It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

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

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

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

Saw this movie on a plane and while it was OK to pass the time with, the film as a whole was pretty bad. The humor was poorly done with unfunny jokes and unfunny slapstick stuff. While the action was pretty intense in some parts, particular the fight between the monks' disciples with the White Bone Spirit, it was too heavy on the CGI.The monk Tang Sanzang was portrayed like a clueless clown and the three disciples, Monkey King, Pigsy and Sandy, acted pretty useless for the most part. There was too much arguing and bickering among one another, particularly between Tang Sanzang and the Monkey King.It was hard to believe that the great Hark Tsui directed this movie, but not surprised that funnyman Stephen Chao produced. He really should just stick to acting, as I honestly think his talents are better used on stage.Grade D-

Canadian "Cannon King" Wu Yifan cannot act. His performance is cringeworthy.This movie is no match for the original.I award it 3 stars.1 star for the humorous dialogue between the Spider Demon and the Pig Demon. Something was lost in translation. In Chinese, the word for "spider" is homophonic to "a pig". They both sound like "zhizhu". Such is the humor of the scene where the Pig Demon was infatuated with the Spider Demon, and the Spider Demon refused, saying she was "zhizhu", and the Pig replied, "I'm also zhizhu."1 star for the flashback cameos of Shu Qi, who portrayed the dead lover of the Monk Tang. It's always great to see her.1 star for the Skeleton Demon. The portrayal of the Skeleton Demon is very anti-traditional. In this movie. she was an innocent and kind demon who fell in love with the Monk Tang. That's news. The actress was great in Stephen Chow's 2016 Movie The Mermaid.Such a disappointment that the actors from the original did not return.

Taking over for directing duties for this sequel is Tsui Hark, while Stephen Chow wrote & is producing this, 2 legendary film makers collaborating. Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back, Let me just say this, this is slightly not as good as its predecessor in storytelling but very entertaining, nonetheless. I do believe, this was a risk that Stephen Chow took with this sequel but I fairly enjoyed it. I love the visuals, the action sequences filled with astounding CGI (The special effects were far better than I expected, another instance that I thought was amazing Computer-generated imagery was when Sun Wukong gets into his monkey form), this movie's style definitely has Tsui Hark written all over it. In my opinion, I thought this movie lack the cohesiveness the first movie had. But then there's something about this one that I am very fond of. Maybe it's the unique take on it, I've always liked Stephen Chow's inventiveness for his films, his imagination. Overall, I truly enjoyed it, I thought it was an entertaining movie, get a laugh, a fun & action packed journey, with eye-popping CGI, worth watching.

I have been looking forward to this movie for years because I'm a huge fan of both Stephen Chow and Tsui Hark and it didn't disappoint! The nonsensical comedy is very Stephen Chow and the plot is engaging, my friends and I spent the whole time laughing. No one can write a good comedic sequence like Stephen Chow. Tsui Hark's half of the contribution can be seen in the special effects and action, the effects are pretty good although not perfect. The cinematography for this is amazing, there were a lot of beautiful shots. I wanted the original cast from the first movie to return but the new cast didn't disappoint. The monk in particularly was very funny. I rate this a 10 because it's everything I wanted from both of them. It certainly delivered!