User reviews

I saw Alakazam first when I was quite young. I thought it was a good cartoon then and like it more now. It has a good moral to it and it's not made to sell toys like most cartoons are made to do now. Comparing it to todays cartoons is a bit silly since it was made over 40 years ago, the themes and characters are much different then the standard anime fluff we see now. I can't see anyone going wrong renting it and watching it with their family.

I loved this movie in the 1960's when it used to play regularly on a television channel in Buffalo, New York. What a shock when I saw it recently! The dubbed American version is disjointed and pretty silly, but that's not the big surprise. It is clear from watching it now that the Japanese film underlying it is a retelling of part of the epic Chinese classic, The Journey to the West, written by Wu Cheng-En in the 16th century. In The Journey to the West -- the standard English translation is by Arthur Waley -- the monk Tripitaka is travelling to India seeking rare Buddhist scriptures, which were later housed in the Big Goose Pagoda still standing today in Xi'an, a city best-known to Westerners for its terracotta warriors. The monk has many adventures along the way, accompanied by his friends Sun Wu-Kong / Monkey (here called Alakazam) and Chu Pa-Kie / Pigsy. Throughout the Far East, these characters are known to everyone and are fixtures of popular culture. Hot-tempered, impetuous Monkey / Alakazam is the particular favourite of little boys of all ages. Watch this movie and try to guess what is actually going on in the Japanese film.

I have been looking for this movie for years. I couldn't remember the title. I saw it on, I think, a Kukla, Fran, and Ollie Saturday Matinée show, circa 1975. As a kid, I was into Kimba and Speed Racer, so anything anime was good for me. I only remember that the guy monkey was very selfish and had to wear a gold band on his head for punishment, and the girl monkey traveled in a snow storm trying to help him. I didn't even realize the speaking voices were famous movie stars - why would I, I was only 10 or 11. Thanks to the previous writer (who hated it) for their comments, otherwise I would have never found it's title. Now the search is on to purchase it!

Over the years, I have seen many reviews that have mercilessly slagged ALAKAZAM THE GREAT as a bad movie, and it even made it into the highly questionable book THE 50 WORST FILMS OF ALL TIME. The question I have is: did all of you who hate this movie see the same film that I did when I was a youngster? I have shown many children this film over the years and not one of them failed to enjoy it.

ALAKAZAM THE GREAT is loosely based on the Wu Cheng-En classic JOURNEY TO THE WEST, a landmark of Chinese epic literature, and tells the story of an arrogant monkey king who learns the secrets of magic and becomes a cosmic pain in the ass. After a brief rampage through the heavens, he is imprisoned by the gods and eventually sent on a pilgrimage to atone for his sins and learn humility. The monkey must escort a young prince (who is the son of the gods) through a series of insanely lethal adventures in a land teeming with demons and monsters of every description, picking up a couple of unusual traveling companions along the way (an anthropomorphic pig-man and a burrowing cannibal). Much magic and cartoon ass-whuppin' ensues, and despite the (mercifully brief) musical numbers, this film has raw imagination to spare. Fast-paced and fun, this is not the dud that some would lead you to believe. Give it a chance!

I'd be curious to know how close this is to the original. As it stands, this is a rather odd tale, very episodic, sometimes surreal and decidedly disjointed. The movie often fails to explain why things are happening, most notably in the beginning when the protagonist is supposed to go through a trail to become the animal king or the monkey king or whatever. Why *him* in particular? What is the point of the trail? Like much in the movie, such information is glossed over.

Still, it is all rather charming. Animals move in a cute way, the main characters are relatable in their stereotypical gender roles and there are some very interesting monsters that show up late in the movie. At the same time, there is something very odd, at least to my Western sensibility, with the odd mix of animals, deities and, incongruously, Hercules.

A lot of the reviews are by people who saw this movie as kids, and at first I thought I was going to be the exception, as it didn't look remotely familiar. But around halfway through or so I realized I had seen this movie. Not all of it, but at least twice I just found it on TV when I was very young. I may have only seen the last half hour.

The weird thing is, I am now 52 and I still thought of that bit of a movie I'd seen as a kid and wished I'd known what it was. I remember that little kid with the horn, I even remember specific moments with him (for some reason I connected with him more than the protagonist). I also remember having no clear idea of what was going on (it's hard to pick up the story from the last third of the movie, especially if you're a kid), but for some reason I found it very compelling. I remember thinking as a kid I'd like to see it again, and as I said before, I still thought of it from time to time as an adult.

I don't know what it is about this movie that is so compelling for kids, but I think there's something about it that is simple and direct and weird and fast-moving that is just very appealing to children. I disagree with the person here who said he didn't think today's kids would like it; I think there's just something very kid-friendly about this. (Although to be fair, the 60s was a terrible time for kid's cartoons and kid's movies in general, which may have lowered my standards.) Some people here are saying this is a terrible movie and the only reason anyone likes it is for nostalgia. I disagree. As I say, I never saw the first 45 minutes to an hour, so for that length there was no nostalgia component at all but I still thought it was really cute. Not great, but definitely entertaining. But I'll admit the main reason I'm glad I watched it is because it turned out to be a phantom memory of my childhood self, and I am so glad I found this at last.

how strange. I have remembered this title and the theater but little else. I must have been 8 years old when I saw it at the Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. I don't know what I remember most, the movie or the theater. Until discovering these other comments today, I really had no idea why I remembered this movie so vividly. I had seen Disney animation classics around that time, like Bambi, but this one really sticks in my mind. Thanks you for the memory. I guess it probably appealed to me because I was an 8 year old active boy. Come to think of it, I am remembering seeing Bambi for the first and only time on a 16mm projector at someone's house, around the same age. The Egyptian Theatre is gone now, but it was one of those classic theatres right across the street from the Graumann's Chinese Theatre and CC Brown's ice cream parlor.

As I am writing this I am watching a beautiful widescreen presentation on Amazon Prime! Enjoyed this immensely growing up. Although Frankie Avalon is given top-billing for the American release (a marketing strategy), he only sings a short song not even a minute long! The speaking voice is Peter Fernanadez who is familiar to all Speed Racer fans as the voice of Speed himself. To this day no effort has been made to give Peter the credit he is due; he remains sadly un-credited.

Like others on this site, I have warm memories of this film, having watched it since I was a child. American International did a fine job, in my opinion, of dubbing the picture. What makes their version of "Alakazam The Great" for me though, is the truly beautiful score by Les Baxter (an AIP regular) which perfectly complimented the visuals. A soundtrack album was released back in '61, which I found 35 years ago--at a thrift shop in excellent condition. HBO video released a widescreen videotape of the film about 10 years ago. They did a great job--wonderful picture and sound. Alas, it went out of print when the AIP package changed hands. MGM (now Sony) holds the rights. Hopefully, one day, they will release a DVD.

So for the first time in decades I watched Alakazam the Great, a 1960 anime movie that I saw on TV several times in 1963-64 while living in California. I always have held it in some affection because of those memories. Now I notice that it is largely taken from the popular Chinese story, Journey to the West. Alakazam is Sun-Wukong, the Monkey King. Lulipopo is Sha Wujong or Sandy, and Sir Quigley Broken Bottom (voiced by Jonathan Winters) is Zhu Bajie or Pigsy.

These days I guess the main reasons to watch it are to see one of the very first anime movies to ever be shown in the US (even if it was a box office failure), to hear the singing of Frankie Avalon and to see how pervasive the archetypes of Journey to the West are in Asian art forms.

I agree with EL BUNCHO! I saw this movie at a Saturday afternoon matinée when I was about 11 years old and I loved it. At that time I had never seen animation that wasn't childish in nature. This movie has rather sophisticated themes and it was a real pleasure to watch a movie that was made for children but didn't talk down to them. I actually cared about the characters, something I can't say I ever really did with American animation. This was back when essentially the only film animation was coming out of Disney and Alakazam The Great had a totally different style that I really liked. It was also my first exposure to Japanese animation and created an interest in Japanese culture that I never had before I saw this movie. It opened my eyes to whole new worlds. I recommend it to anyone.

This movie is full of Japanese romantic imagination. They combine Chinese mythological stories with the character images of Athenian mythology, and in some plots, they use Hollywood style music and multicultural dance. This is a wonderful combination!

What makes me love the most is that this film retains the traditional Japanese animation style, classical beauty, and cuteness. The image of Sun Wukong and his girlfriend is extremely adorable, and the final outcome is that the male leading role returns to his family and lives happily with the female leading role which simply satisfies everyone's longing for a better life (of course, we know deep down that this is impossible). However, thank you to the Japanese filmmakers for their contributions in the 1960s. I watched it for the first time 63 years later and it was still very enjoyable. Thank you again!

As one of the first anime films to be released in the U.S., I only wish this film had been better. It's perfectly average in almost every way.

The story centers around a monkey named Alakazam. He's your annoyingly arrogant protagonist that learns humility. It plays like a typical East Asian legend. But events just sort of happen one after the other. He becomes a king for some reason, a quick and vague one minute montage and he knows magic, oh hey Buddha when did you get here? The animation is passable for the 1960s, though nothing special. I felt like the movie couldn't stay still. Something always has to be happening, and god forbid there be no noise for 2 seconds. This is supposedly a musical, but I won't call it that. There's about 5 or so "songs" that only last half a minute each. The dub is alright considering there isn't too much to work off here.

I wouldn't necessary call this a bad movie though. There's definitely some creative parts every now and then. Particularly some of the magic they use. I could see some children being fairly entertained by this. But it's not a film worth repeated viewings. It's easy to see how it didn't do very well in the U.S. A comparable film from this time would be The Sword in the Stone. It's a coming of age story with magic just like Alakazam and came out in 1963, but was executed much better. If you want a small snapshot of anime in the 1960s, then this isn't a terrible place to look.

This excellent Japanese animated fantasy is an adaptation of the old Chinese Legend of the Monkey King. Having seen the original Japanese version of this film, I don't have any problems with what American International did with this film, they have removed most of the religious references, but the story is still more or less intact, and AIP hired good talent for the voices.

The American score is by film music great Les Baxter, and this is probably the most symphonic score written for an animated film at the time of its U.S. release as Alakazam The Great. Gorgeous stuff, and the movie is lots of fun for both children and adults, who will enjoy a lot of humor added to keep parents awake.

After years of reading about this movie in the book, "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time" and seeing it listed in the fancast.com row of movies available for viewing there, I finally decided to watch this having just found out about this movie's animation director Yasuji Mori on the Cartoon Brew site and his connection to current art-house favorite, animator Hayao Miyazaki. My overall view is, while it's not one of the worst movies I've ever seen, it is-at least in the English-dubbed, edited by American International version-a bit abrupt concerning scene changes not to mention those of characterization as well. And many of the songs are simply adequate though Lex Baxter's score is a nice alternative to whatever the original Japanese music was like. There's one funny scene I liked when the title character was playing drums in the cannibal's stomach and there's plenty of other entertaining instrumental sequences. It's also fun picking which voice is Jonathan Winters', Arnold Stang's, or Sterling Holloway's. And Frankie Avalon isn't too bad as the initially arrogant title character. And the final sequences are well done. But the whole thing was just uneven concerning pacing. Still, Alakazam the Great is worth a look for any animation buff out there.

I fortunately as a child was able to see this film twice, and the memories have out-lasted many of those of the Disney classics that bombarded my adolescent senses at the same time. For years I have scoured video bins worldwide in an attempt to locate a copy of this long last classic, but as yet to no avail. This, in my opinion, is one of the greatest and most memorable animated films and stories presented to date (that is the US-dubbed and scored version, for I've never seen the original Japanese version). Great characters and animation, awesome moralistic and quasi-religious end messages, and a just plane fantastic story. The depth is nearly as great as that of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Putting aside all the lost cinema gems still kicking around the depths of my childhood memories, this is the one I would most like to revisit and share with the children of today.

I have a very crummy head cold this week. On Monday I was especially sick and so I took some medicine and fished through the back rows of my video collection for something to occupy myself while feeling miserable. I found several videos picked up years ago at various discount stores and figured I may as well give them a shot. They ended up being several lunatic fringe anime films that have completely changed my life, although in what manner I haven't quite decided yet.

Among these movies was a very innocuous looking feature called "Alakazam the Great". I was especially excited to see this one as I remember it had won (if that's the word) a Golden Turkey Award or some such. The cover image promised business involving kawii little snow monkeys and wizards. I popped it in the VCR and lay down on the couch, letting the cold medicine take effect.

"Saiyu-ki (Alakazam the Great)" is, without a doubt, the most unintentionally terrifying thing committed to film prior to the "Teletubbies".

What the heck is going on here? I think I counted at least eight different subplots. Characters aquire and loose magical powers as needed. Nasty demonic things made of hair, teeth, and scraps of "Hypercolor" T-shirt fabric lurk in the background. The art direction switches from a Japanese print look to a "Yellow Submarine" look to a "Pokemon" look to a "Speed Racer" look and back again. And somehow this whole thing revolves around a Ninja Monkey God whom you are going to want to kick in the head repeatedly.

I am giving "Alakazam" a 2 rating for it's parody value and it's as yet undiscovered worth as a "head" movie. Otherwise, forget it.

I really did not want to vote on the movie, since I have not seen it since I was a kid. But, this movie was such a great movie to me as a kid, that almost 40 years later, I am trying to find it. If this was such a bad movie (according to the critic), there needs to be more of them made. The movie had classic good versus evil situations, was able to teach morals in a very entertaining manner, and was light and dark all at the same time. I can go so far as to say that it was the loyalty, friendship, and mercy exhibited by the lead character and his friends that indelibly burned this cartoon in my psyche all of these years. I too find that I had no idea that all of these famous stars were in the movie, but now that I know, when I finally get the movie again, I will have another reason to love it.

For some reason long lost (other than he thought I'd enjoy it), my Father took me to see this film at a drive-in theater when I was seven years old. I remember it being very weird, surreal, and somewhat scary. As another reviewer wrote, it has been "indelibly burned...in my psyche all these years." Unsettling is the best word to describe it's effect on me as a child.

Although it's not the spectacle of the greatness of Japanese Anime, the Western release of Saiyu-ki was a testament to the early days of the art.

Alas, like so many classics of animation, such as Toei's "Gulliver's Travels Beyond The Moon (Gariba no uchu ryoko)" or Nelvana's "Rock & Rule", this film will never be seen again except on rare, pirated copies, for it has been cast into the pit of Moritorium Hell, where major video chains unceremoniously trash the remaining copies into a dumpster without the opportunity to purchase them to try to salvage history. This disgusting form of book burning for profits by the major studios that now run the major video rental chains, leading to the demise of the Mom & Pop stores of the past will be remembered as corporate greed at it's worst.

I hope there is a special Hell for these arrogant suits.

The story is disjointed and mostly makes no sense. That's because the original version was in a slightly different order and had a different plot. No Winny the Pooh narrator, because the story unfolds in a much more organic way, in the Japanese version. No cheesy and dated jokes. The Americanized version has WAY too much talking, because they keep trying to force in a story that isn't there. I vaguely recalled this movie from my childhood, so I rewatched it and thought "This is awful and doesn't make any sense" all the way through. So, out of curiosity, I watched the original with subtitles. "Ohh... Now, this one makes sense." Juxtaposing them minutes apart really makes the differences stand out and the English version is extremely disappointing compared to the original story. Granted, watching either as an adult is probably time wasted. I'm not sure which is more insulting; changing the story to "Westernize" it or changing the story because "uncultured, uncouth Westerners" could never get into a traditional Oriental story.

This is the very first movie I remember seeing as a young child. I slept with a picture of the monkeys under my pillow. It was very colorful and funny. The music is enjoyable, and it captured my attention. Even as a young child, I understood the message of doing what is right, even when you don't want to. I bought a copy (yes, they are sometimes available), to recapture a fond memory. I enjoyed watching it again with an adult's perspective. I have since learned about the original religious message, but the English version is not preachy, it just includes a moral lesson. If you have children, I recommend this classic.

I can remember getting lost in this Movie when I was about 4 or 5 years old. It took me on a wonderful journey. I recommend this for any imaginative 4 to 12 year olds. This monkey is incredibly powerful and has a great lesson to learn about responsibility (ala, Peter Parker).

This movie, believe it or not, was shown yearly at my Catholic school's Christmas Festival. Christ the King Elementary would bring all the kids to the union hall to see Santa, get lots of candy, and see "Alakazam". Strange that a movie with such a non-Christian storyline would be seen in such a venue, but that just shows you the mind set of the '60's. I'm not sure if they purchased the 16mm or rented it, but for all these years, I have been searching for the video. Movies Unlimited had it in its catalog, but it was listed as 'unavailable' eBay had a few copies for sale but I was sceptical. We need to bring this title back from the void and allow our younger friends the opportunity to experience the lessons of 'Alakazam'.