Genre-wise, the movie positions itself explicitly as a Disney-style fantasy that’s driven by effects rather than action. The new film adheres quite closely to the basic contours of its source, “Three Attacks on the White Bone Demon” (Chapter 27 of the legend, also the film’s Chinese title), which keeps the yarn easily digestible, apart from a few embellishments in art direction and a bit more psychological exposition. With Donnie Yen in the title role and serving as action director, the film couldn’t decide whether to be a hardcore martial-arts film or a kiddie fantasy it ended up being lousy at both, allowing gaudy CGI to swamp an already meh narrative.Ĭonsidering what a low bar the original set, it’s not surprising that Cheang’s second go at the legend gets a few things right. One of the many screen adaptations of Wu Cheng’en’s 16th-century novel “Journey to the West” (last year alone brought us the web-TV remake “Surprise” and the animated “Monkey King: Hero Is Back”) “The Monkey King in 3D” (2014) felt like a prequel rather than the real thing, dealing as it did with the genesis of Sun Wukong, aka Monkey, and culminating in his epic vandalism of heaven. Mainland Chinese families are sure to go bananas over this Lunar New Year offering it’s almost certain to surpass its predecessor, which broke China’s opening-day records.
#The monkey king 2 him law upgrade#
With screen goddess Gong Li vamping it up as the villainous enchantress Lady White Bone and a tearful bromance between Cantopop king Aaron Kwok and mainland heartthrob William Feng Shaofeng, what’s not to like about Soi Cheang’s 3D vfx orgy “The Monkey King 2”? Certainly less of a dud than the director’s inane original, this follow-up is even more tyke-oriented, but at least it’s a livelier yarn and boasts a slick upgrade in visual effects.
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