When a reckless monkey retrieves an ancient weapon from the seas, he sets off on a journey to destroy demons and join the immortals in Heaven.
The Monkey King has a highly ambitious premise, but cracks under the weight of trying to do too much. When it comes to kids’ animation, the most successful formulas tend to be – less is more. Part of what works with other kid’s films like Boss Baby, Trolls, and the Sing franchise is the ability to stick to one core concept and follow that all the way through. In The Monkey King, the lore that is established is pretty far-fetched and there’s little done to make it engaging for a younger audience. There is only one song sung by a character in the whole film and it comes in the third act, and it’s not anywhere in the realm of a ‘Let It Go’ or even a ‘Favorite Fearless Hero’. There’s no ‘I want’ song established for our main character or his young counterpart. It makes you wonder why it was even animated or why it was put in this particular animation style if they weren’t going to go the musical route.
The film also establishes a world where there are immortal Gods, sea dragon Kings, and a slew of powerful demons ravaging the lands attacking humans and creatures alike. In this world, Buddha is the God of all Gods, when Monkey King is born (or technically, brought to life), he has no parentage or guidance. He’s given powers beyond his understanding, and no one is there to nurture him. The film, in this way, explores the opposite of the Superman origin by seeing what would happen to a powerful being if he had never experienced love or companionship, and if he were to be challenged by beings more powerful than himself. What we end up with is a rather insufferable protagonist.
Voiced by Jimmy O. Yang (Crazy Rich Asians), Monkey King is selfish, rude, inconsiderate, ignorant, and unconcerned with the consequences of his actions. Naturally, like all other films with unlikable protagonists, we’re meant to see his transformation into a decent, caring, respectable person, especially once he connects with his young human companion, Lin (voiced by newcomer Jolie Hoang-Rapp). At each turn with Lin, you believe this will be the moment when Monkey King discovers compassion, reason, or understanding, and each time, he fails. This pattern is repeated so often throughout the movie that it begins to wear the film down to the point when we reach the final act, it’s ultimately anti-climactic and unimpressive.
Originally, Buddha allows Monkey King to live his destructive life, even at the expense of the other Gods. It’s believed to be because at some point, Monkey King will realize his place and change his ways. This film, however, takes a different approach. Monkey King instead succumbs to his arrogance and is then punished by Buddha and sentenced to a life of solitude for 500 years. This roundabout narrative logic will be the last straw for any parent sitting down to join their kids for this watch. It makes the assumption that kid’s animation doesn’t need the story to make sense or to follow narrative patterns, as long as there is some solid visuals and a lot of action. Those may help, but it’s better if they’re paired with a consistent story.
In terms of the animation, there is some stunning work done here, although it is a bit uneven. There’s a lot of care and detail given to the human characters, but the demons, gods, and creatures are far more cartoonish. This is especially noticeable when these characters share the screen together as there is a clarity to the human characters features that is not present on anyone else. This is especially distracting when much of the movie is focused on intimate conversations between two distinctly different characters.
Similar to another Netflix animated film about ancient Chinese fables in 2020’s Over the Moon, this film also boasts a decorated All-Asian cast, alongside Jimmy O. Yang and Joana Hoang-Rapp are Bowen Yang, Jo Koy, Ron Yuan, Hoon Lee, Stephanie Hsu, and BD Wong. It’s also not the first time this story has been adapted for the screen, there was the animated film, The Monkey King: Havoc in Heaven in 1961 directed by Wan Laiming and the 2014 live-action film and 2016 sequel by Soi Cheang that starred Donnie Yen. In each version, it was important to filmmakers to retain actors who share the cultural understanding of these stories and felt they are the right choices to bring these stories to life.
Sadly though, as a film, The Monkey King is a mostly forgettable tale with solid, but uneven visuals and decent action choreography, but lacks any relatable themes or messages for its intended audience. If the lesson here is even if you have the power, you mustn’t use it for selfish needs or to be foolish or arrogant, that idea is tossed to the wayside in the film’s final scene where, after 500 years, there’s little change to Monkey King’s character, and eliminates any depth the film might have been attempting to go for. It might impress the youth with its colorful palette and action-packed sequences at first, but it won’t take long before they notice how little focus was given to them as an audience.
The Monkey King is currently available to stream exclusively on Netflix.
Sadly though, as a film, The Monkey King is a mostly forgettable tale with solid, but uneven visuals and decent action choreography, but lacks any relatable themes or messages for its intended audience.
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GVN Rating 4
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Phoenix is a father of two, the co-host and editor of the Film Code Podcast, co-founder of the International Film Society Critics Association. He’s also a member of the Pandora International Critics, Midnight Critics Circle, Online Film and Television Association, and Film Independent. With the goal of eventually becoming a filmmaker himself. He’s also obsessed with musical theater.