When THE MONKEY KING debuted the teaser trailer sometimes last year, I was doubtful whether Donnie Yen was really up for the legendary Sun Wukong role or not. Even the glimpse of the special effects doesn't look engaging enough to convince me whatsoever. However, upon finally watching it, this nearly four-years-in-the-making production proves to be a well-worthy cinematic experience after all.

WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?

During an ongoing war between god and demon on the Heavenly Palace, Bull Demon King (Aaron Kwok) lost the battle against Jade Emperor (Chow Yun-Fat). However, Jade Emperor's daughter, Princess Iron Fan (Joe Fan),begs her father for mercy because she loves Bull Demon King very much. Jade Emperor ends up banishing both of them to the Fire Mountain and forbids them to enter Heavenly Palace ever again. Meanwhile, a monkey spirit is born out from Princess Nuwa's (Zhang Zilin) magic stones which later grows up as a mischievous adult. Soon he is trained under Master Puti (Tian Hai Yi) and names him as Sun Wukong. After Wukong completed his master's training, he returns to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits where he originally belongs to reunite with his fellow monkey clan and calls himself as Handsome Monkey King. Trouble arrives when Bull Demon King sees Wukong as his golden opportunity to use him as bait to access Heavenly Palace, while waiting for the right moment to wage war against the god all over again.

THE GOOD STUFF

Last seen in 2012's MOTORWAY, Soi Cheang's direction is colorful and yet entertaining enough to please most of the die-hard fans of the Sun Wukong story. Speaking of story, Szeto Kam Yuen's and Edmond Wong's screenplay is a fairly satisfying combination of action, comedy, romance and fantastical elements all rolled into slick package. Christopher Young's music score, in the meantime, is simply majestic. The action sequence, which is choreographed by Donnie Yen himself, is often exhilarating and epic in scope.

As Sun Wukong, Donnie Yen has successfully delivers one of his best performances ever seen since IP MAN (2008) and IP MAN 2 (2010). And likewise, he proves to be such a nimble fighter as usual, especially when he uses his golden staff. Other actors, such as Peter Ho as the scheming Erlangshen and Chow Yun-Fat as the noble Jade Emperor, are equally acceptable as well.

MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT(S)

The "all-hell-breaks-loose" duels during the movie's spectacular finale.

THE BAD STUFF

Despite the hefty amount spent on the budget, the special effects are average at best. Even there are times the special effects looks like a rushed job. Some of the other cast, including Aaron Kwok's villainous turn as Bull Demon King, Kelly Chen as Guanyin and Gigi Leung as Chang'E, are sadly underwritten.

FINAL WORDS

While THE MONKEY KING is far from the best movie adaptation ever seen from Wu Cheng'en's classical novel of Journey to the West, it remains a satisfying effort worth checking out for this Chinese New Year.

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It's not all bad, but far from good, just wonder how they managed to get 4 movies from this franchise, but as I'm rancid with comedies, probably my unsympathetic influence on the evaluation, I liked the photography, the colorful and vibrant graphics, the simple yet efficient effects, sweet, just...

THE MONKEY KING: HAVOC IN HEAVEN'S PALACE is the latest outing for the classic hero of Chinese literature, and I'm ashamed to say that it's by far the worst ever adaptation I've seen. It also happens to be one of the worst Chinese films I've watched. What we have here is a sprawling CGI mess of endless stupid action sequences full of lamentable CGI effects and terrible choreography. Donnie Yen frankly embarrasses himself in the lead role, going way over the top with the physical tics and comedy, while others like Chow Yun-Fat and Aaron Kwok are merely wasted. The CGI is so bad that I've seen early-morning children's CGI animation with better effects, and the story is non-existent. Warning: it rarely gets any worse than this!