The Monkey Goes West (1966) User Reviews

First of the four

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 24 February 2022]

The first of four Shaw movies adapting the classic JOURNEY TO THE WEST novel for the screen. This one has Yueh Hua playing the irrepressible Sun Wudong, tasked with accompanying Tripitaka to India to retrieve some Buddhist scrolls. It's a film that adopts a journey narrative with episodic plotting and action, mostly focused around the introduction of supporting characters like the horse and Pigsy. It has some slow spots with Chinese Opera singing and is about 20 minutes too long, but other than that it's probably the best of this series. Watch out for a cheeky Mars at the climax.

beautifully restored Shaw Brothers classic

[curtpdx · 9/10 · 7 September 2003]

This film version tells an early segment of the lengthy Chinese folk tale Journey to the West. The newly released (in Hong Kong, anyway) DVD version has been digitally restored, and so the visual and audio presentation is at least as good as it was at its 1966 release, with full, rich color and sound (I kept thinking of the restored version of The Wizard of Oz, with the almost-too-bright colors).

The film clearly was made for Chinese audiences who would have been familiar with the story. Consequently, much of the history of Monkey, Pigsy and Sandy is brief to nonexistant, which is a shame, as it's central to understanding how they came to be together. Nonetheless, it's thoroughly enjoyable; even the musical numbers.

Celestial Pictures has also released another story from Journey to the West, Princess Iron Fan, with many of the same characters.