"The Monkey King" Official International Trailer

I still remember last week, watching the television set at the local hospital canteen (post-rehab session) while enjoying my masala thosai, on screen showing yet another re-telling of the "Journey To The West"-lore, and featuring yet another person dressed as "Sun Wukong" the "Monkey King", thinking this character and folklore has been milked for a very long time, hasn't it? For sure as realistic (or non-realistic) as the monkey make-up is/was/will-be, we'd know instinctively is WAS make-up, and that spoils the entertainment value, at the very least to me. I cringe when an actor pretends with all his actor-y might to "act" and behave like an ape, truth be told.


And while I do not know if Donnie Yen will possess all these traits, at the very least is kung-fu will keep me enthralled and attention occupied, perhaps? Am sure Chow Yun-Fatt (as the Jade Emperor) and Aaron Kwok (as Bull Demon King) will do their parts with gusto too LOL

I'm personally looking forward to any toy releases based on the movie characters, in 1/6th no doubt … but would be interesting to see any alternative depictions (ie: Chibi) to be released … this is after all, a story not "copied" from Hollywood or the West, no? ;p

"The Monkey King is an upcoming Hong Kong-Chinese film directed by Cheang Pou-soi and starring Donnie Yen as the titular protagonist. Yen also serves as the film's action director … The plot is based on an episode of the shenmo fantasy novel Journey to the West, a Chinese literary classic written in the Ming Dynasty. It will be released on 31 January 2014." (Wiki)