Da hua xi you 3

By the time we get through all the production companies logos, you feel you have already watched a feature film. The very belated closure to Jeff Lau's Chinese Odyssey trilogy instantly proves to be a far cry from its predecessors - lacking all of what made the first 2 films incredible!

Swamped with poor CGI and far too much green-screen-acting, this chapter sees the return of Karen Mok as Jing Jing, and all other characters replaced - and unfortunately, not for the better. Only 20 minutes in, with director Jeff Lau failing hopelessly to recreate that wonderful opening scene from part 1, we see the Longevity Monk (now played by Wu Jing) arrive on screen dressed as Michael Jackson (waaaaay out of date on that one!) as our new Monkey King (played blandly by Han Geng) challenges the Goddess...

By the stage, the opening action scene (totally ruined by terrible CGI) fails to impress, and I'm already feeling a stroke coming on as I have still another 70 minutes to get through!!

Gone is the beautiful art direction and sets, with smoke filled scenery, wonderfully lit and full of colour...

Instead, we get CGI sets - most of which are poorly executed, with half decent ones here and there only to be marred by some crappy digital item or creature, and clean studio sound that completely removes you from the scene. At times, it feels like watching a TV movie rather than a big budgeted film from a prolific director.

Han Geng as Joker/Monkey King is absolutely no replacement for the amazing Chow Sing Chi. In fact, its an insult to think that the producers and director thought he could bring the same quality and comic timing to the role! The same can be said for Wu Jing. I love him in the many action roles he has done over the years, but his comedic side and trying to pull off a Law Kar Ying does not work well here at all..!

The film gets gradually worse, and if you are lucky to have made it any further than the first 20 minutes, should agree that the whole thing is a complete disaster that should not have been made - or at the very least, went into production 20 years ago with the original cast in place before director Lau got obsessed with bad CGI.

Dreadful!

Overall: Will break your soul to see such a disappointment, and definitely not worth your hard earned cash...

The 1995 A Chinese Odyssey is one of my favorite movie of all time growing up. Not only the actors were amazing the story line was perfect. The ending was perfect to the point that making another one just ruined the whole thing. I'm angry they made another one when it should've just ended with that perfect ending. Chinese historical movie today are trash with horrible CGi and special effects. Personally Chinese movies from the 80's to 90's are the best with no special effects and amazing actors and actresses. It makes me sad seeing all my favorite Chinese actors and actress like Stephen Chow, Athena Chu, Karen Mok and Johnnie Kong getting old. These are just some of the best Chinese actors and actress and they were the perfect fit for the roles in A Chinese Odyssey. Replacing those actors and actress and trying to recreate the movie just absolutely ruined it.

Spoiled the original Episode 1 & 2. They tried to copy the original version, unfortunately this is serous failure.

There is a particular genre which a lot of people are not aware of and it's called Chinese Fantasy. This is an outstanding example of Chinese fantasy and there is a lot of humor in it. The story is related to the spread of Buddhism in China. It's actually a comedy so do not expect a masterpiece because it's not but if you want to be entertained and have fun with typical Chinese sense of humor then this movie is for you. The characters are excellent and believable actors and the story is a revised version of the traditional Monkey King story. I liked it very much, good CGI and impeccable acting! I had a good laugh.

Movie has a very good intro and concept that seems to link to the previous Chinese Odyssey. Since the movie is a decade apart in making from the prequel, everything visually, from actors to sets, will be different. A few minutes after the opening and you'll noticed that not only did the visual concepts changed, the mental state of the characters are altered. The movie kept the close to the history, but since the relationships that defines each person is severed, this movie has created not a sequel, but a separate one. Suggests not to watch in sequence to the past two odysseys.

Now time for some personal opinions: If you enjoy the previous, Chinese Odysseys, as much as a 10/10 rating, you'll be extremely disappointed in this one. The CGI hurts the eyes, the combat/action has now taken to "modern fantasy" of waving through air for magics, and the love triangle has disappeared. If you're used to modern Chinese fantasy movies, you'll do fine in seeing a new movie, as opposed to a sequel. However, you'll definitely noticed everything that's CGI, because this is one of those movies that don't use visual buffering.