REVIEW: ‘The Monkey King’ Struggles Under The Weight Of It’s Unlikeable Lead

Atop a great mountain, born from a magic stone, lives The Monkey King (Jimmy O. Yang). Desiring acceptance, first from his tribe and then from the immortals of heaven, he sets out on a quest to acquire great power and immortality, believing these things will bring him the fulfillment he seeks. Accompanied by a peasant girl Lin (Jolie Hoang-Rappaport) and his magic pole Stick (Nan Li), the trio faces impossible odds to achieve his goal. But will these things really be the key to his happiness, or does what he truly need hide in plain sight in The Monkey King from director Anthony Stacchi and writers Steve Bencich, Ron J. Friedman, and Rita Hsiao.

With the growing popularity of Eastern animation and CGI features, it only makes sense that a movie drawing its inspiration from the classic Chinese story, Journey to the West would be forthcoming to a platform like Netflix. Having never read the original, I was looking forward to getting a glimpse of what this famous story has to offer. While I was hoping it would be a compelling adventure, what I ended up with was largely too much time spent with a self-aggrandizing, and ultimately annoying lead character.

The titular Monkey King is not a likable character. He is obnoxious and looks down on everyone as he pursues his various quests to prove his worth, first to the local monkey tribe, and eventually the gods themselves. The writing plays the character up to the highest levels of annoyance and Yang’s performance delivers on the energy of the character’s words, though it only drives home how grating he is.

This goes on for the vast majority of the film. There were a couple of different moments where I expected the character to have an epiphany and begin to realize how at fault his view was of himself and others, but these kept slipping by with no change to his personality. When he does finally realize how empty his goals have been and how much he has mistreated others, it is far too little far too late to redeem the time spent listening to this blowhard rant about himself. The character’s worst tendencies shine the harshest when dealing with his assistant Lin.

Lin is a peasant girl that The Monkey King meets early in the movie and professes to be his biggest fan and earnestly sets out to help him on his quest. No matter what she does for him, he always looks down on her, preferring to refer to her as an insignificant pebble, and going so far as to ditch her in Hell (literally) so he can freely attempt to gain immortality. While the movie’s intro establishes why he is so self-centered and unwilling to let Lin in during their time together, the payoff for his journey never amounts to half of the scorn heaped on Lin’s shoulders.

The final way the movie fails its protagonist comes through his other companion Stick. Every indication the movie gives the viewer says that The Monkey King is powerless mainly for the vast majority of the film’s roughly hour-and-a-half runtime. He is entirely dependent on Stick to manage any success in combat, thoroughly undercutting the main character’s value as a heroic personality.

That is until the climactic final battle when he seems suddenly able to wield far greater power than had been previously eluded to. Only his ability to create copies of himself with his hair is ever shown during the film prior to the big finale. And while it makes sense that he would be powered down for a kid’s film, a protagonist capable of leaping thousands of miles is tough to adapt in a balanced story, that he is reduced to a body for Stick to prop up for so much of the film feels like a disservice to the character.

The various villains that come to oppose The Monkey King during his quest are a passable bunch of obstacles for the Stick to knock around. They provide enough of a balance between genuine threats and laughable goofs to keep younger viewers entertained, though older ones will probably just find them adequate at best.

The visuals deliver a stylish and fun look for the story. Characters sport features with just enough exaggeration to give them a comical element to their looks, while not going to extremes. The numerous combat sequences are delivered fluidly, and the many environments The Monkey King’s journey passes through all feel colorful and unique. The visual highlight of The Monkey King comes during a montage that features a 2D animated look as the movie clips through a series of battles against 99 demons. This sequence is the only time that the film feels like it is trying to embrace any sense of a classical tale in its presentation.

When all is said and done, The Monkey King tries to adapt a renowned legend, and in doing so relegated it to a generic kids’ animated feature. With a lead that annoys more than anything else, the movie grows tiresome to get through quickly, despite its relatively short run time.

The Monkey King is streaming now on Netflix.