Journey to the West Poster

Journey to the West (2013)

Action | Comedy | Fantasy
Rayting:   6.8/10 11.7K votes
Country: China | Hong Kong
Language: Mandarin
Release date: 7 February 2013

Tang Sanzang, an aspiring Buddhist hero tries to protect a village from three demons. He develops complex feelings for Miss Duan, the demon hunter who repeatedly helps him, and finally quests to meet the legendary Monkey King.

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Jerghal 4 May 2014

Kung Fu Hustle was a smash hit and also a brilliant and funny film so it resonated with Eastern and Western audiences. This set high expectations for 'Journey' which unfortunately it can't meet. We get a very action oriented fairy tale with demons and demon hunters caught in epic battles combined with some Budha nonsense. And these battles are pretty good actually, though the VFX are clearly not up to the modern day standards (they were done by a Chinese VFX company). The biggest problem is the comedy which doesn't work as well as in Kung Fu Hustle. Journey is a good film but it could have been a classic with some more polishing on the production (VFX) and comedy side. In the West nobody probably ever heard of this film but in China it made 213m$ and they're already building a theme park. Quite possible we could get a sequel.

paul_haakonsen 27 July 2014

Fmovies: A great take on the classic Chinese legend, and director Stephen Chow does it with his usual finesse and sense of mixing up comedy with action.

I must admit that I was a little bit skeptic at first, given the synopsis and the legend to which the movie is based upon. But with talents such as Stephen Chow behind the wheel, it just had to be experienced. And of course, also with the lovely Shu Qi in the movie it is not one to be missed.

There is a good amount of action throughout the movie matched up with good choreographed fighting and wire stunts. But it all comes together for an enjoyable end result, which is what matters. And the comedy throughout the movie was great. If you enjoyed "Kung Fu Soccer" or "Kung Fu Hustle", then you will also enjoy "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons", no doubt about it.

The costumes and sets were great and really added a lot to the movie. But also hats off to the special effects team. They really managed to pull it off quite nicely, and these demons were quite interesting to look at, yet convincing enough to appear real. So thumbs up for that.

There is a nice continuous flow to the movie, where the alternation between comedy, action and romance is a good change of pace and makes for a great roller-coaster experience.

It should be said that "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" is the type of movie that you will only fully enjoy if you have an interest in Chinese cinema and more or less an interest in Chinese mythology.

The cast was good, and there was a great chemistry between Shu Qi and Zhang Wen on the screen, both in a comedy way, but also during the action sequences.

"Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" scores an easy 7 out of 10 stars from me.

hkauteur 24 May 2013

Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons marks the very first Stephen Chow directed movie without him acting in it. So, what can I properly expect from this movie? The idea of a Stephen Chow movie is always exciting. However, I was concerned that it might be the start of an new era in which Stephen Chow will only direct movies and not act in them anymore. For that, I was both excited and scared to see this film. But finally, I decided there probably wasn't anything to expect and just walked in without expectations.

Fortunately, that ended up being the best way to seeing this movie. I ended up being really surprised and taken away by it.

It's clear that Stephen Chow's passions are now set into directing. He has improved a lot as a director; his films have become more cinematic experiences. There's less reliance on comedic dialogue, more emphasis on telling a story with stronger imagery, and has an improved sense of setup and payoff. He's much more interested in storytelling mechanics and more invested in where he can take an audience emotionally besides just laughs. With the way he structures some of his story, there's a symbiotic relationship between comedy and tragedy that he's very interested in exploring.

Wen Zhang delivers that exact balance between tragedy and comedy in his performance as Xuanzang. He is a charismatic leading man and he shoulders the film with both its funny and heartbreaking moments. When he was playing for humor, I laughed. When he was crying, I found it moving. I am buying him at every moment and he was playing me like a squeeze toy. The story gives a genuine pathos as he becomes the Xuanzang we know from the story.

Shu Qi is very affable in this role and it's nice to see her play a character with more cartoonish sensibilities. I especially liked her psychotic expressions when she was killing off demons. And yes, I can see how hard it is to reject Shu Qi if she threw herself at you like she did in this movie.

Huang Bo is a fun Monkey King and makes a very engaging antagonist. This version of Monkey King is richly complex. It's an interesting take on the character because it highlights a key point about Sun Wukong that's often glossed over: He never had a choice to join Xuanzang on his journey to the west. The Monkey King goes only because he is tamed by the magical torture crown that's he is forced to wear on his head. In this interpretation, he's not completely good or evil. Huang Bo does not play it too over-the-top by enhancing the animalistic sensibilities. Instead, what really stuck with me was how he convincingly played the desperate pain of being trapped under a mountain for five centuries.

The film's gags are executed with much discipline. The gags are zany but not random. They are all building character and moving the story forward each step of the way to it's final conclusion. It's masterful how Chow is able to use comedic moments to build towards moments of sadness and loss.

The thought of no more Stephen Chow roles anymore aches me a bit but his presence is felt here. He has delivered a well-made film. Fortunately the film is done well enough to help me get over my aching and accept him now as only a film director. I look forward to seeing him continually improve as a storyteller and to the next installment in this series.

For more reviews, please visit my blog @ http://hkauteur.wordpress.com

moviexclusive 31 January 2013

Journey to the West fmovies. Can any earnest Stephen Chow fan be blamed for eagerly anticipating his "Journey to the West"? Aside from the fact that it marks his first movie in four years, it promises a return to the inimitable blend of slapstick comedy, kung fu and romance which Chow had so successfully parlayed into a winning formula in the duology "A Chinese Odyssey: Part One – Pandora's Box" and "A Chinese Odyssey: Part Two – Cinderella" – never mind that Chow does not reprise his role as the "Monkey King" or for that matter have any starring role in this new movie.

Fortunately, Chow's fans can rest easy – despite not having any physical presence in the movie, this "Journey" is classic Chow from the acting to the writing and to the directing, the latter two roles of which he is credited for in addition to producing the movie. And perhaps the best news of it all is that Chow returns to the sheer inspired inanity and hilarity of "Shaolin Soccer" and "Kung Fu Hustle", so be prepared to be rib-tickled silly by the misadventures of Miss Duan (Shu Qi) and Xuan Zang (Zhang Wen) in demon country.

Those familiar with the classic "Journey to the West" novel will know that Xuan Zang is also known as Tripitaka, who would be entrusted by Guanyin with the mission of recovering the sacred texts together with three disciples – Monkey King, Zhu Bajie and Sand Monk. Chow leaves that tale for the inevitable sequel; rather, in this movie, he fashions in essence a prequel, where Xuan Zang is no more than an amateur demon hunter yet to attain enlightenment, Monkey King or Sun Wukong (Huang Bo) is a conniving demon imprisoned in a cave by Buddha, Zhu Bajie is a pig demon called KL Hogg (Chen Bing Qiang) who especially kills women who lust after handsome men, and Sand Monk (Lee Sheung Qing) is a half-fish half-beast water demon who wrecks havoc on fishing communities living near the water.

You'll do well to remember that each demon you see on screen is of significance; otherwise you may be wondering why the screenplay, credited to Chow and seven other writers seems to dwell too excessively on each particular demon-slaying encounter – beginning with Sand Monk, then KL Hogg and finally to Sun Wukong. Indeed, the movie is really made up of these three distinct sequences, with the exception of one more that builds on the budding romance between Xuan Zang and his much more skilled and experienced fellow demon hunter Miss Duan.

Within that narrative structure, Chow constructs four elaborately staged battles that combine his brand of quirky humour, choreographer Ku Huen Chiu's imaginative action and production designer Bruce Yu's richly conceived sets with some truly impressive CGI that rivals anything you have seen so far in Chinese cinema. Thankfully, Chow doesn't get caught up with putting on the best visual effects show; in fact, with an inspired and confident directorial hand, he balances all these elements deftly, never forgetting that his audience is expecting nothing less than his signature brand of laughs.

Right from the start, you'll know that Chow's comedic sensibilities are at his sharpest. He takes his time to set each scene – for instance, in the first sequence, a charlatan is seen tricking the villagers that a giant sting ray he had blasted dead in the water was responsible for one of their own's death, so much so that when the real culprit (i.e. the water demon) appears, that entrance is even more dr

l_c_world 20 February 2013

I saw the TV commercials and trailers and thought : what a piece of sh*t! Is this the kind of movie Stephen Chow, who directed and starred in Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle, CJ7, all good movies, is making now? Boy was I wrong. Never have I seen a movie trailer that I thought was sh*t and the movie turns out to be so much fun (except Robocop-but that's a classic on another level.).

Stephen Chow had so smartly kept the good stuff out of the TV commercials. The movie far surpassed my expectations. I went to see it simply because of good word of mouth and it opened Huge. Also news was going around that this movie scared 6-8 year old children and made them cry in the theaters. Yes, there are parts of this movie that are intense, violent, bloody. Not what people expect from comedy king and family entertainment star Stephen Chow. But there are also children laughing. So warning : not suitable for kids under... 10 ? PG? PG13?

This looks and feel like a good old Hong Kong movie. I love it. Sadly, the once exciting Hong Kong movie industry is a shadow of it's former self. With most productions moving to China now.

Stephen Chow unfortunately does not appear in this movie at all. He directed, worked on the screenplay and co-produced it. Had a younger Chow starred as the male lead this movie would have been even better. Shu Qi is pretty as always and the entire cast is good.

The classic story of Journey to the West is given a new twist. In the hundreds years old story the Monkey King was imprisoned by Bhuddha for wreaking havoc in heaven. He must seek redemption with Piggy, Sandy monk to help Tang Seng on his journey to seek enlightenment. I won't give away the story of this movie. But I will say that I was very satisfied and that if you like Hong Kong movies or Stephen Chow's movie, you must go to the theater to see it.

Also the 3D stereoscopic effects were well done.

I might add that the Monkey King in the movie is not what most people expect but not untrue to literature. He's been trapped 500 years and he's mad as hell ! The Taiwanese actor that played him is the best in the movie. He played every nuance. Also Monkey King only change to one other form despite having the ability to change to 72 forms in the book(not including human form).

For once I think a good dubbing is actually better than subtitles because there is so much going on in the screen and reading the subtitles takes your eyes away from the action. This movie deserves(and probably will get) a USA (or worldwide) theatrical release.

DICK STEEL 16 February 2013

Truth be told, I wasn't quite impressed with the idea that Stephen Chow had to revisit one of his greatest films, and do another version of it. But Chow had proved me wrong, and had some nifty creative ideas behind what he had wanted to do with another Journey to the West tale, hardly rehashing the earlier Jeff Lau effort. He had managed to keep the strengths of what he is well known for in irreverent comedy, and crafted his best in years, while coming up with yet another new spin to keep things engaging even for the most jaded amongst us on the tale of Monkey King. The trailer, while keeping things really short, now on hindsight was a brilliant little piece of a short prologue, while teasing the audience on a Monkey King appearance that's never been portrayed nor seen before in this form, which does take some getting used to.

But this film, co-directed with Derek Kwok, sets its sights on Tripitaka the monk, or Xuan Zang, instead, before he got preordained into monk-hood. In this re-telling, Xuan Zang (Wen Zhang) is a novice demon-hunter, and a hopeless one at that. He believes that every demon should be shown compassion, and is for non-violence as much as possible, in order to rehabilitate demons that he found, using his book of nursery rhymes which his master claims to be one of the best sutras around for subduing of spirits. Xuan Zang embodies all that is benevolent, consistent in spirit (pardon the pun) what you know of the character, except that he has that thick mop of hair. But despite his lack of skills other than a stout heart, help comes in the form of Ms Duan (Shu Qi), the expertly skilled demon hunter, with her own posse to allow some cameo appearances, who has the hots for Xuan Zang (again playing to the tune that he is someone desirable, as any Journey story goes), and pops up almost always at the right time to save his hide.

Elements from Journey stories include the individual encounters with all his disciples and their tweaked back stories, which credit has to be given to the screenwriters for improvements that worked within the confines of this alternate story they wanted to tell. The highlight is of course how Xuan Zang's first meeting with Sun Wukong (Huang Bo) went, which is as comical and witty as can be, which extended to the big battle finale that had as much heart, a key winning element from Chow's A Chinese Odyssey films, to move when themed against the notion of sacrifice. The final twenty minutes was a fitting climax, building up upon a series of very smart episodes, which included, on a higher level, how scriptures are based on love.

And this romance between Xuan Zang and Ms Duan forms the crux of the story, like in A Chinese Odyssey, that drives the narrative forward. Shu Qi plays the much tomboyish demon hunter with aplomb, who has to dig deep to find her femininity in wooing Xuan Zang, and who would have guessed she looked so comfortable and credible in executing many of her martial arts scenes. Wen Zhang like others before him who have played the kind monk, was right at home with his performance, a little bumbling mixed with that tinge of innocence, and sheer determination in wanting to do good despite only having the best of intentions, and none of the skills. And amongst the other characters, all eyes are perhaps on Huang Bo's rendition of the Monkey King, which I can only say it's extremely different to begin with, and I'm sure some find the character design a little bit bewildering.

Then again, it's a retelling, so some decisions ma

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