The Monkey King

2014

2h 2m

Fantasy

Adventure

Action

List

Reviews

26%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

After a goddess sacrifices herself to save the mortal world, the mischievous monkey king comes into being from one of her crystals.

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Maggie Lee

Variety

Soi Cheang infuses a simplistic, action-driven narrative with inexhaustible energy, but one expects greater stylistic flair and substance from the veteran helmer behind "Motorway" and "Dog Bites Dog."

Feb 1, 2014

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Simon Foster

sbs.com.au

[A] massive sense of spectacle overwhelms a somewhat simplistic take on the mystical tale of Simian spirit Sun Wukong, but what an impressive display it proves to be in the hands of director Soi Cheang.

Feb 6, 2014

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Audience Member

Não é de todo ruim, mas longe de ser bom, fica apenas a imaginar como conseguiram 4 filmes dessa franquia, mas como tenho ranço com comédias, provavelmente a minha antipática influencia na avaliação, gostei da fotografia, dos gráficos bem coloridos e vibrantes, os efeitos simples porem eficientes, meiguinho, só...

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/12/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Get ready to have your eyes assaulted with CGI of the weirdest kind. It is not like anything you've ever watched. Fun movie but Wukong was so irritating its almost unwatchable.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Riddled with lousy special effects, poor pacing and above all, boring, The Monkey King is an expensive but rather poorly made adaptation of Journey To The West, and a waste of time for everybody involved, including the audience.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Western audiences likely will not appreciate this film on a couple of potential areas. the first being the cartoony, and somewhat poor CGI. The second might be the story. I take both hand in hand a bit. The story is stepped in Asian myth based on the 16th century novel Journey to the West which it follows pretty faithfully. Since westerners were not steeped in this lore some may not appreciate it. This is for those who love Asian culture such as myself or those looking for something a bit different. As far as the quality of the CG, I just went with it as an aesthetic choice. I know you have to really stretch that, but if you realize the fantastical nature of the inherent story it isn't so hard. I really enjoyed the film though. I would recommend it. It had two sequels and the second is a little less fantastical and possibly more palatable for Westerners. it is a better fit in my humble opinion, as of this review I haven't seen the third one, but the first Monkey King should be seen!

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/06/19

Full Review

Audience Member

What is white fox demon doing there and what a disappointing CGI and I expected so much from donnie yen and I was quite sad with his performance as wukong. It's too superficial and he just doesn't have the wukong in him.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

What a mess. What an unholy mess. The CGI is typical of Chinese cinema (i.e. horrendous). Donnie Yen's acting got on my ever-lovin' nerves. I don't know if it was his actual voice or if he was dubbed in the version I watched but that squeal was like nails on a chalkboard. I'm a Peter Ho fan and he's about the only thing I could stand in this movie.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

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Pou-Soi Cheang

Director

Chow Yun-Fat

Jade Emporer

Donnie Yen

Sun Wukong

Aaron Kwok

Bull Demon King

Joe Chen

Princess Iron Fan

Peter Ho

Erlang Shen

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Synopsis

After a goddess sacrifices herself to save the mortal world, the mischievous monkey king comes into being from one of her crystals.

Director: Pou-Soi Cheang
Producer: Kiefer Liu
Screenwriter: Tai-lee Chan, Kam-Yuen Szeto, Edmond Wong
Production Co: Filmko Entertainment Limited, China Film Group, Mandarin Films
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Action
Original Language: Chinese
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 16, 2016
Runtime: 2h 2m
Sound Mix: Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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