Pablo
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.
Elinor
Journey to the West is a Chinese film that focuses on the Buddhist traditions and beliefs. This was a very interesting and entertaining film. I liked the way that it used the concept of Buddhism in the movie, and made things science fiction, resembling to American films. In the beginning of the film there is a village and they are being attacked by a demon creature.The main character Chen presents himself as a demon hunter, and tells the village that he will protect everyone from the demon, but yet fails to do so. In replacement to his position is a woman named Duan who presents herself as a demon hunter as well, and yet she succeeds at turning the fish creature into a toy. After this scene Duan always finds Chen and comes to his rescue in the troubling times, when he does not know how to protect himself. Duan showed her love for Chen in the film, but Chen never did and this was the main conflict. My favorite character was Chen, because at the end of the film even though he failed at protecting Duan from the monkey king, he admitted to have loved her all along. After this overview, I would rate this film a 4/5.
amai2739
I'm a fan of Stephen Chow's work, I've always liked his vision for cinema, and also his taste in comedy, like Shaolin Soccer & Kung Fu Hustle. To me, his Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons was a very unique take on the Chinese folktale that worked great for me and I loved it. A thoroughly entertaining fantasy, action, comedy movie. All the actors gave a solid performance, the set pieces were also astounding, and the story was clever. I honestly would've liked if Stephen Chow could've had a role in this as he did for A Chinese Odyssey Part 1: Pandora's Box & A Chinese Odyssey Part 2: Cinderella, where he plays the Monkey King.
Gayle A
You need to see this movie! I just caught this on one of our public TV channels, and absolutely LOVED it! From the same Chinese legend that the TV series Monkey was based on, this movie tells the lead in story as to how the disparate group lead by Tripitaka came to be.Gorgeous pictures, great CGI and effects, and laugh out loud comedy. The performances are great...the lead character is adorable (I know, that sounds inane, but it's the only way to describe him) and the demon hunter who !s forever saving him is such a great, strong, female character. Their relationship is a bit of a role reversal of the usual Western cinema tradition. And the Monkey King.....just a delight.For fans of the TV show, this is the ultimate back story, though it doesn't matter if you've never seen it. Journey To the West is a great stand alone film, but if you are a 50 something Monkey tragic (as I clearly am) it's a really special treat!
AD
