The Monkey King

I liked this movie, it is about a rebellious, selfish and lonely monkey who tries everything to become a deity aided by a stick and a little girl, but he will have several enemies to face.

I loved the animations in this film (especially the one in 2d at the beginning of the film), with a perfect choice of colors that fit to better represent the various scenes, and really amazing and functional camera movements.

For the soundtrack we have excellent music accompanying all the sequences in the feature film.

The acting is excellent does its job, believable voices.

This is an excellent film for those who love the legend of the Monkey King.

The movie looks decent enough but why oh why did they make the monkey such a self centered egotistical character. A certain amount of arrogance can be okay but some humor needs to be added if that character needs to be likable. This monkey is just completely unlikable. He doesn't care about anyone but himself. He's useless without his staff and everything is just way too easy for him.

Storywise it's okay. Never read the original story so i can't compare that. Lots of flash fightscenes with a metal soundtrack. I'm guessing this movie is targeted toward kids/teens. The kids liked the movie. The adults hated it.

I love animated movies. Luv 'em luv 'em. So when I say this is a stinker, it's for good reason. Considering the overall rating of this movie (at this time) is about 5.6... I'd say this film has some serious conceptual problems.

Start with a conceited, self-centered, destructive, unlikable character and add in non-stop pointless action-adventure throughout, and you have the Monkey King. The only redeeming grace of this movie is the girl Lin, whose character, personality and role is enjoyable and at times heart-warming. She's really the main character of this film. She is the only one that has any degree of empathy and growth.

The Monkey King himself is really an irredeemable scoundrel. I've seen Disney Villains that were more likeable than this psychotic nutcase. Okay yes, the Monkey King is historically a chaotic character, but in this film they take that concept way too far. Monkey is definitely the anti-role-model of the year.

The movie doesn't really have an overall theme to speak of, doesn't really make a point, doesn't teach any value lessons to kids. The whole message of the film is: "Do what you want and hang the consequences." Lin points out that Monkey was born from an egg, didn't have a family and even the gods rejected him (as if they had no reason)... so that's supposed to be an excuse for him being a total sociopath?

Sorry, but some movies just don't pull it off, and this is one of them. In the whole movie the Monkey King learns absolutely nothing, experiences no personal growth, doesn't change at all. If you're needing an adrenaline rush this might do, but don't look for anything else in this poorly-conceived plot and presentation of an ageless character.

(Parental note: some parents may object to the film presenting Buddha as God of the universe. Some parents may be delighted at such. Let the viewer be aware.)

A monkey is born from a rock with light ray eyes. He gets banished from his troupe for his carelessness when a Demon takes another baby monkey. He tries to battle the Demon and fail. He steals a magical staff and intends to defeat 100 Demons to become a God himself. Village girl Lin joins him as his assistant.

The Monkey King is a traditional Chinese character and this Hollywood Netflix movie is trying to adapt it. I can't speak to the accuracy of the adaptation. The story is a series of energetic fights over some unknowable God/magic/fantasy. It all makes sense but it doesn't make it compelling. Mostly, I don't really like the Monkey. It may be easier to center the movie by using Lin as the lead. She seems to be the more relatable character. Maybe the kids will like a fighting monkey cartoon.

Set in a world overseen by Budha (BD Wong) consisting of Heaven, Hell and the world between, a monkey is born from stone (Jimmy O. Yang adult, Dee Bradley Baker baby) who is endowed with extraordinary powers but is an outsider from the rest of the monkeys. The monkey hones his abilities and after vanquishing a demon using his a stick stolen from the Dragon King (Bowen Yang) he is given the title of Monkey King. Convinced he's meant for a place in Heaven, the Monkey King sets out to conquer 100 demons in the hopes Heaven will extend an invitation to him. Along the way Monkey King has many encounters including from a young girl named Lin (Jolie Haong-Rappaport).

The Monkey King is a 2023 animated film for Netflix co-produced by Reel FX Animation and Pearl Studio. The film is an adaptation of the 16th century Chinese novel Journey to the West (in part anyway) which is no stranger to adaptations with many Chinese or Hong Kong productions having been produced in the past 10 years alone as well as having served as inspiration for other stories such as Dragonball Z. While The Monkey King doesn't stray to far from prior adaptations, but it is an impressive animated effort in its own right that does adequate justice to the story.

In terms of the central character, the movie does a solid job of establishing The Monkey King as an arrogant character who while powerful is lacking in wisdom or humility and is brought to life quite effectively be Jimmy O. Yang's performance. The medium of animation works very well for this story with a strong sense of freedom of movement among the characters and fantastical environments. While the Monkey King is positioned as an arrogant prideful character, the movie does a solid job of keeping him in check from becoming too grating by counterbalancing him with his Stick weapon (who despite not talking is also a character) and Lin who work well against him. While the movie sticks pretty closely to its source material, it also does feel like it plays up some parts of silliness up a little more than it should. While I have no problem with Bowen Yang's performance as the Dragon King who's the primary antagonist, the movie follows a trend of European and Asian animated productions where the overplay the comedic sides of their villains at the expense of treating them as threats.

The Monkey King is a decent animated film that isn't especially ground breaking in its rendition of this story, but it's an agreeable experience with some engaging setpieces and performances and assuming the producers decide to continue this incarnation with a follow-up I'd be interested.