This is How Movies Should Be Made

Don't listen to the negative reviews

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

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 film is jam packed with tons of Stephen Chow's comedic style. It has action, love, and some scenes on the meaning of life. There also some descriptions on ancient Chinese symbols. It begins with this supposed demon hunter trying to warn a village that the creature they just killed was not the demon they thought(a giant stingray). Instead, the real demon was a large man eating fish. They eventually get the fish out of the water and the demon hunter(Xuan Zang) attempts to rid the demon of evil and only leave good behind through his book of nursery rhymes. They were to no avail and he started to get beaten up by the fish until a real women demon hunter came about and fought the demon, killing it. The novice demon catcher began to question his abilities as a demon hunter and decided to go to get some food from an infamous restaurant. It turned out the restaurant was run by a demon who tricked the newcomers into being killed and fed to the next who are foolish enough to enter. However, the novice demon fighter suspects something wrong with everything and calls out the demon, but as he calls him out the women demon hunter from the previous fight appears and starts to fight the demon with her magic rings. They walk back to town and she tries to kiss him but he has vowed to only kiss a woman of great love. She keeps on following him trying to get him to like her in return and marry her, but he does not give in. The demon that the women demon hunter had fought before did not actually die and has been on the loose. The novice demon hunter decides to seek help from the monkey king who has been enslaved by buddha for the past 500 years. The monkey king tricks him into freeing him and begins to reign terror killing demon hunters and the women demon hunter who until her death the novice demon hunter does not show feelings of love for. He eventually reaches enlightenment and kills the monkey king with his powers

The very unique film, Journey to the West, directed and filmed by Stephen Chow, was one of the weirdest and most quirky films I have ever seen. This film had a ton of cultural references that may have been difficult for some of us viewers to understand because the Chinese culture and traditions are so much different than ours here in the United States. This very much included the different forms of comedy presented in the film. Although wacky, I somehow liked the film for all the action and adrenaline it contained. I would recommend this film to anyone who enjoys Chinese culture, or mythological beings and magic.

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.