Lack of good storyline.

Absolutely Fantastic

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

THE MONKEY KING: HAVOC IN HEAVEN'S PALACE is the latest outing for the classic hero of Chinese literature, and I'm ashamed to say that it's by far the worst ever adaptation I've seen. It also happens to be one of the worst Chinese films I've watched. What we have here is a sprawling CGI mess of endless stupid action sequences full of lamentable CGI effects and terrible choreography. Donnie Yen frankly embarrasses himself in the lead role, going way over the top with the physical tics and comedy, while others like Chow Yun-Fat and Aaron Kwok are merely wasted. The CGI is so bad that I've seen early-morning children's CGI animation with better effects, and the story is non-existent. Warning: it rarely gets any worse than this!

I really enjoyed this movie despite its obvious shortcomings. It it a good live-action remake of the 1965 animated feature of the same name (well worth checking out if you're a fan of art films). Donnie Yen does OK as the lead but western fans of his previous films may be left confused and/or disappointed a long time before the 120 mins of 'Fantasy Action' ends - It really helped that I was already familiar with the story as a lot happens in that time. I wonder how the second part will compare with the excellent Journey To The West: Conquering the Demons (2013) as the story from that follows this one - that's not a spoiler is it?

When reviewing The Monkey King, most reviewers forget the purpose of the movie: G RATED entertainment meant for ALL AGES. Teeners will abuse the CGi lame bits, film enthusiasts will lament to the point of misguided critique as to the lack of depth building and plot complexities as portrayed by the original books and film purists will pick every personal gripe until the bones appear.... However at the end of the day as a family movie for all ages old and young it is a definite winner.As a absolute devoted fan since the 70's of the NipponTV incarnation of this tale, it was absolutely fun to watch with my kids and parents as the Director intended, to introduce and showcase a very popular traditional Chinese story to a larger demographic western audience with a modern feel and fun easy to digest storyline. (Thus the use of some headline artists in the main roles)The obvious details of the screenplay to book adaption aside, Donny Yen really brings SUN WUKONG to animated life much as he re-birthed IP MAN for modern audiences.A truly memorable performance by Chow Yun Fat and supporting casts makes it a benchmark movie amongst the last few recent "MONKEY" re-envisaged movies of recent years.Maybe not a movie for the full on Chinese mythology traditionalist but certainly one NOT TO MISS for the dedicated devotee of the MONKEY story sub genre.

I can only feel sorry for the Chinese people fond of their cultural heritage. Donnie Yen's Monkey King was painful to watch. Specially the costumes were so kitsch I wanted to shout of annoyment: 'What the hell have U done with the 100M$ budget, fools!" Next and near as bad as the costumes, the CGI/special effects pathetically trying to imitate a bunch of various styles in an awkward way bordering the look of a college project movie. It's actually hard to believe that such mediocre production can be achieved today with that kind of budget, particularly since a few 'international experts' were working on this flick and anyone who has any idea about what these people could do with that kind of money will be bewildered to witness the end result. Finally, I have read from Chinese reviewers that the original story has gone very much out of tracks with this movie and it is a pity to think that such a classic part of their culture is being mixed up by modern 'story tellers' who have no respect for the very material they use to make money. If Donnie Yen wished to do one more take on the Monkey King, He could at least have respected the source material rather than releasing a distorted and immature production for the whole world to absorb, thus diluting slowly the accuracy of the original epic story. For one thing, if U are just someone who wanna take kids to the theater to see some Asian movie, then this might be working for them at the condition that they are under 6-7 or didn't yet develop a critical sense about movies. Hehe. I give it a 4/10 for some OK sequences, and I feel somehow generous.