Journey to the West

Name: Journey to the West
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Comedy
Released: March 7, 2014
Duration: 110 min
Rating: 68
Cast: Bingqiang Chen, Bo Huang, Qi Shu, Shing-Cheung Lee, Show Luo

2014

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Critics

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Ratings

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6.9

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6.9	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Not Rated

Magnet Releasing | Release Date: March 7, 2014

Starring: Bingqiang Chen, Bo Huang, Qi Shu, Shing-Cheung Lee, Show Luo, Sihan Cheng, Yu Xing, Zhang Wen

Summary: Young demon hunter Xuan Zang, fearlessly guided by his belief in “giving himself for the greater cause”, risks everything and conquers a water demon, a pig demon and the demon of all demons, Sun Wukong. He embraces them as his disciples, and melts them with love. Meanwhile, Xuan Zang discovers the true meaning of Greater Love himself. InYoung demon hunter Xuan Zang, fearlessly guided by his belief in “giving himself for the greater cause”, risks everything and conquers a water demon, a pig demon and the demon of all demons, Sun Wukong. He embraces them as his disciples, and melts them with love. Meanwhile, Xuan Zang discovers the true meaning of Greater Love himself. In order to atone for their own sins and save the common people, the four of them embark on a journey to the West that’s full of challenges.… Expand

Director: Chi-kin Kwok and Stephen Chow

Genre(s): Adventure, Fantasy, Comedy

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 110 min

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Critic Reviews

Portland Oregonian - Marc Mohan

Mar 6, 2014

Chow's specialty is over-the-top slapstick action in the Hong Kong style, and the new film doesn't disappoint on either count. Read full review

Los Angeles Times - Sheri Linden

Mar 6, 2014

The spectacular combination of slapstick, love story and superhero antics doesn't entirely avoid awkwardness, but mostly it defies gravity, like many of the stunts. Read full review

New York Magazine (Vulture) - Bilge Ebiri

Mar 10, 2014

Chow is at his best when juggling disparate elements – tragedy, slapstick, romance, melancholy, fantasy. Everything is big with him; he seems incapable of underplaying anything. The crazier his movies, the better. And Journey to the West might be the craziest thing he’s done yet. You may wonder, afterwards, if you dreamt it all. Read full review

The New York Times - Nicolas Rapold

Mar 6, 2014

Mr. Chow has perhaps achieved more sustained and elaborate adventures, but he hits a sweet spot of comedy that never grows too self-aware or forgets the value of a good, clean demon whomping. Read full review

The Hollywood Reporter - Elizabeth Kerr

Mar 6, 2014

Journey to the West may not rank among Chow’s classics, but it’s a crowd-pleaser that also serves as a reminder of what the director can accomplish when he’s on his game. Read full review

RogerEbert.com - Christy Lemire

Mar 7, 2014

By turns daffy and dazzling, awkward and artful, Journey to the West takes an ancient tale and gives it contemporary flair. Read full review

Village Voice - Nick Schager

Mar 4, 2014

The camera swoops and whooshes about but never generates any compelling energy — Chow's film proves endlessly manic but devoid of much mirth. Read full review

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User Reviews

Ninja7Everin

Aug 3, 2014

Stephen Chow has done it again. An epic fantasy martial arts movie with a few laughs and twists, but most of all, excellent special effects and memorable characters. Its not as immersing as Kung Fu Hustle, but continues to keep your jaw on the floor. If you are a kung fu fan this should beStephen Chow has done it again. An epic fantasy martial arts movie with a few laughs and twists, but most of all, excellent special effects and memorable characters. Its not as immersing as Kung Fu Hustle, but continues to keep your jaw on the floor. If you are a kung fu fan this should be part of your library. The only reason why I gave this a nine is because I wanted the show to go on and on and on! Excellent job!… Expand

3 of 3 users found this helpful30

amai2739

Jan 25, 2017

I'm a fan of Stephen Chow's work, I've always liked his vision for cinema. To me, Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons was a very unique take on the Chinese folktale that worked for me and I love it. A thoroughly entertaining fantasy, action, comedy movie.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

mustard_tiger

Sep 15, 2014

Not terrible but the trailer made it look like it was going to be a fun and funny action movie. There are a few laughs for sure but utterly lacking a story.

Also, from the CG I thought this movie was made in the early 2000's or maybe late 90's but 2013? yikes those are some crappy effects.

1 of 4 users found this helpful13

CriticoDubioso

Oct 29, 2016

Maybe not the worst movie that I've ever seen, but certainly up there. Really a far cry from Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer. I don't even know where to start with how bad it is because it goes wrong at basically every juncture.

There's really no understandable reason for anythingMaybe not the worst movie that I've ever seen, but certainly up there. Really a far cry from Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer. I don't even know where to start with how bad it is because it goes wrong at basically every juncture.

There's really no understandable reason for anything happening and everything just serves as a poor attempt to connect the dots between the action set-pieces which are themselves just a mess of bad CGI and poor design choices. All the beats of the film are completely predictable. It's impossible to not be distracted by the seemingly random use of CGI in virtually every shot. The dialog is generic schlock. The humor is painfully unfunny. Maybe Seth Rogen consulted on the script because a number of the "jokes" were just someone repeating something over and over and over again, so even if it had been funny initially, it lost any semblance of humor on the third or fourth time they said it.

I went into the movie with really no expectations other than a very, very base idea of the original story of The Journey to the West. Just from watching the movie I could tell that this movie was a very poor interpretation. Reading up on it further has only strengthened that feeling. I understand why they added a love interested character (many people are unfortunately unable to watch movies without a crappy love story shoehorned in) but they could have at least had the courtesy to force her into the story in an interesting way. I can't get over how bad their dialog and interaction is. It's just so terrible.

I was fully expecting to see this in the 20% range on Metacritic, Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, and all those site. It blows my mind that that someone started a review with the words "not terrible." Yes, terrible. Do not watch this movie. It is bad. And not enjoyable bad, just boring and predictable bad. I don't understand how the majority consensus is that this is an enjoyable film. If you watch this move and enjoy it, you need to take a long, hard look in the mirror and think about your own complete lack of taste.

If you saw and enjoyed Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer and see this movie and think "hey, I liked those other movies, maybe this one will be alright," resist that impulse. In Bruges, The Professional, Summer Wars, 22 Jump Street, Alien, Jackie Chan's First Strike, Whiplash, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Edge of Tomorrow, John Carpenter's The Thing, Casablanca. What do these films have in common? They're all roughly the same length as this terrible movie and are all a much better use of your time. If you feel tempted to watch this, watch one or all of those instead. That's not to say that they're all perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but they're all way more worth your time.

1 point for having the basic components of a movie (cameras pointed at actors saying lines with music in the background) and another point because Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle were good. It's sad to say, but Stephen Chow seems to have been replaced with a talent-less hack bodysnatcher.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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