness (Metta / Ci Ai / Universal Love) for all sentient beings is a transcendental quality that ultimately conquers ignorance, ego and hatred is conveyed pretty succinctly.*

Having watched it in both 2D and 3D, I must say that the stereoscopic version certainly heightened the virtual realism that gave James Cameron's Avatar an extra oomph.

The bad thing about this movie is - it leaves you hungry for even more, despite the running time being nearly 2 hours (110 min) in its cinematic version. Hopefully, Stephen Chow decides to produce a sequel, which would almost certainly need to feature a celestial dragon, perhaps like the magnificent one from Sam Neill's The Dragon Pearl.

*See Dhammapada (Ancient Collection of Short Sayings by The Buddha) Verse 5 - Hatred is never appeased by hatred. It is appeased only by loving-kindness. This is a timeless law.