Le roi singe

Being an American imbued in this ego-mongering, greed-centric culture and it's pitifully vacuous religious folklore and totally unfamiliar with the story behind the 'Monkey King', I was hesitant to watch this since I had to read subtitles which turned out to be difficult at best due to translation issues, but I did manage to get the gist of the story as it unfolded, and I couldn't help becoming involved in the characters soon after it began. The special effects were not the cutting edge I've grown to expect from Hollywood, but considering the complex fantasy nature of the story, I'm glad that they didn't waste time and money trying to go that route since this story is obviously full of ancient iconic elements that have such a nebulous foundation with each other and history that the relationships between them and the time-line of events would not have flowed as well if they had. I thoroughly enjoyed the spirit of innocence and interminable joy demonstrated by the Monkey King at each stage of his travels. The spirit of his appreciation for life was contagious, and I found myself feeling better about my own reality as a result.

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.

Although it is true that the big part of the original (huge) book was about the Pilgrimage mentioned in the Synopsis, there are two things you should know: the pilgrimage was more an adventure full of battles, monsters, magic powers, and epic Characters, rather than just a pilgrimage; and this movie concentrates on the first part of the book, before the pilgrimage (actually the Monk does not even appear), on the genesis of the Monkey King. The book was written by a great Taoist monk and it is full of hidden knowledge which not everybody can consciously understand, but it is so well done, so full of adventure and action and funny things, so intriguing and entertaining, that in the centuries it became one of the (if not the) most important books in the popular Chinese culture. There are many layers in it and it was made in such a way that almost anybody can enjoy it. The Monkey King became an extremely popular character, and even Dragonball comes from that book! This film is a bit strange, the special effects are not the best, and some things in the realization will need a bit effort from the western audience, but it is OK, you must understand that as said this is a Chinese story and obviously not made with the western people as main target. But whether you are interested or not in the background of the story, the film is pleasant and entertaining and you can surely enjoy it :) Now I just hope there will be other movies with the rest of the book!

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..!

...with a budget of almost 90 million US dollars(biggest Chinese movie budget to date), and this is what they came up with? there were many major problems with this movie, first off having Donnie Yen as the monkey king was a big big no no. the mans facial features are as expressive as wood and recently you can tell how egotistical he has become. he wants every big role in a big movie even if it isn't right for him and in this movie he makes a fool out of himself till 3/4's of the way thru. he is known for his action movies and there isn't much of that as the movie is almost all cgi and wire-fu.

for most of the movie the cgi was almost laughable, i've literally seen better in video games, and they had help from the cgi team that did Avatar( i think the team took the money and ranned ). it was going to be hard to cgi the right way cause the book was so detailed and deep.

i went into this movie not expecting much and wind up not getting much, there were no development of characters, some of the costumes were laughably bad and the other 2 leads weren't that interesting either. basically just about nothing works in this movie...and now for its saving grace.

if you watch this movie make sure you finish it, because the last quarter of the movie is freakin awesome and makes up for sitting thru the first 2/3's to 3/4's of the movie. everything picked up close to the end...it almost seemed like a different team stepped in to finish the movie, in every aspect. the fighting got good( you actually see real fight moves from Donnie). the story and acting got tighter and best of all, the cgi looked as good as any that Hollywood can put out, and it was exciting.

so, if the movie isn't that appealing...just make sure you watch the last third or quarter and you'll feel a lot less screwed...the ending of the movie was its saving grace and just might save the movie from disaster. i give this movie a 5.8 out of 10. save the popcorn for the last 30 minutes of the movie.