Journey To The West: Conquering Demons review

Journey To The West: Conquering Demons(2013) Based on the 16th century novel of the same title this epic tale of Chinese folk mythology, considered one of the four greatest books of Chinese literature, has been adapted to film, tv in cartoons and live action many times with not much justice done to its source. This one is the closest one to do justice to the material, even though it only focuses on just a portion of the book. This is the story of a young clumsy demon hunter, Xuang Zang, who with the help of a more accomplished demon hunter, Miss Duan (Qi Shu from 'The Transporter'), goes on a quest to conquer demon through pacifist Buddhist methods, while his rivals employ violence and magic. (The chemistry between the two lead actors is great).His journey takes him to the West, India, where he must come face to face with the king of demons, the Monkey King. This looks like a big budget production with lots of special effects that range from the cool to the not so great. Directed by Stephen Chow (Kung Fu Hustle) the movie is very entertaining, funny and has an epic scope (particularly the climatic showdown between the Monkey king and Buddha) not very common in Chinese operas of late. I read somewhere that James Cameron was a creative consultant for this film. Can't wait to watch the sequel 'The Monkey King' later this year.8/10