Having grown up watching Monkey (or Monkey Magic as I call it) I have lots of fond memories running around singing the song as a child/ So when I saw this advertised I quickly went to abc iView and put up with the horrendous low quality and went to watch it.
At first I was disgusted with it. The series didn't match anything what I was expecting and all I could do was pick fault at all the differences. I kept thinking about how crappy it was and nothing like the original story line, where monkey hatched, but rather in this version he was imprisoned by other gods in a mountain.
Monkey isn't very monkey like, he doesn't have his playful / curious / cheeky personality, and whilst the actor isn't bad, the character doesn't embody what monkey is.
Sandy being a woman was a little different, and at first I didn't like it, but the actor does play the role well and she became one of the better parts of the TV series.
Pingsy... isn't very pigsy like, once again, I doubt this is the actors fault, as the character does really grow on you after a while and his acting is particularly good, but they miss out on all his vices (as they did with monkey) no womanising, greed...etc except in a very very mild downplayed way that would be easily missed if you didn't know to look for it.
Tripitaka was a good choice in actor and suits the role well, without her I doubt I would have liked the series as much as I ended up.
After getting through the first 3 episodes, which where honestly really bad, the story line improved and I found myself overlooking the differences and started to really enjoy it.
After watching episode 10, I was disappointed that it had ended, and wanted more episodes.
If you are from the generation who would watch Monkey after school every day like me, It will be really hard to get past the differences at the start, but if you do manage to get past the first 3 episodes I'm sure you will enjoy it.
Three last things,
1.) I wish I had not watched it on iveiw \ Australian free to air TV. The broadcasting quality is really bad. I would recommend people wait until its out on Netflix and available in at least 720p or higher, instead of that ever stupidly low resolution crap we Australians are given on free to air.
2.) The makers should have really come up with an iconic intro song, like the original.
3.) Being that it is a Chinese story, remade in japan in 79-80's and obviously with strong Asian theme's, It would have been nice to see a few more Australians / Kiwi's with Asian decent playing at least one of the leading roles.
Overall its really good if you can get past the first 3 episodes and realise it will never be the same show you loved as a child. It's an interesting interpretation and its good seeing Australian \ kiwi actors play roles very different to what you would usually see.
