The Monkey King

I liked this movie, it is about a rebellious, selfish and lonely monkey who tries everything to become a deity aided by a stick and a little girl, but he will have several enemies to face.

I loved the animations in this film (especially the one in 2d at the beginning of the film), with a perfect choice of colors that fit to better represent the various scenes, and really amazing and functional camera movements.

For the soundtrack we have excellent music accompanying all the sequences in the feature film.

The acting is excellent does its job, believable voices.

This is an excellent film for those who love the legend of the Monkey King.

A monkey is born from a rock with light ray eyes. He gets banished from his troupe for his carelessness when a Demon takes another baby monkey. He tries to battle the Demon and fail. He steals a magical staff and intends to defeat 100 Demons to become a God himself. Village girl Lin joins him as his assistant.

The Monkey King is a traditional Chinese character and this Hollywood Netflix movie is trying to adapt it. I can't speak to the accuracy of the adaptation. The story is a series of energetic fights over some unknowable God/magic/fantasy. It all makes sense but it doesn't make it compelling. Mostly, I don't really like the Monkey. It may be easier to center the movie by using Lin as the lead. She seems to be the more relatable character. Maybe the kids will like a fighting monkey cartoon.

Greetings again from the darkness. Adapting literary works for the big screen is common practice; however, the stakes are a bit higher when dealing with a beloved classic Asian work that is more than 400 years old. "Journey to the West" was initially written during the Ming Dynasty and no original author has ever been confirmed. The stories were re-imagined for an English audience in 1942 by Arthur Waley and published as "Monkey", and now director Anthony Stacchi and co-writers Steve Bencich, Ron J Friedman, and Rita Hsiao have brought their vision to the screen ... focusing on one specific segment of the story.

Now, if that first paragraph sits a bit heavy, you should know this is an animated movie targeted at kids. It's action-packed, colorful, and funny ... all while packing a message or moral that most parents will appreciate. Much of the Chinese spiritual and philosophical and cultural aspects are included, but never so heavy-handed as to lose the attention of kids. In fact, if any aspect is somewhat overboard, it's the martial arts fighting and action sequences ... of which there are many. Possibly too many for some kids and some parents, and if the messages somehow get lost, it's likely in the crash-boom-bang overdose because the action, while well done, is relentless.

Monkey King (voiced by comedian Jimmy O Yang) is birthed/sprung from a rock and has special powers. Unfortunately, he is not accepted by the local clan of monkeys, even after saving them from a threat. Instead, he turns his attention to being accepted into The Immortals (Gods of the animal world). To prove his worthiness, he sets out to defeat 100 demons, but along the way, we witness an oversized ego and lack of humility. Monkey King is simply not very likable. On this journey, he gains an assistant in his number one fan (not in a MISERY way) Lin (Jolie Hoang-Rappaport). Monkey King even treats her poorly.

The next best character, and Monkey King's nemesis, is the underwater Dragon King (SNL's Bowen Yang). Their exchanges and ego-wrangling are some of the best in the movie, and the underwater scenes provide a welcome CGI change of pace. With no family and his only friend being his magic stick, Monkey King is an outsider with special powers and the kind of attitude that gets junior high kids sent to the Principal's office. No matter how many heroic feats he turns, his lust for power and lack of humility win him no points with The Immortals.

The Dragon King gets the best musical number, while Monkey King's journey leads him through Buddha (BD Wong) and literally into both heaven and hades. The film's big question is how long it will take Monkey King to learn humility and show kindness to others. As has been stated, an ego trip is a journey to nowhere ... it's a lesson this talented Monkey King must learn.

Opens on Netflix beginning August 18, 2023.

Just watched on Netflix

I am only familliar with the Monkey King concept through past games, anime, and movies. So really I can understand why this movie was positioned as more of a family friendly introduction to this kind of character.

We all know the Monkey King as a cocky, balls to the wall character who aim to achieve greatness alone and so on. Him being hated by the heavens, revered by the gods, the titels go on and on. Knowing that, this movie explained his character perfectly in the start. Mostly the reason why he is who he is and his origin for having this mindset.

Even so, the story of the movie is...kinda incomplete? Like they could of done so much more on a bigger scale. At times it was hard to tell was this a comedy or a cultural tale? This is one of those films that should of just stuck to one genre instead of appealing to several demographics.

Then again I'm not gonna judge a family friendly movie too hard, its okay but the flaws are there.

The movie looks decent enough but why oh why did they make the monkey such a self centered egotistical character. A certain amount of arrogance can be okay but some humor needs to be added if that character needs to be likable. This monkey is just completely unlikable. He doesn't care about anyone but himself. He's useless without his staff and everything is just way too easy for him.

Storywise it's okay. Never read the original story so i can't compare that. Lots of flash fightscenes with a metal soundtrack. I'm guessing this movie is targeted toward kids/teens. The kids liked the movie. The adults hated it.