SYNOPSIS:
Itinerant preist, Sanzo Hoshi, leads "her" loyal band of disciples ─ Son Goku "Monkey", Sandy and Pigsy ─ out of a blistering desert and into a desperate and forlorn town where they are implored upon by the local princess, Reimi, to expel two powerful goblin warlords by the names of King Gold Horn and Silver Horn. The goblin brothers have wrested control of her palace, plundered its riches, transformed the reigning King and Queen into terrapin turtles and turned a once peaceful and idyllic kingdom into dust and decay. Promising to help, Sanzo and company set off with the princess for the mountains where the brothers are said to reside, only to find themselves scaling treacherous terrain and succumbing to numerous traps along the way. When at long last the entourage reacehs the peak, a startling revelation about the princess threatens to compromise the mission and destroy the bond of trust between Monkey and Sanzo. As the warlords inch closer to their goal of plunging the world in darkness, the legendary foursome will need to reunite and combine their strengths if they ever hope to make good on their promise.
MOVIE REVIEW:
The
legendary Japanese Studio, Toho and Fuji Television take on
Asia’s favourite novel of all time, "Journey to
the West" and turned it into a big budget fantasy adventure
called "Monkey Magic" in this 2007 production.
Shingo Katori (one fifth of the immensely
popular pop group, SMAP) plays the mischievous monkey god
aka Son Goku as he is known here. Together with his master,
Sanzo Hoshi and fellow disciples, Sandy and Pigsy, the group
of four are on a treacherous journey to India to obtain some
Holy sutras. But along the way to replenish their supply of
food and water, the Princess of Tiger Kingdom enlists the
help of the foursome to fight against the evil goblins dubbed
King Sliver Horn and King Golden Horn who had turned her parents
into turtles and threatened to plunge the world into darkness.
The
obvious difference in this Japanese movie as compared to the
countless Asia adaptations of "Journey to the West"
is the outlandish outlook of the characters. Tripitaka aka
Tang San Zang is played (some might say sacrilegiously) by
a lady while Sandy has none of his trademark bushy moustache
and Pigsy without his infamous snout. The only recognizable
character here is none other than Monkey God though without
much of the make-up effects as Shingo Katori is still look
pretty much like Shingo Katori except in Monkey God’s
gear.
"Monkey
Magic" the movie is a spin-off from a successful TV series
produced by Fuji Television though the story in this movie
is pretty much self-contained so that loyal followers won’t
be alienated and newcomers like this reviewer can still access
to all the mayhem and humour. The story arc in a larger sense
of putting it is very much similar to Wu Cheng En’s
original literary classic though perhaps the battle with the
goblin warlords and the meeting of Princess Reimi seem like
something hatched by the Japanese scriber instead. It’s
their movie by the way so I guess its fair they called the
shots and try to be a bit innovative with the characters and
storyline.
The
humour here is close to those 'mo-lei-tau' or 'nonsensical
humour' commonly seen in Stephen Chow’s past works take
for example a gigantic wheeler or coin that appeared out of
nowhere that chased after our protagonists persistently or
the appearance of Roshi (a deity that is perhaps their version
of Earth God) with his hair curled like a mushroom. The gags
can be classified at times as hit-and-miss but generally,
the hyper-enthusiastic performance of Shingo helps to salvage
the duller moments.
This
is not to say "Monkey Magic" is a movie that is
without other sort of flaws, in actual fact it has many. For
a two hours long movie feature, "Monkey Magic" has
too little demons or goblins for the foursome to handle. There’s
a prolonged chase between Goku and the King Sliver Horn but
other than that, one don’t really see the menacing powers
of the evil duo. Son Goku himself has too few magic tricks
up his sleeve and he fights more like a directionless street
gangster than a crafty monkey god. Complied with anime-style
CG and backdrops, the rest of the remaining duration is filled
with somewhat meaningful messages about friendship (that does
get a bit repetitive after a while) and squabbles between
Master Sanzo Hoshi and his disciples.
The
gist of "Journey to the West" while for the most
part retained in "Monkey Magic" lacks the usual
charm and energy as compared to its many other Asia counterparts.
To sum it up, even the loosely based "A Chinese Odyssey"
starring Stephen Chow is way entertaining than "Monkey
Magic" and given the Japanese’s track record of
vivid imagination, we expect something better.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The Code 3 DVD contains no special features.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The handsome visual transfer of this
DVD betrays the cheesy CG backdrops and visual effects but
overall the colours are rich and clean. The Dolby Digital
5.1 provides a nice ambient effect at times and dialogues
are clear. However, it’s not exactly an aggressive track
that will impress you.
MOVIE RATING:
 
DVD
RATING:
Review by Linus Tee
Posted on 2 March 2010
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