The Monkey King

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Phil H My favourite Chinese movie of all time. Incredible animation style and soundtrack, which not only take lots of inspiration from Classical Chinese sources - they improve upon them Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 04/13/25 Full Review Benjamin L I love the art style. Even though there are animation errors, those errors are kind of charming and the animation is fluid overall. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/06/24 Full Review Audience Member <i>The Monkey King</i>, aka <i>Uproar in Heaven</i>, aka <i>The Monkey King</i> is a classic of Chinese animation made on the pinnacle of the animated industry of China during the 1960s. it is based on a Chinese novel published in the 16th century and attributed to the Chinese novelist and poet of the Ming Dynasty, Wu Cheng'en. The same story has been subject to numerous retellings on the media and even a recent 3D restored conversion of the animated classic in 2012. It even has a seemingly suckass live-action version released this very same year starring the decaying Hong Kong superstar Chow Yun-Fat, which surely my eyeballs will always refuse to see, even if it is a more faithful tradition of the original text. In essence, the story allegorically represents the arrival of Buddhism to China. However, alterations have been done to the story in order to somehow mirror a more Marxist-oriented approach, where the film neglects the impositions of authorities of nearly-heavenly power and raises a gigantic middle finger to the perpetrators of oppression of the working class: the little monkeys. The animation itself is something incredible to behold given its time of development; the fluency of the movements, the interaction of the characters and objects with the physical surroundings, the mindblowing sound design and sound editing, and the background scenarios that seem like looking at original oil paintings are all elements that correlate perfectly with the heavenly scope of it all. It is also a great source of information, even if not entirely faithful to the text, for those looking forward to learn about the Chinese culture. This gem deserves to be seen, frankly, more than most of the animated pieces of success that are being released nowadays, and its historical importance cannot be neglected whatsoever. 85/100 Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member Masterful animated feature from China. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Audience Member A timeless animation classic, most danish people probably know this one, under the name "Abekongen". Uproar in heaven is one of the two books about the monkey king, that was animated. The stories are original chinese folklore, and they were written down by Wu Cheng in the 1500s. If I could choose only one childrens movie too se with my future children, this would probably be the one. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/09/23 Full Review Audience Member Finnish national broadcasting corporation YLE showed this years ago in TV. The little I can remember about it, it was one of the most profound animation expreriences ever for me, quite on par with Studio Ghibli et al. Highly recommended, and I'd love to see it again myself! Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Monkey King

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