Watch Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back For Free

Don't Believe the Hype

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Blistering performances.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Saw this movie on a plane and while it was OK to pass the time with, the film as a whole was pretty bad. The humor was poorly done with unfunny jokes and unfunny slapstick stuff. While the action was pretty intense in some parts, particular the fight between the monks' disciples with the White Bone Spirit, it was too heavy on the CGI.The monk Tang Sanzang was portrayed like a clueless clown and the three disciples, Monkey King, Pigsy and Sandy, acted pretty useless for the most part. There was too much arguing and bickering among one another, particularly between Tang Sanzang and the Monkey King.It was hard to believe that the great Hark Tsui directed this movie, but not surprised that funnyman Stephen Chao produced. He really should just stick to acting, as I honestly think his talents are better used on stage.Grade D-

Coincidentally, I just watched L.O.R.D which has many same lead casts with this movie. And I have to say, this movie is as bad as that one. I almost can't believe it is directed by the experienced Tsui Hark.Almost everything in this sequel is boring and uninteresting, except the songs. The movie is so boring, yet still not suitable for kids due to some scenes. If you have not watched this, better skip this than to waste your time.

Journey to the West was such a great film! It was one of my favorite foreign films I have seen. I really thought it was super strange, but I have to give the producers/ directors credit because it really was so bizarre in a unique way; I had not seen anything like it! I thought that the actors were also very talented, even the extras, and sometimes that isn't always the case in action movies because I often find that when extras try to act scared, it is obvious they are acting. It was probably extra hard to act in this film as well, since the actors had to initially react and be afraid of a creature that hadn't been put into the frame yet (since the beasts were only computer graphics). I really do not know anything about computer graphics or digital design, but from my view, this aspect of the film was really well done. I didn't really find any part to look "fake", and of it even came close to that, it was more funny than noticeably fake. This is also probably the most comical foreign film I have ever watched; many others I have seen are not, so this was a nice break from all the dramatic and serious films I am used to watching Culturally, I thought that Journey to the West was very interesting, including the fact that demons are a part of the Chinese culture (or were at one time). Since these particular "demons" were not real neither in the film nor real life, whether the actors believe in them (for the sake of their culture) or not, it was a break from the other foreign films I've seen, to see a film centered around such fictitious beasts. Although I did my really understand what was going on for some of the film, my attention was definitely kept and never once was bored. My only complaint would be that it was very hard to understand and keep up with (at least in my opinion).

Canadian "Cannon King" Wu Yifan cannot act. His performance is cringeworthy.This movie is no match for the original.I award it 3 stars.1 star for the humorous dialogue between the Spider Demon and the Pig Demon. Something was lost in translation. In Chinese, the word for "spider" is homophonic to "a pig". They both sound like "zhizhu". Such is the humor of the scene where the Pig Demon was infatuated with the Spider Demon, and the Spider Demon refused, saying she was "zhizhu", and the Pig replied, "I'm also zhizhu."1 star for the flashback cameos of Shu Qi, who portrayed the dead lover of the Monk Tang. It's always great to see her.1 star for the Skeleton Demon. The portrayal of the Skeleton Demon is very anti-traditional. In this movie. she was an innocent and kind demon who fell in love with the Monk Tang. That's news. The actress was great in Stephen Chow's 2016 Movie The Mermaid.Such a disappointment that the actors from the original did not return.