Tang Sanzang, an aspiring Buddhist hero tries to protect a village from three demons. He develops complex feelings for Miss Duan, the demon hunter who repeatedly helps him, and finally quests to meet the legendary Monkey King. The movie Journey to the West by Stephen Chow is an adaption of classic Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en. It is an adapted pre-story of the actual book. I read the actual classic before and watched the famous series of Journey to the West. I will give this film a 8 out of 10 because I like most of the plots in this movie. Stephen Chow's movies always have his style of humor, and I really enjoy watching his movies. However, what makes me really confused is how he narrate the main characters as demons. In my opinion, the story in this movie has barely connection with Journey to the West and the idea is different from the book. For example, the main female character, Miss Duan has never been mentioned in the book. Her love story with Tang Sanzang does not make any sense because the figure of Tang Sanzang should be extremely devout. If I look at this film separately from Journey to the West, I will like it better than now. I saw the TV commercials and trailers and thought : what a piece of sh*t! Is this the kind of movie Stephen Chow, who directed and starred in Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle, CJ7, all good movies, is making now? Boy was I wrong. Never have I seen a movie trailer that I thought was sh*t and the movie turns out to be so much fun (except Robocop-but that's a classic on another level.). <br/><br/>Stephen Chow had so smartly kept the good stuff out of the TV commercials. The movie far surpassed my expectations. I went to see it simply because of good word of mouth and it opened Huge. Also news was going around that this movie scared 6-8 year old children and made them cry in the theaters. Yes, there are parts of this movie that are intense, violent, bloody. Not what people expect from comedy king and family entertainment star Stephen Chow. But there are also children laughing. So warning : not suitable for kids under… 10 ? PG? PG13?<br/><br/>This looks and feel like a good old Hong Kong movie. I love it. Sadly, the once exciting Hong Kong movie industry is a shadow of it's former self. With most productions moving to China now.<br/><br/>Stephen Chow unfortunately does not appear in this movie at all. He directed, worked on the screenplay and co-produced it. Had a younger Chow starred as the male lead this movie would have been even better. Shu Qi is pretty as always and the entire cast is good.<br/><br/>The classic story of Journey to the West is given a new twist. In the hundreds years old story the Monkey King was imprisoned by Bhuddha for wreaking havoc in heaven. He must seek redemption with Piggy, Sandy monk to help Tang Seng on his journey to seek enlightenment. I won't give away the story of this movie. But I will say that I was very satisfied and that if you like Hong Kong movies or Stephen Chow's movie, you must go to the theater to see it. <br/><br/>Also the 3D stereoscopic effects were well done. <br/><br/>I might add that the Monkey King in the movie is not what most people expect but not untrue to literature. He's been trapped 500 years and he's mad as hell ! The Taiwanese actor that played him is the best in the movie. He played every nuance. Also Monkey King only change to one other form despite having the ability to change to 72 forms in the book(not including human form). <br/><br/>For once I think a good dubbing is actually better than subtitles because there is so much going on in the screen and reading the subtitles takes your eyes away from the action. This movie deserves(and probably will get) a USA (or worldwide) theatrical release. Mr. Chow has perhaps achieved more sustained and elaborate adventures, but he hits a sweet spot of comedy that never grows too self-aware or forgets the value of a good, clean demon whomping.
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363 weeks ago