English Dub Review: The Monkey King: Reborn

 

 

Overview:

The monkey demon king, Sun Wukong, has made a grave error. Unable to control his own rage, the monkey sage has destroyed an ancient magical tree. Unfortunately, that very plant was withholding the ancestor of all demons. And now that the ancient beast is awake, the demon god will unite heaven, Earth, and the netherworld.

It will be up to Sun Wukong and his companions to entrap the ancestor demon once more before the entire world is lost. However, they will need the help of the vital spirit, who had initially trapped their enemy. Unfortunately, the innocent spirit is not going to make the journey easy for the disgruntled and arrogant Sun Wukong.

 

Our Take:

The Monkey King is reborn… in animation. The movie franchise started with the 2014 Chinese action/fantasy feature that genuinely surprised audiences worldwide. Described as a “hot mess from the heavens”, the awkward movie smashed Chinese box office records on its way to becoming a global franchise. Unfortunately, with each subsequent release, the resulting film trilogy slowly became more lacklustre.

Thankfully, the Monkey King lives on, in the form of this newly released animated feature. Reversely, adapting these characters into 2D takes away much of the charm that was the cheesy 3D computer graphics that sent The Monkey King soaring across the big screen. For better or worse, the monkey and his compatriots have returned. And hopefully, you have been paying attention because there will be no exposition breaks to catch you up.

No problem. This film works as its own standalone piece. At least it is meant to be.

The biggest struggle of the animated film is the main character, Sun Wukong. Understandably, the character has been challenging to sympathize with in previous films. The monkey is arrogant, entitled, and selfish. The entire story of this movie is only due to Sun Wukong raging out and destroying an ancient magical tree that has been around for over 10,000 years. Truthfully, the beatdown the monkey receives at the feature’s climax is well-deserved and his own cause.

Sun Wukong can be a fantastic character, and we have seen that before. A little powerhouse by the name of Goku from Dragon Ball Z is based on the same lore – hence the monkey tail, staff, and flying nimbus. Even an evil trickster god can be done better, as proven with Marvel’s Loki. However, this rendition of the old Chinese folktale is nothing but an entitled prick whose temper and bad attitude are more consistent than anything else in the movie. To make it even worse, he is a full-on jerk to the most adorable baby spirit that arrives midway through the plot.

Truthfully, there is no point in the story to cheer for the Monkey King. Easily the biggest villain, Sun Wukong, destroys ancient temples and innocent towns along his path. And the only reason Sun Wukong agrees to capture the antagonist is to avoid being imprisoned himself. It would have been more satisfying if any other character had saved the day at the conclusion of the movie.

The unsympathetic hero puts holes through an entire film that is otherwise artistically breathtaking and full of Chinese culture. And there would be some saving grace if it felt like Sun Wukong had learned anything through his mistakes. Unfortunately, an after-credit scene showcases the monkey as more arrogant and self-entitled than ever. Without the quirkiness of the live-action style, the failures of this franchise begin to shine through. Hopefully, these character flaws can be re-examined before the Monkey King is reborn again.