Xi you ji: Da nao tian gong
Tags: fantasy

Plot synopsis:
Sun Wukong, (The Monkey King) is a monkey born from a heavenly stone who acquires supernatural powers. After rebelling against heaven and being imprisoned under a mountain for 500 years, he later accompanies the monk Xuanzang on a journey to India.
Thus, according to legend, Buddhism is brought to ancient China.
This much beloved story, is as much a part of Asian culture as The Iliad and The Odyssey or The Wizard of Oz are to the West.
This first installment in a trilogy of live action 3-D movies is actually a prequel to
The Journey To The West, the much told story of the Monkey Kings adventures on the road to India.
The Monkey King: Havoc In The Heavenly Palace will be released in the U.S.
as The Monkey King. The first movie is the origins story -- beginning with the birth of Sun Wukong and ending with his imprisonment for his crimes under the Five-Peaked Mountain.
Along the way he acquires incredible powers, battling the armies of the gods and the armies of the demons to find his rightful place in the Heavens. It is a classic story of the scorned underdog who acquires great abilities but uses them recklessly and ultimately must pay a huge price to find redemption.
The Monkey King captures the drama, beauty, humor and fantastic action of the folk legend and brings it to the screen in a way never before possible.

Review: I just saw this film with my mother, a 65-year old Chinese woman (who has trained under some masters of kung fu), who grew up reading the stories of the Monkey King (whereas I'm more familiar with the Japanese Series, 'Monkey Magic').
My mother was delighted at how faithful this film was, with so many of the characters and substories being very close to how she remembers them.Unlike other reviewers, we found the CGI to be quite good (a couple of bad spots, but in other places, stunning!) We thought the acting and direction was also really good.
However at the end of the day as a family movie for all ages old and young it is a definite winner.As a absolute devoted fan since the 70's of the NipponTV incarnation of this tale, it was absolutely fun to watch with my kids and parents as the Director intended, to introduce and showcase a very popular traditional Chinese story to a larger demographic western audience with a modern feel and fun easy to digest storyline.
(Thus the use of some headline artists in the main roles)The obvious details of the screenplay to book adaption aside, Donny Yen really brings SUN WUKONG to animated life much as he re-birthed IP MAN for modern audiences.A truly memorable performance by Chow Yun Fat and supporting casts makes it a benchmark movie amongst the last few recent "MONKEY" re-envisaged movies of recent years.Maybe not a movie for the full on Chinese mythology traditionalist but certainly one NOT TO MISS for the dedicated devotee of the MONKEY story sub genre..
When THE MONKEY KING debuted the teaser trailer sometimes last year, I was doubtful whether Donnie Yen was really up for the legendary Sun Wukong role or not.
However, upon finally watching it, this nearly four-years-in-the-making production proves to be a well-worthy cinematic experience after all.WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?During an ongoing war between god and demon on the Heavenly Palace, Bull Demon King (Aaron Kwok) lost the battle against Jade Emperor (Chow Yun-Fat).
Trouble arrives when Bull Demon King sees Wukong as his golden opportunity to use him as bait to access Heavenly Palace, while waiting for the right moment to wage war against the god all over again.THE GOOD STUFFLast seen in 2012's MOTORWAY, Soi Cheang's direction is colorful and yet entertaining enough to please most of the die-hard fans of the Sun Wukong story.
Other actors, such as Peter Ho as the scheming Erlangshen and Chow Yun-Fat as the noble Jade Emperor, are equally acceptable as well.MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT(S)The "all-hell-breaks-loose" duels during the movie's spectacular finale.THE BAD STUFFDespite the hefty amount spent on the budget, the special effects are average at best.
Some of the other cast, including Aaron Kwok's villainous turn as Bull Demon King, Kelly Chen as Guanyin and Gigi Leung as Chang'E, are sadly underwritten.FINAL WORDSWhile THE MONKEY KING is far from the best movie adaptation ever seen from Wu Cheng'en's classical novel of Journey to the West, it remains a satisfying effort worth checking out for this Chinese New Year.caseymoviemania.blogspot.com.
Journey to the West is one of the 4 most famous Chinese Novel in the world, and to tackle a classic tale is always a huge risk(see The Sorcerer and the White Snake, a huge critical and box office disappointment).Many thought that this might be another failure, but the results is actually very surprising.Donnie Yen's Monkey King "Sun Wu Kong" is so good and Donnie is so into-character that most viewers do not know its him until the end credits.
This may just be the best Sun Wu Kong we have ever seen, right up there with the one starring Liu Xiao Ling Tong.Props to Aaron Kwok too, for being such a good villain and making the viewers hate him.The plot has a little bit of twist and changes from the original journey to the west story, but they were not overboard and the story is kept simple perhaps to introduce worldwide audience to this Chinese Folktale.The CGI is a new level compared to previous Chinese movies.
Watch out for the last fight scene, the CGI is easily Hollywood standard.A huge milestone is reached on 31st January 2013, on Chinese New Year, we see the rebirth of Sun Wu Kong and Journey to the west.Asians can finally be hopeful, because its no longer Western Superheroes such as Iron Man and Thor dominating, but our very own Eastern Superhero, the Monkey King is here to stay..
It's an adaptation of Journey To The West, the classic Chinese novel which tells the hugely-beloved tale of a daring, gifted monkey who falls from the heavens and must find his way back again.
Brew all those mistakes together, and director Cheang Pou-Soi has really mucked it up big-time.The film opens with an epic war in the heavens, one that results in the goddess Nüwa having to sacrifice herself to rebuild the celestial palace of the Jade Emperor (Chow).
But, under the manipulative influence of the Bull Demon King (Kwok), Monkey soon finds himself returning to the heavenly palace to wreak havoc beyond anyone's worst nightmares.Journey To The West is, truly, a marvellous source of material for a film adaptation: it's morally rich, thematically complex and spiritually enlightening, with huge helpings of adventure, fantasy and derring-do.
Cameos from the likes of pop singers Kelly Chen and Gigi Leung - the former plays Guan Yin, Goddess Of Mercy, and the latter the immortal moon-dwelling Chang'E - add to the generally trippy effect of the film.The special effects are, on the whole, terrible: a lot of the time, the film feels like a creaky albeit well-intentioned television adaptation from the 1970s, which is unfortunate given the forty intervening years of technological development.
Leave us not forget the costumes, which look as if they were picked up from a store dumping its unwanted Halloween stock.If you can suffer through the first two-thirds of the film, The Monkey King actually seems to find its feet in its final half-hour.
Although it is true that the big part of the original (huge) book was about the Pilgrimage mentioned in the Synopsis, there are two things you should know: the pilgrimage was more an adventure full of battles, monsters, magic powers, and epic Characters, rather than just a pilgrimage; and this movie concentrates on the first part of the book, before the pilgrimage (actually the Monk does not even appear), on the genesis of the Monkey King.
This film is a bit strange, the special effects are not the best, and some things in the realization will need a bit effort from the western audience, but it is OK, you must understand that as said this is a Chinese story and obviously not made with the western people as main target.
But whether you are interested or not in the background of the story, the film is pleasant and entertaining and you can surely enjoy it :) Now I just hope there will be other movies with the rest of the book!.
Being an American imbued in this ego-mongering, greed-centric culture and it's pitifully vacuous religious folklore and totally unfamiliar with the story behind the 'Monkey King', I was hesitant to watch this since I had to read subtitles which turned out to be difficult at best due to translation issues, but I did manage to get the gist of the story as it unfolded, and I couldn't help becoming involved in the characters soon after it began.
Donnie Yen does OK as the lead but western fans of his previous films may be left confused and/or disappointed a long time before the 120 mins of 'Fantasy Action' ends - It really helped that I was already familiar with the story as a lot happens in that time.
there were many major problems with this movie, first off having Donnie Yen as the monkey king was a big big no no.
it was going to be hard to cgi the right way cause the book was so detailed and deep.i went into this movie not expecting much and wind up not getting much, there were no development of characters, some of the costumes were laughably bad and the other 2 leads weren't that interesting either.
the story and acting got tighter and best of all, the cgi looked as good as any that Hollywood can put out, and it was exciting.so, if the movie isn't that appealing...just make sure you watch the last third or quarter and you'll feel a lot less screwed...the ending of the movie was its saving grace and just might save the movie from disaster.
When I go and try to watch a fantasy movie, I do of course go there and expecting to see a lot of visual candies with the use of such colorful special effects.
The Monkey King was heroic in this film and exactly the way Sun-Wukong should be portrayed as.
Even though the new Monkey King 2014 movie is being badmouthed by you westerners, please note the fact that the special effects and CGI that you complainabout have NOTHING to do with the really good TV series.
How about complaining that Hollywood movies in the 20th century, including Harry Potter have PLAGIARIZED and COPIED the Asian Chinese concept of the original Monkey King flying in a cape with this magic staff that was invented first in the 16th century!!!
When you complain and whine about the new Monkey King movie with Chow Yun Fat who did a great job, the other guy, Soe Cheang did a good job with the 2014 movie!!!
You bad racist people on IMDb.com are directly and indirectly badmouthing and sabotaging the good reputation of the literary genius, Wu Chengén and the magnificent Journey to the West novel.This IMDb.com website is just jealous of the Monkey King 2014 being a decent movie that deserves an 8/10 or at least a 6.5/10.
I'm trying to watch this right now and I am doing everything in my power to keep my eyes open.The subtitles are terrible, the costumes look like they came out of a giant gum ball machine, the CGI is choppy..
With director Soi Cheang delivering such dark thrillers like the amazing Dog Bite Dog and Shamo, etc, I was quite curious as to how this adaptation of the world famous story was brought to the big screen.I mean, it hasn't been that long since the awesome Jackie Chan, Jet Li vehicle, The Forbidden Kingdom with Jet Li as the Monkey King.And then there was the awesome Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons, from the fantastic Stephen Chow Sing Chi.And now, The Monkey King with the incredible Donnie Yen as the titular hero...First of, even at 2 hours long, The Monkey King feels somewhat longer.
Saying that, it is a visual feast that sometimes wins with its CGI and quite often doesn't, reminding me of the fist attempts at Hong Kong effects-filled movies like, Storm Riders and A Man Called Hero.Often slow burning, with average fantasy action scenes and wire-fu, The Monkey King is rife with amazing characters from Chinese mythology, including one of my favourites, little Nezha and his flamed wheels on his feet!Cast wise, Chow Yun Fat looks as cool as always as the Jade Emperor, and the gorgeous Aaron Kwok plays the Bull King - although looks slightly bored in doing so.
Always have, for about 30 years now, and feel that since his explosion in the US, critics have been harsh on him for his choice in roles - no matter how many he is dishing out.As the Monkey King, I think Donnie pulls of an amazing job, making me sometimes wonder who I am looking at.
Let's be clear: Journey to the West, like many other classical Chinese stories, has been done to death on TV as a drama series/anime adaption.
Sun Wukong as the lead is decently portrayed.The BAD: The Bull Demon King is not badass in the original story, so it comes off as a rather strange character contortion seemingly to fit Aaron Kwok's admittedly dreary character archetype.
No need to dress every character like a peacock.The worst of all is the soundtrack: what passes as a reasonably exciting and eyecatching fight scene by today's standards is often ruined by the cheap, mostly non-thematic and garbled orchestral pieces that reflect neither the grandeur of the ancient East nor the Monkey King's capacity for romance.
We love some of the main actors and gave it the benefit of the doubt, watching for another ~20min, and sadly had to give up.Fingers crossed, The Monkey King 2 (2016) will have a lot less animation to make room for some genuine acting and character development..
Donnie Yen's Monkey King was painful to watch.
Finally, I have read from Chinese reviewers that the original story has gone very much out of tracks with this movie and it is a pity to think that such a classic part of their culture is being mixed up by modern 'story tellers' who have no respect for the very material they use to make money.
If Donnie Yen wished to do one more take on the Monkey King, He could at least have respected the source material rather than releasing a distorted and immature production for the whole world to absorb, thus diluting slowly the accuracy of the original epic story.
Though the budget sets a record for China, the quality of the result in terms of effects (be they digital or makeup) is woefully sub-par, and the art direction is a mess, making this a frequently incoherent eyesore.Then, let's look at the talent involved: Chow Yun-Fat and Donnie Yen's charisma and comic sense (respectively) eclipse anything else thrown up on screen, and might have gobbled up most of the budget.
But the real Monkey King is stronger than all that, and since filmmakers can't stay clear of his gravitational pull for long, one can hope in a few years time someone will do him justice.Avoid this garbage and read the source, preferably while listening to this film's unbelievably great score..
I have experienced many versions of Journey to the West, including the 1986 version(the one I enjoyed most).I have seen many bad reviews on this movie due to it's over-the-top cgi, bad translations, and poor plot.
That split of a second, which could be an indefinite amount of time for a deity, Chang'e taught him (with very bad translations) the costs of immortality.Enough of the philosophy talk and lets move on into the fun winks to the audience that have had the opportunity to watch the Journey to the West series.
The Monkey King (西游记之大闹天宫, literal translation: Journey to the West:  Havoc in Heaven) is a disappointing and terrible fantasy action epic  adaptation of the classic Chinese literature Journey to the West (西游  记).
Although Donnie Yen provides a decent performance as the monkey Sun  Wukong (孙悟空), but it's ultimately hampered by the overall production of  the film.
While the costumes and makeup were acceptable, the CGI effects for the  entire film is extremely terrible and incomplete, as if the entire  production was heavily rushed for Chinese New Year release.
The story is about a character known as the Monkey King who travels to India and brings Buddhism back to China, and it is truly epic in scope.
This is why Buddha trapped him under the mountain.The movie had a lot of potential, and from what I gathered I enjoyed hit, however the huge flaw was not so much the effects – they were good, or the story, but the subtitles.
In this movie it was more like watching a circus monkey that got special powers than watching a story of The Monkey king.The only reason I gave it 2 stars was because of the good computer effects.
But whereas "The Golden Compass" (2007) has the excuse of having no "fore-runners" to look to for reference, "The Monkey King" (2014) simply makes apparent the sheer genius of earlier "Journey to the West" adaptations which adopted a firm, laser-like focus on just ONE single origin/back-story: e.g.
But while I have never grown tired of watching "Havoc in Heaven" (1964), "Conquering the Demons" (2013) or even reading Journey to the West-- because their mastery of their media (animation, live-action film and prose respectively) is such that their "set-ups" (whether slapstick, satire or melodrama) were as good as their "pay-offs"-- I don't see a reason to ever watch "The Monkey King" (2014) again...
THE MONKEY KING: HAVOC IN HEAVEN'S PALACE is the latest outing for the classic hero of Chinese literature, and I'm ashamed to say that it's by far the worst ever adaptation I've seen.
Donnie Yen frankly embarrasses himself in the lead role, going way over the top with the physical tics and comedy, while others like Chow Yun-Fat and Aaron Kwok are merely wasted.
The Monkey King: or perhaps more fittingly- how not to utilise your slew of fan-favourite, award-winning actors/actresses, sky-rocket budget and effort- lackluster at best.For those who have no knowledge of the tale or are simply looking for a dumb, uproarious, action romp- look no further- as senseless as it is it should entertain fine.I must warn those people that know of the original tale, or those who are looking for a blockbuster film done right- consider slamming yourself under a mountain for 500 years before seeing this cinematic atrocity.
But no thematic adaption has missed the point so completely like 'The Monkey King.'There are many things amiss in this movie attempt, but other than the stated above, the movie simply fails to engage.