The Monkey King (2023 film)

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The Monkey King
Promotional poster
Directed byAnthony Stacchi
Screenplay by
Produced byPeilin Chou
Starring
Edited byPam Ziegenhagen
Music byToby Chu
Production
companies
Distributed byNetflix
Release dates
  • 30 July 2023 (2023-07-30) (NYAFF)
  • 18 August 2023 (2023-08-18) (Netflix)
Running time
96 minutes
Countries
  • United States
  • China
Languages
  • Chinese
  • English

The Monkey King is a 2023 computer-animated fantasy action comedy film inspired by the classic Ming dynasty novel Journey to the West. Directed by Anthony Stacchi, the film stars Jimmy O. Yang voicing over the role of the titular trickster who battles the Dragon King (Bowen Yang).[1] The cast of supporting voice roles includes Jo Koy, BD Wong, Jolie Hoang-Rappaport, and Stephanie Hsu.

It was selected as the closing film at the 22nd New York Asian Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on July 30, 2023.[2] It was released worldwide on Netflix on August 18, 2023. The film received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

One night, a monkey is born from a stone atop a tall mountain and disturbs the Jade Emperor. Just as the Emperor gives the order to eliminate the cub, Buddha appears before him and stays in his hand.

Monkey finds a troop of other monkeys, but his unruly nature keeps him from fitting in. One of his escapades causes a feared demon to pounce from his mountain lair and grab one of the troop's cubs for food; as a result, Monkey is banished. To prove his worth to the troop, he trains to fight the demon. After many years, when he deems himself ready, he confronts the demon, but his training proves ineffective, and another cub is snatched. To fetch a more suitable weapon, Monkey dives into the sea realm of the Dragon King, where he finds the latter gloating over a glowing column which he means to use to eradicate all life on the world's surface. Communicating with the column, Monkey turns it into a staff and escapes.

With the staff in hand, Monkey returns to the demon's lair, defeats him, and rescues the cub. Then he crowns himself King of the Monkeys, but when the troop's elder cautions that his staff should only be used by the gods, the new Monkey King decides to kill 100 Demons, thus gaining the right to enter the Heavens and become a god. Eventually, he comes to a village terrorized by the Red Girl. With the endorsement of a girl named Lin, Monkey King defeats Red Girl, and Lin pledges herself as his assistant. The Dragon King emerges from the nearby sea during the victory celebration to reclaim his prized weapon. After fighting him, Monkey King leaves the village; Lin tags along, even though he treats her condescendingly. Unknown to him, Lin is an agent of the Dragon King to help him reclaim the staff in return for saving her drought-stricken village.

The duo reaches a graveyard, where Monkey King opens a portal to Hell to get to the Archive of Souls and strike his name off his Scroll of Life and Death, thus gaining immortality. King Yama, the ruler and chief judge of Hell, recognizes them as outsiders and fights them. With Lin's help, Monkey King succeeds in erasing his name, but is only made ageless. He steals Yama's Book of Everlasting Life and learns that he must eat a peach from the Orchard of Everlasting Life to gain full immortality. The Dragon King subtly guides Monkey King and Lin to a peach tree laced with an intoxicating poison, but accidentally ends up eating one himself and running off.

After realizing that the peaches are fake, Monkey King learns from the book that Wangmu, the divine Queen Mother, brews an immortality elixir for the gods. He and Lin infiltrate the Jade Palace's pharmacy to create a sample of the elixir. Wangmu catches them in the act and attacks them, but Monkey King succeeds in consuming the potion, thus becoming fully immortal. Although Lin has several chances to steal the staff, she repeatedly returns to help Monkey King. Monkey King also demonstrates that despite his rude behavior, he cares about her too. Monkey King and Lin flee the Heavens, and in a following heart-to-heart, Lin admits that she longs to make a difference in the world and tries to encourage Monkey King to do the same.

When Monkey King remains aloof and boisterous, Lin outwits him and delivers the staff to the Dragon King. As soon as he has it, the Dragon King reneges on his deal and prepares to drown the world in a mega-storm, but Monkey King challenges and attacks him. Realizing her mistake, Lin tricks the Dragon King into blasting Monkey King with lightning, thus making him stronger and enabling him to beat the Dragon King. However, Monkey King becomes power-drunk, and Buddha prepares to intervene, but Lin wants to give Monkey King another chance. Acting as Buddha's voice, Lin challenges the Monkey King to leap off Buddha's hand to win rulership over Heaven, or suffer a period of penance if he fails. Monkey King fails and is imprisoned in a mountain. Before the mountain is fully closed off, Lin is allowed to say goodbye to Monkey King, who finally admits how important Lin has become to him, and leaves him his staff for company.

Five hundred years later, an enlightened Monkey King is freed from his prison by a monk, a pig, and a river spirit at Buddha's behest. They invite him to join them on a journey to the West, to which he happily agrees.

Voice cast

Although they were credited collectively as "ADR Group", the cast of actors voicing over the film's various other characters included Artemis Snow (as a lost baby villager), Robert Wu (as one of the palace ministry and Pigsy), David Chen (as one of the palace ministry and Sandy), Kaiji Tang (as an old male villager), and Vic Chao (as a villager with a hat).[citation needed]

Production

Development

In October 2017, Oriental DreamWorks, now known as Pearl Studio, announced the film with Steve Bencich and Ron J. Friedman as writers, but it didn't materialize.[4] Later, on May 20, 2021, the film was announced by Netflix, with Peilin Chou as producer, Stephen Chow as executive producer, and Anthony Stacchi as director. Jimmy O. Yang, Bowen Yang, Jolie Hoang-Rappaport, Jo Koy, Ron Yuan, Hoon Lee, Stephanie Hsu, Andrew Pang, Andrew Kishino, Jodi Long, James Sie, and BD Wong were cast to voice over the film's characters.[1][5]

Animation

Reel FX's was initially tasked with the film's animation, but work was subsequently transferred to Tangent Animation.[6] However, by August 4, 2021, Tangent Animation shut down, with work on the film halting as well. Netflix was reportedly displeased with Tangent's work, so Reel FX's facilities in Montreal took over the production.[7]

Music

The soundtrack of the film was composed by Toby Chu.[8][9]

Release

The Monkey King was selected as the closing film at the 22nd New York Asian Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on July 30, 2023.[2] It had a preview at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 14, 2023.[10]

It premiered on Netflix on August 18, 2023.[11]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 58% of 38 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.5/10.[12] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 59 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[13]

Amy Nicholson of The New York Times wrote, "The visuals are so frenetic that they can seem thoughtless." Nicholson further said, "One needs Zen-like focus to appreciate the animators’ skillful use of angles and space".[14] Leslie Felperin reviewing for The Guardian rated the film with 3 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Bounces along energetically, and has some exceptionally fun frills around the edges..."[15] David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter described the film as "a light and bouncy cultural crossover," and wrote, "Some aspects of the cross-cultural mashup work better than others, but overall, this is a charming attempt to distill a centuries-old story into a quirky folktale that all children can enjoy."[16]

References

  1. ^ a b "About Netflix - Our Voices, Our Stories: Asian Americans Take the Lead in Netflix Animation". Netflix. 20 May 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  2. ^ a b Michael Rosser (19 July 2023). "NYAFF sets 'The Monkey King' as closing film in first collaboration with Netflix". Screen Daily. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  3. ^ White, Abbey (17 July 2023). "Jimmy O. Yang, Bowen Yang Face Off as Part of an Epic Animated Quest in 'The Monkey King' Trailer". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  4. ^ Amidi, Amid (3 October 2017). "Don't Count Out Oriental Dreamworks; Chinese Studio Announces 6 Feature Film Projects". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  5. ^ Milligan, Mercedes (20 May 2021). "Netflix Slates 3 New Animated Projects from Asian-American Creators". Animation Magazine. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  6. ^ "Studio - Reel FX". Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  7. ^ Amidi, Amid (4 August 2021). "Tangent Animation Shuts Down Production. As Many As 400 People Laid Off". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  8. ^ Robinson, Jacob (17 July 2023). "'The Monkey King': Coming to Netflix in August 2023 and What We Know So Far". What’s on Netflix. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  9. ^ "Toby Chu Scoring Anthony Stacchi's 'The Monkey King'". Film Music Reporter. 1 March 2023. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  10. ^ Taylor, Drew (24 April 2023). "Netflix to Debut Official First Looks at 'Nimona,' 'Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget' at This Year's Annecy". TheWrap. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  11. ^ "All the New Netflix Movies You Can Watch This Summer". Netflix Tudum. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  12. ^ "The Monkey King". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  13. ^ "The Monkey King". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  14. ^ Nicholson, Amy (17 August 2023). "'The Monkey King' Review: Wrenching the Zen of the Gods". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  15. ^ Felperin, Leslie (16 August 2023). "The Monkey King review – lively Netflix animation revives ancient Chinese classic". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  16. ^ Rooney, David (15 August 2023). "'The Monkey King' Review: Netflix Toon Deftly Reshapes Chinese Literary Classic Into Action-Packed Fun for Kids". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 18 August 2023.

External links

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