All
things considered, it is rather encouraging to see Sun Wukong, a.k.a. the
Monkey King is more popular than ever in China. He compulsively rebelled
against authority, leading his notorious “uproar in Heaven” before becoming a
disciple of Buddhist monk Xuanzang, protecting him on his quest in search of
sacred texts. Following hit live-action films starring Donnie Yen and Aaron
Kwok, Sun Wukong gets the animated treatment in Tian Xiao Peng’s Monkey King: Hero is Back (trailer here), which opens this
weekend in select cities.
There
will be no Journey to the West for this Monkey King—at least not yet. Instead, young
Liuer inadvertently frees the mischievous hero from his five-hundred-year
imprisonment. It turns out the orphan could use some help. After his parents
were killed in an ogre attack, Liuer was adopted by Fa Ming, an itinerant monk.
Unfortunately, the lad was separated from his surrogate father when he rescued
a toddler from ogres commanded by the Saruman-like Hun Dun, who is in the
market for child sacrifices. Enter the Monkey King.
Except
the newly released Sun Wukong will need some convincing before he decides to
play the hero. Liuer will have some help from the Monkey King’s fellow Journey to the West Disciple Pigsy, who
is also conveniently reanimated. However, their once and future comrade Sandy
the Sandman will not be joining them this time around. Given Pigsy’s ineptitude,
most of the heroics will be left up to the Monkey King, with occasional assists
from the boy and the monk.
MK’s CG-animation is
perfectly presentable and some of the classically-inspired design work is downright
cool, such as the White Dragon and Hun Dun’s cliff-face lair. Liuer can be a
bit of a pain, but the action sequences are surprisingly cinematic. It is also
absolutely bizarre how much the animated Sun Wukong looks like the
painstakingly made-up Kwok in The Monkey King 2 in 3D, or vice versa. Yet, there is something arguably more
appealing about the wiry, hardnosed animated Monkey King than the twitchy recent live action portrayals.
Ironically,
Jackie Chan provides the Monkey King’s voice in the English dub, but not in the
original Mandarin. It definitely sounds like him, for what that’s worth. For
additional class and cred, James Hong dubs the righteous old butt-kicking Fa
Ming. Frankly, the production values are considerably higher than you might
expect. However, there are several scenes that are probably too intense for
most young viewers, but Monkey
King-Journey to the West fans will appreciate their integrity.
