Good movie but grossly overrated

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

With a subtitle "conquering the demons", JOURNEY TO THE WEST is Hong Kong megastar-turned-filmmaker Stephen Chow's re-imagination of the Chinese proverbial fantasy story, almost two decades after his iconic incarnation of Monkey King in Jeffrey Lau's by turns infectiously funny and archly romantic two-parts pan-Chinese comedy apotheosis A CHINESE ODYSSEY (1995). Here, strictly hewing to his onus behind the camera, Stephen Chow tactically visualizes an enlightenment-seeking adventure of the young Buddhist Tang Sanzang (Wen Zhang), an unorthodox demon hunter who inclines to chant nursery rhymes to elicit a demon's innate goodness, is under persistent courtship from a more practical-minded fellow hunter Miss Duan (Shu Qi), and the story basically pertains to how Sanzang tames his three unruly half-human-half-beast disciples, the Monkey King aka. Sun Wukong (Huang Bo), the Pig Demon aka. Zhu Bajie (Chen Bingqiang) and the Water Buffalo, aka. Sha Wujing (Li Shangzheng), a prequel of the quartet's journey westward to quest for Buddhist sutra.It is unexpectedly riveting to discover that the most distinctive characteristic in the screenplay is Chow's U-turn stratagem of depicting the three disciples, in their most primordial and feral predator mindset, a pre-teen girl is swallowed alive by the Water Buffalo, whereas in the Pig Demon's restaurant, corpses are embedded inside the roast pigs served to entice unsuspecting clientele, as for the Monkey King, whose bumptious temperament and indiscriminately blood-thirsty propensity is magnified to an appalling scope that ludicrously disproportionate to his diminutive and ferocious animal form (played by child actor Ge Xingyu under special makeups), all of which are poles away from audience's entrenched preconception. Conversely, Chow's trademark comedic bent is significantly pared down in service of his dramatic revelation (including an almost sadistically suicidal devotion which duly triggers the deus ex machina in the eleventh hour), a mid-section ploy arouses most laughter with Miss Duan's riff-raff, but this is fairly standard treatment for those who are au fait with Chow's track record (both as directors and top-notch comedian actors), not to mention a cringe-worthy reaction toward Prince Important's elongated important/impotent faux pas (played by Taiwan red-hot entertainer Show Lo). The tenor of the story is more or less the same from A CHINESE ODYSSEY, no happy ending is preordained, only this time, the protagonist is the master Sanzang, after a belated confession of love to Miss Duan, he finally gets the satori that love should not be divided by "big" and "small", but it is equally banal and frustrating when one can only that through a tragic loss, also there is an uneasy feeling to watch a woman repeatedly debases herself to solicit her unrequited feeling from a man, especially in this day and age. The cast is, for the most part, adept, although Wen Zhang is far cry from a hardened comedian, but Shu Qi compensates with her aptitude in making Miss Duan as fey as her own quavering singing voice and dance moves, however, the biggest boon is Huang Bo, who plays the Monkey King in human form, effortlessly shifting between obsequious and treacherous, and generates more spark with Shu Qi even in half-hearted improvisation, why it is not him in the center of the story is one's knee-jerking question to Stephen Chow's VFX-heavy crowd-pleaser arbitrarily cashes in on his audience's nostalgia for a bygone era.

This to me was a very fun movie to watch. It follows the story of disciple who hunts demons with children's nursery rhymes. His technique is to sing the evil out of them. He meets a girl named Duan, who also hunts demons, but has a much more violent approach. Throughout the movie, she quickly falls in love with Sanzang, the singing hunter. He consistently denies his love for her throughout the film, but finally admits it once the Monkey King, who he accidentally releases, kills her. As the movie goes on, Duan and Sanzang fight demons together. When the Pig Demon becomes too powerful, Sanzang asks his master for help. His master tells him he needs to find the Monkey King. The Monkey King finally decides to aid Sanzang and Duan, but then tricks Sanzang into pulling out the lotus flower, which is sealing the entrance to his cave. He escapes and begins to wreak havoc. After killing Duan, and several other demon hunters, Sanzang calls upon the power of Buddha and smites the Monkey King into solitude. My favorite part about this film was the slight comedic twist it had to it. It also had pretty good effects and the story was always entertaining. I was never bored at all throughout the film at all. I also really enjoyed hearing each demon's backstory. I thought they were all very clever.

Journey To The West is now one of my favorite movies that I have watched, foreign or otherwise. I thought it was a hilarious movie to watch and sometimes I even forgot that it was in a different language. I also found myself picking up a lot of the subtle jokes, such as a nose bleeding part, when the rest of the people watching it with me didn't seem to understand. It was a lot of dry humor and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought the animation was beautiful, both the execution and the artistic style that they chose for it. The directing of the movie was very good, and I liked the tie ins to mythology. It's rare to find movies that deal with mythology in a new light that is successful, and I think Journey To The West did an excellent job explaining it. I really don't have any complaints for the movie, and I can't wait for an English translation to be released for the sequel.

I began watching this movie knowing that it was based off the novel by the same name, however, at the time I had not read the book so I was watching without any preconceived expectations. I for one, enjoyed this movie for what it was and I'm actually kinda surprised at the how far if was willing to go to show the savagery of the demons.There are really only two things that I didn't particularly care for, the first being the love interest. It felt to me as though the only reason why this sub plot was introduced was to set up jokes for later in the film. Having said that, the jokes are actually kind of funny at parts, they just feel out of place. My second complaint is with the c.g. To me it looks a little goofy and clean, given the setting. It already started to feel dated by the time I got around to watching this movie. Those are just minor flaws and it was an over all enjoyable movie.At the time of writing this review, I am good portion through the novel. Really the only similarities that this movie shares with the book are the names of the characters. This doesn't bug me as much as I would think that it would, in fact, it has made reading the book more enjoyable. If you have the time and you are interested, you wont be disappointed. As well, if you enjoyed the movie, I also recommend reading the book.