A Lenda do Rei Macaco: Tumulto no Reino Celestial

I just saw this film with my mother, a 65-year old Chinese woman (who has trained under some masters of kung fu), who grew up reading the stories of the Monkey King (whereas I'm more familiar with the Japanese Series, 'Monkey Magic'). My mother was delighted at how faithful this film was, with so many of the characters and substories being very close to how she remembers them.

Unlike other reviewers, we found the CGI to be quite good (a couple of bad spots, but in other places, stunning!) We thought the acting and direction was also really good. Donnie Yen is such a wonderful and naughty monkey. His movement is fantastic, whether he was fighting or being a lazy monkey. Chow Yun Fat a benevolent Jade Emperor, and Aaron Kwok a coolly evil demon king.

The film is also incredibly fun. This isn't going to win any Oscars, but if you're out to have fun, it's a better adaptation of the beginning of Journey to the West than most.

With director Soi Cheang delivering such dark thrillers like the amazing Dog Bite Dog and Shamo, etc, I was quite curious as to how this adaptation of the world famous story was brought to the big screen.

I mean, it hasn't been that long since the awesome Jackie Chan, Jet Li vehicle, The Forbidden Kingdom with Jet Li as the Monkey King.

And then there was the awesome Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons, from the fantastic Stephen Chow Sing Chi.

And now, The Monkey King with the incredible Donnie Yen as the titular hero...

First of, even at 2 hours long, The Monkey King feels somewhat longer. Saying that, it is a visual feast that sometimes wins with its CGI and quite often doesn't, reminding me of the fist attempts at Hong Kong effects-filled movies like, Storm Riders and A Man Called Hero.

Often slow burning, with average fantasy action scenes and wire-fu, The Monkey King is rife with amazing characters from Chinese mythology, including one of my favourites, little Nezha and his flamed wheels on his feet!

Cast wise, Chow Yun Fat looks as cool as always as the Jade Emperor, and the gorgeous Aaron Kwok plays the Bull King - although looks slightly bored in doing so. And then there is Donnie Yen.

I love Donnie. Always have, for about 30 years now, and feel that since his explosion in the US, critics have been harsh on him for his choice in roles - no matter how many he is dishing out.

As the Monkey King, I think Donnie pulls of an amazing job, making me sometimes wonder who I am looking at. His performance is pretty damn good, working through a host of emotions and physical roles alongside a bevvy of great characters.

Overall though, I think the film just falls short of amazing. I feel it is something that needs to be seen in 3D to be appreciated more, but also feel that it was an unneeded remake of sorts, that didn't offer anything exciting but the use of its visual flair.

Action fans will be disappointed, but I hope this film finds a place in the family friendly section of all film fans and can be seen at least once..!

Okay, it's not exactly 'Lord of the Rings' but it's not as bad as the reviewers here say it is. People complaining about lack of depth and change in characters, most of them are deities so what do you expect. I thought the visuals, costumes, make-up etc were also excellent. It may appear as a kid's movie for some but thats a good thing, it can be enjoyed by all ages. I couldn't believe the guy that played Monkey King is the same guy who played IP MAN, wasn't an easy job but he pulled it off and other actors were also great. I'm actually looking forward to the sequel if it is in the making I would recommend it to anyone, don't believe the reviews they're just talking rubbish.

When THE MONKEY KING debuted the teaser trailer sometimes last year, I was doubtful whether Donnie Yen was really up for the legendary Sun Wukong role or not. Even the glimpse of the special effects doesn't look engaging enough to convince me whatsoever. However, upon finally watching it, this nearly four-years-in-the-making production proves to be a well-worthy cinematic experience after all.

WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?

During an ongoing war between god and demon on the Heavenly Palace, Bull Demon King (Aaron Kwok) lost the battle against Jade Emperor (Chow Yun-Fat). However, Jade Emperor's daughter, Princess Iron Fan (Joe Fan), begs her father for mercy because she loves Bull Demon King very much. Jade Emperor ends up banishing both of them to the Fire Mountain and forbids them to enter Heavenly Palace ever again. Meanwhile, a monkey spirit is born out from Princess Nuwa's (Zhang Zilin) magic stones which later grows up as a mischievous adult. Soon he is trained under Master Puti (Tian Hai Yi) and names him as Sun Wukong. After Wukong completed his master's training, he returns to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits where he originally belongs to reunite with his fellow monkey clan and calls himself as Handsome Monkey King. Trouble arrives when Bull Demon King sees Wukong as his golden opportunity to use him as bait to access Heavenly Palace, while waiting for the right moment to wage war against the god all over again.

THE GOOD STUFF

Last seen in 2012's MOTORWAY, Soi Cheang's direction is colorful and yet entertaining enough to please most of the die-hard fans of the Sun Wukong story. Speaking of story, Szeto Kam Yuen's and Edmond Wong's screenplay is a fairly satisfying combination of action, comedy, romance and fantastical elements all rolled into slick package. Christopher Young's music score, in the meantime, is simply majestic. The action sequence, which is choreographed by Donnie Yen himself, is often exhilarating and epic in scope.

As Sun Wukong, Donnie Yen has successfully delivers one of his best performances ever seen since IP MAN (2008) and IP MAN 2 (2010). And likewise, he proves to be such a nimble fighter as usual, especially when he uses his golden staff. Other actors, such as Peter Ho as the scheming Erlangshen and Chow Yun-Fat as the noble Jade Emperor, are equally acceptable as well.

MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT(S)

The "all-hell-breaks-loose" duels during the movie's spectacular finale.

THE BAD STUFF

Despite the hefty amount spent on the budget, the special effects are average at best. Even there are times the special effects looks like a rushed job. Some of the other cast, including Aaron Kwok's villainous turn as Bull Demon King, Kelly Chen as Guanyin and Gigi Leung as Chang'E, are sadly underwritten.

FINAL WORDS

While THE MONKEY KING is far from the best movie adaptation ever seen from Wu Cheng'en's classical novel of Journey to the West, it remains a satisfying effort worth checking out for this Chinese New Year.

caseymoviemania.blogspot.com

First, I'd like to say I really enjoyed *most* of the special effects. There were moments where the CGI was worse than pre-2000 CGI, although to be fair, it was mostly in the background but they were awful. As an example, pay attention to the armies fighting in the beginning.

Second, the acting for the most part wasn't too bad.

Here's what bothers me and I haven't seen any reviewers address these. If you have to read the subtitles, you spent some time thinking "What??" due to their translations. It feels like they ran some of it through Google Translate. Some of it was good, while some sounded like they were purposefully trying to make it sound like broken English. Then there was the out of place use of modern English slang like "small potatoes" or the informal "wanna" in addition to other parts that just sounded downright childish. Did the person or people who did the English subtitle translations not speak English very well? I can't understand why you wouldn't at the very least pay some American college kids $100 a piece to proof read it. It wouldn't be that hard. I mean, the internet, right?! I'm pretty sure that given a few hours time, I could make the English translation sound 1000% better, while keeping to the spirit of the movie.

Then there is the portrayal of the Monkey King. For the most part it was pretty good but all the blinking and there was LOTS of blinking. So much so that it would have given an epileptic a seizure. Did he think monkeys have really bad eyes? Add the stupid surprised faces that got on my nerves and it gets really old. It didn't help that he even did the begging dog pose, which I'm SURE isn't actually a thing with monkeys of any type.

All said, it's a decent movie with some redeeming qualities that understandably isn't geared towards an English speaking audience. I just wish if they were going to bother with it, why they couldn't get it right.