The all-powerful Monkey King once roamed freely between Heaven and Earth, but after angering the Gods, he was imprisoned within an ice cage deep within the mountains. 500 years later, .
Director: Tian Xiao PengWriters: Cory Edwards (creative consultant), Tian Xiao Peng |
Stars: Jackie Chan, Nickie Bryar, Feodor Chin |
Storyline
The all-powerful Monkey King once roamed freely between Heaven and Earth, but after angering the Gods, he was imprisoned within an ice cage deep within the mountains. 500 years later, monsters attack a small village and a child flees to the mountains. Unknowingly, the child releases the Monkey King from his curse. With the help and encouragement from this special child, Monkey King saves the village from the evil monsters.
Monkey King: Hero Is Back Movie Reviews
I managed to see about half the movie before I gave up. It was in Chinese with dual Chinese/English subtitles, and as far as I could tell, the English translation was okay.
The animation quality reminded me of old video game cutscenes. Some scenes seemed to have no shadows or reflective lighting at all, and many of the 3D models looked very stiff. I'd say it's on par with the original Toy Story movie except that the characters' hair/fur looked pretty good.
The storyline suffered from odd pacing, and I didn't feel like I had to know how it ended. (To be fair, I hadn't heard of the original Xi You Ji legend before, nor have I seen Dragonball.)
But it was the sense of humour that ruined the movie for me. One running gag was how annoying character A wants to tag along with cool character B. Character B would prefer to be left alone, but A doesn't get the message and keeps following B. Is this a common Chinese comedy trope? I found it equally unbearable in "Lost in Thailand" (tai jiong). And then we have characters peeing and pooing on each other by accident. If there was any complexity or subtlety to the humour, it was probably lost in translation.I realise that this is a movie for children, but other recent CGI movies have enough substance to appeal to the whole family, and I wish this movie would live up to the same standard.
The animation quality reminded me of old video game cutscenes. Some scenes seemed to have no shadows or reflective lighting at all, and many of the 3D models looked very stiff. I'd say it's on par with the original Toy Story movie except that the characters' hair/fur looked pretty good.
The storyline suffered from odd pacing, and I didn't feel like I had to know how it ended. (To be fair, I hadn't heard of the original Xi You Ji legend before, nor have I seen Dragonball.)
But it was the sense of humour that ruined the movie for me. One running gag was how annoying character A wants to tag along with cool character B. Character B would prefer to be left alone, but A doesn't get the message and keeps following B. Is this a common Chinese comedy trope? I found it equally unbearable in "Lost in Thailand" (tai jiong). And then we have characters peeing and pooing on each other by accident. If there was any complexity or subtlety to the humour, it was probably lost in translation.I realise that this is a movie for children, but other recent CGI movies have enough substance to appeal to the whole family, and I wish this movie would live up to the same standard.
