Though Stephen Chow's 'Journey to the West' series has been the more buzzed-about one in the last few years, director Soi Cheang has been studiously building up his own 'Monkey King' franchise. The first chapter, which boasted a spirited turn by Donnie Yen as the titular Wukong who defied Chow Yun Fat's Jade Emperor, was nonetheless a huge disappointment because of its stilted storytelling and laughable CGI; but the sequel, which saw Aaron Kwok take over the golden staff (pun intended) with a more low-key but also more nuanced performance, was a marked improvement that benefited generously from Gong Li's devilish turn as the White Bone Demon. Not surprisingly, Kwok has agreed to reprise his role in this third chapter, although this time round he's been reduced to no more than a supporting act.

Whereas most, if not all, 'Monkey King' films have played on the dynamic between Wukong and his master Xuanzang, Cheang and his writer Wen Ning have placed the focus this time on Xuanzang (Feng Shaofeng) alone. Stumbling upon a kingdom populated only by women after an encounter with an unfriendly River God (revealed later on to be a vengeful god played by Lin Chi-ling), Xuanzang falls in love with its Queen (Zhao Liying), thereby presenting him with an apparent conundrum whether to forsake his religious calling to love all mankind. But perhaps more crucially, Xuanzang and his companions - Wukong, the pig demon Bajie (Xiao Shenyang), and the blue-skinned sand demon Wujing (Him Lo) - have to first escape execution directed by the kingdom's Empress Dowager-like Madam Perceptor (Gigi Leung), who is adamant that men are the worst poison to their kind.

Alas their attempt to escape is thwarted by an invisible, magical net around Womanland, though it's not difficult to guess that the key to penetrating the spell is none other than true love itself. It's also not difficult to guess that Xuanzang and the Queen will eventually discover that secret by their love for each other - a love that will quite literally see them 'through the sun and rain', as the couple are banished from the kingdom and forced to endure both elements in a wooden boat out at sea. Besides testing the mettle of their relationship, the voyage will also clarify Xuanzang's choice between the love of one (wo)man or the love of all sentient beings; although his decision should be obvious to most viewers, since it will take a lot of gumption for this movie to attempt a completely revisionist take on Wu Cheng'en's classic, and you can probably guess that it isn't nearly that bold.

To his credit, Cheang does undertake some brave moves for a Mainland-centric film. For one, its notion of a female-only land seen against China's male chauvinistic society is progressive to say the least, especially given its people's extremely dim and fatalistic view of the male gender. For another, it handles the subject of abortion with a certain cavalier, and some would say careless attitude - after his companions accidentally drink from a fertility spring known as the Motherhood River, Wukong approaches a cross-dressing hermit in the Miscarriage Cave to obtain its tears to terminate the unwanted pregnancies. And for yet another, it depicts an unrequited lesbian romance between a mortal and an androgynous spirit that at its most audacious has a scene with Gigi Leung and Lin Chi-ling locking lips.

But perhaps its most audacious choice is to attempt a genre switch in this third chapter that turns what used to be an action fantasy into a fantasy romance. Oh yes, if it isn't obvious by now, there are hardly any epic battle scenes to speak of; in fact, there are just two - one in the middle with two big scorpions, and the other right at the end with the bitter River God threatening to drown the entire Womanland. Whereas its predecessors took pride in crediting Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung as action directors, there is no one explicitly mentioned in that role here, which is just as well given how underwhelming these two sequences play out. Diminishing the amount of action in the film also further reduces Wukong's significance - after all, he is Xuanzang's bodyguard - and gives Kwok even less to do, and the same can be said of Bajie and Wujing too.

That is ultimately a pity, because these unlikely travel buddies have established quite some chemistry. Indeed, two of the most amusing scenes in the movie are thanks to their witty banter - the very opening scene that sees them making their way down a gentle river (before being rudely interrupted by the aforementioned River God) sees some funny back-and-forth about who had taken away Wukong's pants while he was bathing; and their very first attempted escape from lock-up in Womanland, as well as their subsequent interrogation, is a riotous hoot what with Wukong's impudence, Bajie's flirtatiousness and Wujing's masculinity on full display. Tempering cheekiness with conscience, Kwok has also revealed himself to be quite a fine Wukong, and sidelining his character here inadvertently makes the film much duller.

While it is understandable why Cheang has decided to make this third chapter tonally different from the earlier two, 'The Monkey King 3' is a lot less entertaining as a result. Its philosophical musings about true love are not quite so insightful, but more crucially, it hardly gives its more charismatic performers enough screen time. It may have seemed a timely choice given the momentum and publicity that the female empowerment movement has gathered of late to adapt the quartet's misadventures in Womanland for this movie, but in the grander scheme of their 'Journey to the West', this is at best an interesting sidenote and at worst an unnecessary detour. The ending hints at a fourth instalment set to tell the more well-known Fiery Mountain episode - and on hindsight, the franchise should probably have simply gone straight there than bothered to stop over here.

This movies started so well, with good design, good cgi and a apparently story unfolding to completaly stole at about 30% of it full lenght, into pregnant men, meaning of love and sacrifice through a childish and 200% boring vision to end up, like any action movie this past 10 years, into a giant, useless and pointless cgi battle. I thought that journey to the west 2 by tsui hark was a disaster, after watching this monkey king 3 i should probably raise my rating on it by 1 or 2 points.

From a coarse comedy gradually transitions to a semi-finished film industrial product, which rely on dialogue of figures in the film to explain what is happening now. Based on this, all the disputes and criticism about adaptation and casting are could be ignored. What's more, as the only actor that performing seriously in the film, it seems that Aaron Kwok is in a inopportune filming site, such as when the Monkey King, a mighty mythological figure in ancient times, discussing that whether the abortion is reasonable with other ordinary people...

I usually do not watch this kind of films, but this series is exceptional! It is entertaining and I really loved the sound tracks :) The story line was really good as well, with continuous liveliness. As 'Monkey King3' focuses on relationship of characters and detailed story line, yes, it is bit less entertaining than 'Monkey King1&2', but its cinematic quality is higher than previous ones. This film was like a gift set to me :)

No good at all. Dont waste your time. The story has nothing to do with the 2 previous movies.

One of my favorite stories, this is really set up very well. Some of the CGI could have been more carefully executed (no spoilers, bc that's basically the core of the whole film), but the WuKong/Hanuman storyline was really well done. Hats off to the cast & crew, and to the director. The soundtrack is another great celebration of this ancient legend and the perspectives that have flourished from it.

A way to appreciate this movie is to look at the parallels to The Wizard of Oz. There is a journey with three human like companions: a pig, a monkey and a blue man (instead of a straw man, a lion and a tin man). There is a good witch (the princess) and a maleficent like bad witch dressed in white. However there is no Toto.

The film is not perfect , especially in regards of its romance part. The structure is unevenly weighted. The romance between the monk and the queen is as boring as a high school puppy love; the strongest villain,, River God, is more attractive and dramatic to the audience, but her story-line is put in the second place and dealt by unclear flashbacks. Thus, this structure is unbalanced because the major story-line lies in an unconvincing love, while the powerful villain, who will take care of the final battle with Monkey King, indeed has no direct connection to the first line. Moreover, for audience, we could not understand why the queen falls in love in a second with Tangshen, a theoretically alien-like monster for people in the kingdom of women, and why she wants to sacrifice everything for him (and why she is important looks like a Deus ex machina setting).

However, I do like this movie because it does intend to tell an idea, which goes beyond ordinary box office films. I am very touched by tangshen's words and ideas when he is drifted in the bitter sea. The major theme of this film is very Buddhist, who refers life as a large and endless bitter sea, and this is why a monk goes on his journey to find truth. It's kinda philosophical and unfriendly to most audience who came to theatre just for fun. I admire the courage of this director.

Its not a perfect movie, but this movie does tell something really deep. I understand why tangshen has to leave, and why to love one is no difference from to love all mankind.

Humorous romantic and religious movie in fantastic background. I give 10 scores for someone unfairly rate 1 score.

Nothing special on this film and too much CGI using , this is when China got CGI ,China have a lot of location that very extraordinary but they choose to using CGI

The New Year movie basically looks quite good, it can be clearly described, even if Tang Yan is also difficult to escape

China has been making movies for ages now and they've done nothing but improve with each passing year. In addition to that there is a rich history of storytelling there that has yet to be tapped in this country, legends and fairy tales that rival those we've grown up with from the Brothers Grimm. That they translate to the screen is not surprise.

One such story is that of the Monkey King. The legend is old and different versions of the story have been made in the past. We're now presented with the third film in a series based on the tale. Go into this one knowing that because it appears to pick up where the last one left off. Does that make the film difficult to enjoy? Not at all. What's happened in the past and will happen in the future are easy to follow here.

Buddhist monk Tang Sanzang (William Feng Shaofeng) and his disciples - Wukong the Monkey King (Aaron Kwok Fu-shing), pig demon Bajie (Xiao Shenyang) and blue-skinned sand demon Wujing (Him Lo Chung-him) are traveling down a river when they run afoul of the river god who tries to sink them. Instead they survive and find themselves thrown into the mystical all female land known as Womanland.

The queen of this land (Zhao Liying) is star struck when she first sees Sanzang and he is smitten with her in return. But legend has it that men will lead to the downfall of Womanland because all men are deceptive. The royal preceptor (Gigi Leung Wing-kei) is determined to follow through with the execution of the men but they are saved by the queen.

As the queen attempts to help them escape she and Sanzang discuss what could be. Sanzang is open and honest with her letting her know that while he would love to stay he must complete his quest to collect Buddha's scriptures putting the needs of the world ahead of all else.

They head for the border of the land only to discover that they're still trapped since a magical net encompasses the border. The only thing that can break the barrier is true love. Will the queen and Sanzang discover that their love is true or will their quest end here?

The movie is a feast for the eyes with so many special effects shots combined with gorgeous locations that will have viewers wanting to visit the locales on display. While watching I kept thinking how great it would be if China opened itself to the rest of the world but that's something we'll have to wait to see happen. For now we can be glad they're allowing their films to make it our way.

The special effects here match what's coming out of Hollywood. Everything from the river gods to the galloping white elk that the queen rides looks magnificent. The make-up department also does a tremendous job especially when looking at the blue skinned Wujing. Wukong tends to look a bit overdone but I got the impression that was on purpose. Suffice to say all of the characters are well thought out here.

The only negative thing I can say about this film is that it isn't available in a dubbed version here. I say this not because adults can't enjoy the film or read but there is little chance that small children would be able to read the subtitles or if they could keep up with what's taking place on screen at the same time. And this film is a movie that young children would undoubtedly enjoy. For all others this is one worth taking the chance on and watching, a gorgeous film with an involved story and amazing special effects that make it a real treat.

Xi You Ji : Nu Er Guo is such a great film. Not only video effects are good, but also the actors and actresses' performances too. Some people are saying this is a bad film because they don't know some facts, especially the original story of this. I'll explain one by one.

1) Nu Er Guo (in English, The Kingdom of Women) has ONLY women in it's kingdom and the citizens don't know about men and they can't even go out from the Kingdom. So, they don't know some things, such as Tang Sang is a monk, and monk can't love anyone, etc. The Queen lives in her kingdom since the day she was born and men are banned in the kingdom. So, she hasn't meet with a man until Tang Sang showed up. And Tang Sang was the first man she ever saw in her life. That's why she fell in love with her. If there were such things as "love at the first sight", then why would it possible that the Queen fell in love with a monk? The concept is the same. She fell in love at the first sight.

As for Tang Sang, even though he knows being a monk doesn't allow falling in love. But that is also acceptable. Let me tell you a story. But I want to say in advance that my English isn't that much good, so, maybe I can't illustrate the whole picture. But I'll try as much as I can. In my country, there was a legend. Legend says there are some monks with the ability to fly in the air. Of course those monks practiced too long, so that they get that kind of ability. But one day, a monk saw a girl. The girl was so pretty, so, he fell in love with her immediately. As soon as he saw and fell in love with her, the monk lost that ability instantly and he fall from the sky (because he saw that girl while flying in the sky). A monk is also a human. Being a human, he could love especially if the girl is pretty. That is something every human can't escape from. The same logic applies here. Tang Sang may fall in love with that Queen too. That's why there is a love story between Tang Sang and the queen which is acceptable.

2) The casting. The casting was very good. I feel like all actors and actresses are in right place. Hence, their performances are very good, especially, Zhao Liying. I totally love her.

3) Sound editing and mixing, which is, I think, no need to mention at all. Every background sound they used in this film is so perfect. I can feel that it's really happening.

4) Visual effects. The visual effects are great. I don't see that much good in visual effects in Chinese films. I watch a lot of films including American, British and Chinese, the visual effects I like are from American and British films. I even saw that very bad films that let you know it's a visual effect and it's not real, etc. A visual effect that is no neat. But those effects in this film is so perfect, especially, they are being chased by that river immortal on the river. They will never shoot that scene in a river just like in the film. Plus, that one is not even real. So, they all are visual effects. And the last scene, it's one of the coolest visual effects used in the film.

5) Photography/Cinematography. I don't know the sceneries are real or not. But they are very beautiful. I really wanted to go there when I saw those scenes. So, I'd say director of photography and/or cinematographer is very good. Beautiful sceneries are very important for a film. This one has it all.

6) The original story which was animation that I watched when I was young was just 60 minutes (tops) long. But in this film, they put some extra things to make the film 2 hours long. Although they have stretched the plot a little bit, but it turned out good. There's no boring scene, and some scenes are even funny. It's very important to entertain audience with some jokes. But if there are too much jokes, it's not good too. In this film, of course they put some jokes, but it didn't make the film stupid, bad one or whatever. It made the film more enjoyable. And also I laughed a lot. Laughing prolongs your life. Thanks to the screen play writer.

7) OST. Although this film doesn't have many songs like Fifty Shades Freed film had, the OSTs are very good. I've listened those two songs before the movie was released. I totally loved it. When I heard again in the film, because it was in the right place, I loved it more. The songs are really in the right place and it makes the film better. I'd say because of those OSTs, the film becomes better and better.

8) The story. In the love story of Tang Sang and the Queen, the Queen stayed at Tang Sang's side and wrote on the ground together with him when he lost his child because Wukong gave him the liquid to lose his pregnancy. That scene with the lovely song is very touchable. I'm really and totally touched. And also when the Queen let them go, because of the performances of actors and actresses', I'm touched by that scene too. As for me, those two scenes are the best scenes in the whole film.

Because of those facts I've stated in above, I'd say this is a good film to watch. Although I don't know why these films get very low rating and why people are giving Asian films (especially Chinese films) with visual effects, as for me, those ones are pretty good. A few days ago, I watched a Taiwanese film because it has high rating 7.0 here on IMDB which was very rare to see. I found the story was quite impressive. That, I accept. What I don't accept is a bit drama and it also includes kissing and sex scenes. IMDB users or audiences only give high votes if only they are dramas and kissing and sex scenes are included in the films, just like Shape of Water and/or Blade Runner 2049? As for me, the visual effects used in Blade Runner is nothing compared to this film. I haven't a clue of why people are giving high votes to those drama-like Sci-Fi/Fiction/Fantasy/Adventure films? Those ones are terribly boring. For instance, Blade Runner 2049. I don't even know the plot is. The plot was all about the leading character was moving around and nothing much happened. And then, hours went by and the movie was finished. So, compared to Blade Runner 2049, this one is way better. If Blade Runner 2049 gets high votes, this one deserves 10 out of 10 votes. No offense, okie?

All in all, as for me, it's a great movie with awesome visual effects. I didn't even know 2 hours time was passed. It's so enjoyable. Even if this one is not your taste, it should at least make a fine film.