西遊．降魔篇 Journey to The West 2013 Review

西遊．降魔篇 Journey to The West 2013 Review

Just came back from the premier screening of 西遊．降魔篇 Journey to The West. It has been a while since I do a movie review and maybe I should write again this year but anyways thank you Fox Malaysia for the premier tickets.

The story of 西遊．降魔篇 Journey to The West is a fiction story that I grew with but Stephen Chow’s version of西遊．降魔篇 Journey to The West is not the textbook story you expect. For the first time, Stephen Chow 周星馳didn’t act in his movie and he took up his directorial role very seriously.

There are only two main recognizable stars in the movie, both Taiwanese Shu Qi and Show Luo. The rest are rest are actors from China and Hong Kong and they never lack the talents of acting.

The story is relatively simple, following the story on how demon hunter Xuan Zang becomes the legendary Tang Sanzang. Of course there is a romance between him and Shu Qi (another demon hunter) and how they captured the demons along the way. I will not reveal more about the movie or else it won’t be worthwhile watching it.

The signature Stephen Chow’s 周星馳 comedy remedy still can be found in the movie and there are quite a number of scenes that will crack you up. Even though the story might be simple, it almost took two hours of running time.

The romance is there, the fighting is there and the comedy is there. However, the CG is a let down given the quality of Chinese movies nowadays. However, it didn’t spoil the story or as I felt that Shu Qi played her role very well. Shu Qi shines in the movie and the other casts did their best too.

Overall, 西遊．降魔篇 Journey to The West is watchable but don’t put any high hopes on it, it is still a Stephen Chow 周星馳comedy movie. Compare with other 2013 CNY movies, I think 西遊．降魔篇 Journey to The West fares much than the rest. Watch西遊．降魔篇 Journey to The West and have a good laugh and hopefully they have a part two for it.

Wilson Ng