Alakazam the Great

Alakazam the Great, known in Japan as , is a 1960 Japanese anime musical film, heavily based on the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West. It was one of the earliest anime films to be released in the United States. Osamu Tezuka was named as a director of the film by Toei Company, but Tezuka later stated that the only time he was in the studio was to pose for publicity photos. His involvement in promoting the film, however, led to his interest in animation.

Plot 
One day, an unusual monkey is born from a stone. The stone monkey befriends a fellow monkey named Rin-Rin and is later crowned king of a tribe of monkeys after he proves his courage by diving into a dangerous waterfall. During his dive, he discovers an underwater palace, which he sets up as his castle. Over time, the stone monkey becomes considerably rude and arrogant, much to his subjects' dismay. 

When he learns about the existence of humans from Rin-Rin, who says they are the smartest beings around, the stone monkey is incensed and sets off to surpass them. Goku meets a hermit whom he forces to make him his pupil. The hermit teaches the stone monkey considerable magic abilities and rechristens him Son Goku. Goku shows off his abilities to Rin-Rin, and to further impress her, goes to heaven to retrieve the sacred fruit the hermit fed him during training.

In Heaven, Goku causes mischief, and overpowers the celestial forces sent after him. He fights and defeats General Kinsei and steals his Nyoi-Bo staff but is soon challenged by Jiroshinkun, who overpowers him after a shape-shifting duel. Goku meets Buddha, who challenges him to fly off his hand. Goku arrogantly accepts the challenge, but he fails, and is imprisoned by Buddha at the Five Elements Mountain, where he cannot use his magic. His arrogant attitude gradually fades during his imprisonment. Rin-Rin feeds him fruit during the following winter until she nearly succumbs to a blizzard. Rin-Rin is saved by Kanon, who heralds the arrival of the monk, Hoshi Sanzo, with whom Goku is tasked to accompany on a pilgrimage to Tianzhu to retrieve a special sutra. Sanzo frees Goku from his imprisonment, but Goku is hostile to the monk until Sanzo places a golden circlet around Goku's head, which cannot be removed and causes him considerable pain with a special chant. Goku soon agrees to accompany Sanzo.

During their pilgrimage, they meet a father and daughter, the latter of whom is eyed for marriage by a monster. Goku disguises himself as the girl and takes her place when the monster, the pig-man Cho Hakkai, arrives that night. Goku soon reveals the deception, forcing Hakkai to flee home for his half-brothers, Ginkaku and Kinkaku. Goku arrives at Hakkai’s doorstep and battles the brothers, who trap him in a gourd which melts anyone inside it. Goku escapes from the gourd, knocks out Hakkai, and impersonates him to trap the brothers in their gourd. They instead drop him down a pit where a giant scorpion awaits. Goku narrowly defeats the scorpion and successfully traps the brothers in their gourd. Goku tries to attack Hakkai but spares him when he hears Rin-Rin’s voice and allows Hakkai to accompany him and Sanzo on their pilgrimage.

Meanwhile, the imp Shoryu, a servant of Gyū-Maō of the Flaming Mountains, informs his master about Sanzo’s pilgrimage. Gyū-Maō tasks Shoryu to lure Sanzo and company to his volcano lair so that he may eat the monk and extend his lifespan by 3000 years. Shoryu ambushes the group in the desert, scares away Sanzo's horse and takes the monk captive. Goku saves Sanzo, though Hakkai accidentally loses the group’s food supply in the melee. The group eventually encounters a castle inhabited by the man-eating ogre Sa Gojō. Gojō tries to eat Hakkai and Sanzo, only for Goku to overpower him and force him to join their pilgrimage.

When the group approaches the Flaming Mountains, Shoryu turns Sanzo's companions against each other, but the monk quells their quarrelling. Gyū-Maō erupts the mountains, which blocks the group’s path to Tianzhu. Goku learns from a rabbit that the lava can be frozen by the Basho-sen, a magic fan possessed by Gyū-Maō’s wife, Ratsunyō. While Gojo digs to safety, Goku and Hakkai disguise themselves as Gyū-Maō to retrieve the fan. They accidentally blow their cover in front of Ratsunyō, who captures Hakkai, while Goku escapes with the fan. Goku gives Sanzo the fan, but this is revealed to be Shoryu in disguise, the real Sanzo having been captured by Gyū-Maō. Shoryu freezes Goku with the fan and pushes him into the lava; Goku survives but is left paralyzed and stripped of his magic.

Gyū-Maō prepares to cook Hakkai and Sanzo as part of a gigantic feast with his fellow demons. Gyū-Maō reneges on his earlier promise to reward Shoryu for his duties and traps him in a jar. Goku and Gojō reunite and free Shoryu, who repents for his wrongdoings. Goku spares Shoryu, who thanks him with a potion which heals him. Goku and Gojō save the others just in time, and together, they battle Gyū-Maō and his cohorts. Hakkai freezes Ratsunyō with the Basho-Sen, while Goku overpowers Gyū-Maō, who falls to his death into the lava below. Hakkai uses the fan to freeze the lava flow. The group makes peace with Shoryu, and they head off to Tianzhu, where they are greeted by Buddha and Kanon. Buddha frees Goku from the circlet as promised. They return to China with the sutra, while Goku reunites with Rin-Rin and is welcomed by his subjects.

Characters

U.S. release 

The film was released in the United States by American International on July 26, 1961. For the American release, a few scenes were heavily edited and rearranged and bandleader Les Baxter was hired to compose a new soundtrack. Teen idol Frankie Avalon provided the singing voice of Alakazam (with speaking voice performed by Peter Fernandez), while Dodie Stevens provided the singing voice of DeeDee (with speaking voice performed by Corinne Orr), with English-language narration provided by Sterling Holloway. Other famous voices included Jonathan Winters and Arnold Stang.

Reception 
The film was a great success in Japan but a flop in the United States, despite a large marketing budget and heavy promotion. The Los Angeles Times called it "warm, amusing and exciting... the art work is really excellent". It was included as one of the choices in The Fifty Worst Films of All Time, and is the only animated film featured in the book.

Home media 
The AIP version of the film was first released on VHS in the 1980s by HBO/Cannon Video (under licensed from then-owner Orion Pictures). This release was reissued by Congress Video Group in 1990 at a slower speed. Orion Home Video re-released the film in both pan-and-scan and widescreen letterbox VHS editions and on a widescreen laserdisc in 1995. Although MGM Home Entertainment has not released the film on DVD, the AIP version has been made available for streaming on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

In popular culture 
The Mario video game franchise antagonist Bowser was inspired by the film. Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto received inspiration for the character's appearance from the anime film. He had first envisioned Bowser as an ox, basing him on the Ox-King from the film.

See also 
 List of animated feature films
 List of Osamu Tezuka anime
 List of Osamu Tezuka manga
 Osamu Tezuka's Star System

References

External links 
 

1960 films
1960 anime films
1960s children's animated films
1960s fantasy adventure films
1960s musical films
Adventure anime and manga
American International Pictures films
Animated musical films
Buddhist animation
Chinese mythology in anime and manga
Animated films about apes
Animated films about pigs
Films based on Journey to the West
Films based on works by Osamu Tezuka
Films scored by Ryōichi Hattori
Japanese animated fantasy films
Japanese fantasy adventure films
Toei Animation films