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Trailer of Monkey King：Hero is Back | CUG: King of Heroes西游记之大圣归来 Chinese animation based on Journey to the West. GIF by director himself 深海异客
Think I’ll escape the Beijing heatwave in a cinema tomorrow
Oh. Wow.
This is film for every Chinese kid who grew up on 西游记/Journey To The West and stories of 孙悟空/Sun Wukong. This is a film for every Chinese kid who wished they could hang out with the Handsome Monkey King and imagined what it would be like to watch 齐天大圣/ Great Sage Equaling Heaven fight. This is a beautifully, lovingly animated film that is utterly and unmistakably Chinese.
It’s not a complicated story. Kid accidentally releases Sun Wukong from his prison under the mountain, Wukong and kid slowly become friends, there are children who need saving and a monster/妖怪Yaoguai to defeat. It’s not canon with “The journey to the West” but it’s not completely not canon either. The kid is 江流儿jiangliuer(lit. baby delivered by river) and he’s fun and cute and energetic, but those who have read the original books immediately realise that jiangliuer is the childhood name of 玄奘/Xuanzang the Tang Dynasty monk who Sun Wukong is destined to lead to the west (india). 猪八戒/Zhu Bajie/Pigsy turns up but he’s not Bajie yet because he hasn’t given that name, he’s just the fallen Heavenly Marshal turned into a pig. 老沙/Sandy doesn’t turn up but 小白龙/White Dragon does and the white dragon is one of the most beautifully rendered creatures in the whole film, which is saying a lot because the whole film is beautiful. From the clouds to the falling stones, to the water and textures and the use of space and depth and kinetic fun action scenes, this is a gorgeous-looking animated film unlike anything that China has produced before, and my mainland Chinese friends are incredibly proud of it.
The story is thoroughly enjoyable, but it’s all just a means for Chinese people to see their most famous and popular childhood hero onscreen in a way he’s never been done before. Wukong in this film is not the playful, fun-loving handsome Monkey King, he’s a fallen and defeated Wukong who has suffered 400 years of imprisonment and humiliation, and is restrained to a mere fraction of his full power by a remnant of Buddha’s shackles on his arm. Being landed with a kid who keeps reminding him of how he’s supposed to be the 齐天大圣Great Sage Equaling Heaven and believing in him when he won’t believe in himself doesn’t make his mood any better. It’s all build up to the climax and pay-off the audience knows is coming and breathlessly waits for: the moment when the Great Sage Equaling Heaven is unleashed in his full glory, walking on clouds clad in armour and red cloak pulling out his golden cudgel preparing to wreak absolute destruction on the demon which has challenged him. And when that happened, my Chinese-kid-self cheered.
I can’t describe how happy this film makes me. As someone who grew up on “Journey to the West” this is the first time I’ve seen Sun Wukong and his power done in a way that looks and feels epic. The opening scene of the Heavenly forces fighting the Great Sage in the clouds is the first time I’ve ever seen that fight done in gravity-defying justice and alone makes the 3D worth paying out for. There are so many moments where my friends and I gasped and laughed (the monsters are both frightening and hilarious, and Bajie is so much fun to watch) and the credits are adorable. jiangliuer is not just he-who-will-become-the-Tang-Monk-in-a-next-life, he’s the stand in for every Chinese kid who wishes they could be friends with Sun Wukong and watch in wonder as he fights. And when a baby is told, “Don’t be afraid, the Great Sage will protect you” it’s what so many Chinese parents have told their children who are afraid of monsters in the dark.
If this film gets released outside China I absolutely recommend seeing it, but in the meantime I plan on being a Chinese kid of ten years old again and watching this film at least once more before I leave Beijing.
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Sad White Bread
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