For those who want to see the state of Chinese animated cinema and alternative storyline featuring the characters from China’s most popular classic novel, “Journey to the West” will want to give “The Monkey Reborn” a chance!
TITLE: The Monkey King Reborn
FILM RELEASE: 2021
DURATION: 96 Minutes
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, Mandarin and English DTS-HD Master Audio, Subtitles: English
COMPANY: WellGo USA Entertainment
RATED: Not Rated
Release Date: December 7, 2021
Directed by Wang Yufei
Writer: Wang Yufei, Wu Xiaoyu
Starring:
Xuecen Bai/Jason Kesser as Sun Wukong
After short-tempered trickster Monkey King is insulted while visiting a temple with his master Tang Monk, he destroys a magical tree and accidentally releases the ancient King of Demons, who kidnaps Tang Monk as revenge for his long imprisonment. Now, Monkey King and his fellow disciples must rescue their master within three days, before the Demon King regains his full power and unleashes his armies to destroy the earth.
When it comes to classic tales in China, the story of Sun Wukong (The Monkey King) is quite famous. The Chinese novel “Journey to the West” was first published anonymously in the 16th Century during the Ming Dynasty and the original story is about Sun Wukong, who was trapped by the Buddha for defying heaven and while very smart, he is also very violent and is often admonished by the monk Tang Sanzang.
Throughout the journey, the two were able to achieve Buddhahood.
With the CG animated film “The Monkey King Returns”, Sun Wukong is a demigod and he and his fellow demons Bajie (a pig) and Sha Wuging (Sand Priest) escort the monk Tang Sanzang on his pilgrimage to India to collected the Buddhist scriptures to bring back to China.
When they arrive to the temple, the temple apprentices upset Sun Wukong because he is a demon and in response, Sun Wukong steals the holy fruit from their tree and the fruit will be him and his fellow demon friends snack.
This upsets the apprentices and a battle ensues and the holy tree is destroyed. The problem is that this holy tree is the prison of the Demon King who takes Tang Sanzang hostage and he is threatening to call forth the demon army.
So, now Sun Wukong and friends must save the monk and free a small spirit of Chi energy to imprison the Demon King.
For the most part, I was an avid reader of “Journey of the West” as a bulk of the Chinese class I took, we had to read chapters and be tested on it and I loved the book.
The animated film is one that I found myself liking it to a point but first, let me say that the CG is great and the overall character designs I do like.
But to be truthful, if this was a children’s animated film, the person who wins the heart of everyone is not Sun Wukong (who I found too abrasive), but the spirit of Chi, possibly the cutest character of the whole film who wins you over because it’s so cute, and the opposite of the cranky Sun Wukong.
I watched it in Mandarin and English dub and even the English voice actor, the child actor did a wonderful job portraying the Spirit of Chi, making you care and feel the emotion of the character.
I found the overall storyline OK from beginning to the middle of the film (the best way to describe it overly action focused), but then later, the film starts to pick up and fortunately we get to see the dramatic side to the animated film.
For the most part, “The Monkey King Reborn” shows us how Chinese animated films are looking amazing but I feel the film was trying to find a good balance between action and drama, but its characters are too cranky to care about and you find yourself rooting for little Spirit of Chi more than anything.
I remember reading the novel of “Journey to the West” and rooting for the characters, but for this animated film, for most of the film, I found myself not caring all that much until the latter portion of the animated film.
But for the most part, the payoff at the end of the film was good, it’s just that I wished that the story was more entertaining than it was.
Overall, for those who want to see the state of Chinese animated cinema and alternative storyline featuring the characters from China’s most popular classic novel, “Journey to the West” will want to give “The Monkey Reborn” a chance!