THE MONKEY KING: 3 STARS. “laughs and gags, mostly for young viewers.”
A fable that pits ego against ambition, acceptance against insecurity, “The Monkey King” is a new animated Netflix film starring the voices of comedian Jimmy O. Yang and Bowen Yang.
Based on a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming Dynasty attributed to Wu Cheng’en, the film centers around The Monkey King (Jimmy O. Yang), a rebellious monkey born from a magical rock. Filled with an exaggerated sense of self-worth, his ego has alienated him from friends and family.
“An old geezer once told me, ‘You don’t belong here,’” he says. “And he was right. I belong with the Immortal ones. I’ll become legendary and then they’ll have to accept me.”
Trouble is, to get the attention of the Immortals, led by the Jade Emperor (Hoon Lee), he’ll have to defeat at least 100 demons.
“One hundred demons,” he says, “coming up!”
Despite being told by his elder (James Sie) to, “know your place, young one,” the braggadocious warrior sets off with a rallying call of “Anyone need a hero?” On his journey to find immortality he looks to the duplicitous Dragon King (Bowen Yang) for help, does battle with Red Girl (Sophie Wu), gets his mighty fighting stick and meets his trusty (but underappreciated) sidekick Lin (Jolie Hoang-Rappaport). “Whatever the Monkey King does,” he says, “I do big!”
“The Monkey King” is a big action-adventure, one that moves at the speed of light, filled to wild battle scenes and slapstick humor. But at its heart, it is the story of a search for family, approval and a sense of belonging. The titular character is driven to fighting demons—literal and personal—as a way to assuage his feelings of seclusion from his peers who wouldn’t accept him for who he is. It provides the film’s emotional core, even if the movie’s unrelentingly frenetic pace threatens to overwhelm the message. A film that is all peaks and very few valleys, needs a moment or two of introspection. A few more heartfelt scenes between the Monkey King and Lin could have slowed the action, but upped the emotional impact.
The story feels episodic and, despite featuring characters that have endured since the Ming Dynasty, a tad generic in its animated form. Director Anthony Stacchi pumps it up with vibrant animation and production design that mixes familiar CGI art with flavorings of traditional Chinese brushwork, a couple fun Broadway style musical numbers and a collection of voice actors that bring the characters to life, but it reverberates with echoes of similar movies like “Emperor’s New Groove.”
“The Monkey King” has laughs and gags, mostly for young viewers, and diverting well-choreographed martial arts scenes, but offers very little new stuff in its retelling of an old tale.
Comments are closed.
