The Monkey King (2014)

Ojo con el título: no estoy criticando el mito, sino esta versión publicada bajo una actuación demasiado estereotipada. Comprendo que es un mono humanizado, con la capacidad de comunicarse como si se fuera una persona. Sin embargo, me resultó molesto oír los constantes sonidos onomatopéyicos que realizaba como para recordarnos en todo momento que se trataba de Wukong, el mono guerrero y parlanchín.

Conozco la historia de Viaje al Oeste, y respeto que quisieran contar los orígenes de nuestro particular amigo, lo que no me termina de convencer es... ¿Por qué rayos los movimientos eran exagerados al andar y expresarse? ¿Quién dijo que los monos caminaban así?

La actuación del resto del elenco tampoco fue la gran cosa, siento que faltó seriedad y empeño en el asunto.
Y la historia en sí tampoco estuvo bien definida, porque quisieron abarcar tanto en una sola película que terminó resultando apresurada, saltando de aquí para allá como el propio protagonista, obstaculizando seguirle el hilo y enredando al espectador.

Por otra parte, sigo sin entender cómo los chinos con tremenda tecnología siguen tan atrasados como para presentarnos una película del 2014 en donde los efectos especiales sean peores que El reino perdido, la película de Jet Li y Jackie Chan del 2008 estando en el año 2014.

Con todo esto, espero igualmente que la segunda parte sea mejor, pues en el trailer promete algo más serio y mejor trabajado.

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With all the opinions jumping right and left about this film, I had a hard time setting my expectations. When I finally came around this, I decided to just jump into it without prior judgment. At the end of the day, I came to like this Monkey King version.

Adapted from the mega huge Chinese novel “Journey to the West”, this film actually followed the original novel very closely. The novel is in fact one of the fewest Chinese novels I read many years back when I was watching few other adaptations of it. This version is absolutely the closest and the most accurate one.

The film was full of several eye-catching characters, events and costumes. I know, I know; the CGI is what bothered many people about this film. Well, as long as you’re not here to watch “The Lord of the Ring” then it should be alright. It’s true that the special effects were overdone with many misses here and there but having watched several Wuxia films with immense use of CGI in my cinema watching, this doesn’t bother me at all. Actually, I considered it a cool experience with that enormous amount of CGI and wires inserted everywhere. For a normal viewer who’s not familiar with the Chinese/Hong Kong way of using CGI in their productions, it may cause a problem but as long as you’re willing to keep your mind open and accept unfamiliar styles then everything will be satisfactory after a while.

The plot wasn’t very smooth just like it wasn’t heavy either. This is a fantasy so there weren’t any traditional plot elements to follow; it was catching and involving at many phases just like other parts didn’t feel right, rushed or very slow. I am still thankful that they followed Wu Cheng En's classic very closely or I would’ve went very harsh on this Monkey King adaptation.

The acting department was full of huge names in HKC cinema. I have a little confession to make; I was actually reluctant about Donnie’s portrayal of the monkey king. When they first announced the film; I was confident that Jet Li will get to play the Monkey king again since he did a wonderful job with it before but he didn’t get the role. Donnie was casted instead and I was a bit worried. I love Donnie and I consider him one of the better HKC stars but I felt like Sun Wukong’s character doesn’t suit his acting style. Needless to say, I was proved wrong through this film. He did an amazing job with the character to make it feel very believable.
On his side were the marvelous Chow Yun Fat and the cool Aaaron Kwok in main roles. They were pretty much convincing and entertaining to watch. The remaining cast did a cool job including Peter Ho, Kelly Chen and few others. Some characters felt all over the place but it wasn’t unforgivable.

There’s isn’t much scenery to talk about since CGI were the film’s heart and soul. I don’t necessarily consider it a bad thing even though I am the type of person who heavily concentrates on cinematography while watching films. The musical note was pretty much forgettable, I don’t recall anything after finishing the film so yeah, and there you have it.

Watch if:
-You like HKC Wuxia productions.
-You like the classic novels of the Journey to the West because this is the closest adaptation.
-You like Donnie because he does a cool job with the Monkey King’s character here.

Do not watch if:
-You’re expecting a CGI level like in Hollywood film.
-You’re looking for something serious.
-You’re looking for something impressive.

The Monkey King took four long years of production to be finally brought to life this year. That alone deserves giving this film a go. Just try to open your horizons and think of this as an entertaining journey, because that’s the only way to appreciate this film.

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