Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons 西游•降魔篇 ~ Chinese Movies&TV

Today let’s take a brief introduction of a famous Chinese movie named “Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons”.Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons is an action-comedy movie directed by Stephen Chow and Derek Kok, starring Wen Zhang, Huang Bo and Shu Qi. The movie was released on February 10, 2013 in China. It is loosely based on the Chinese classic “Journey to the West,” and has echoes of Chow’s classic 1990’s hits “A Chinese Odyssey – Pandora’s Box” and “Cinderella.”

Stephen Chow is honored as “King of Comedy” and he is also regarded as the originator of the movie style called Mo lei tau, which means mindless. He starred in many comedies such as Justice, My Foot!, Hail the Judge and A Chinese Odyssey – Pandora’s Box, etc. Chow also self-directed and performed. In the eyes of Chinese movie fans, A Chinese Odyssey, released in 1994, was a classic comedy which could not be surpassed. The love between Monkey King(Stephen Chow) and the beautiful immortal named Zixia(Athena Chu) touched the audience and became a popular topic. To some degree, the new movie Conquering the Demons can be seen as the prelude of A Chinese Odyssey.

The story is about how the monk Tang Sanzang falls in love with a female exorcist and tames the three demons of a monkey, a pig and a fish to become his disciples. The monkey, a.k.a. Monkey King Sun Wukong, is the biggest villain in the movie, which is a very bold adaption — as in the original text the Monkey King holds a very positive role. The movie also has much to make audiences laugh, thrill them and move them to tears, all with a little help of some dazzling visual effects.

周星馳Zhōu Xīngchí: a Hong Kong actor, comedian, screenwriter, film director, producer and political adviser of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
无厘头wúlítóu:  a name given to a type of humour originating from Hong Kong during the late 20th century. It is a phenomenon which has grown largely from its presentation in modern film media.
唐三藏Táng Sāncáng：a Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator who described the interaction between China and India in the early Tang Dynasty. Born in what is now Henan province in 602, from boyhood he took to reading religious books, including the Chinese classics and the writings of ancient sages.