The Monkey King: Uproar in Heaven

大闹天空

China, 2012, colour, 1.85:1, 3-D, 92 mins.

Directors: Su Da 速达, Chen Zhihong 陈志宏.

Rating: 7/10.

Radically refurbished version of the 1960s cartoon classic looks like a newly-minted coin.

STORY

Mythical ancient China. Born from some magic stones that fell to Earth a long time ago when the goddess Nvwa mended the sky, Sun Wukong, aka Monkey King, lives on Flower-Fruit Mountain, where he leads a community of other monkeys with his magical powers. One day, after breaking his halberd, he learns he can get a new one from the dragon king of the Eastern Sea, whom he visits in his underwater lair. Annoyed that Monkey King doesn’t find any of his halberds heavy enough, the dragon king tells him he can borrow anything he can pick up, and Monkey King makes off with a massive pillar – the Sea-Calming Gold-Banded Cudgel – which Dragon King had used to pin down the ocean. Monkey King is able to shrink and expand it to any size he wants. Infuriated, the dragon king petitions the Celestial Jade Emperor for the return of the cudgel, and the latter, on the advice of the god of the Great White Star, sends an envoy summoning Monkey King to his presence. Monkey King is unawed by the Jade Emperor and his palace, but accepts the job of protector of the imperial horses that Jade Emperor offers him to keep him under close supervision. When his boss, the lord of the imperial stables, scolds him for being unruly, Monkey King becomes angry, wrecks the place and returns to Flower-Fruit Mountain. Jade Emperor sends Heavenly King Li, his multi-headed and -armed son Nezha, and God of Mighty Miracles to tame the arrogant Monkey King, but they are all defeated. In defiance of Jade Emperor, Monkey King demands the title of Great Sage Equalling Heaven. To tame him, Jade Emperor makes him guardian of the imperial peach orchard, which supplies fruit exclusively for the Empress Queen Mother, but Monkey King eats and steals the peaches, as well as the Magic Elixir of lord Lao Zi, and takes them back to Flower-Fruit Mountain. Furious, Jade Emperor sends 100,000 celestial troops against him.

REVIEW

The 1960s animation classic by Wan Laiming 万籁鸣, based on the first seven chapters of the Ming dynasty novel Journey to the West 西游记 (c. 1590), gets a new coat of paint and much much more in The Monkey King: Uproar in Heaven 大闹天空. Along with the first Asian sound cartoon, Princess Iron Fan 铁扇公主 (1940), it’s the best known of the works of Wan (1900-97), known as the “Father of Chinese Animation”, who along with his three brothers pioneered the form from 1926 onwards. Restored and also re-worked into a 3-D version with the help of Los Angeles-based Technicolor, this is not simply a re-issue but virtually a new version for the 21st century, and comes up looking bright and shiny on the big screen.

Made over four years (1961-64) and originally in two halves – the first taking the story up to the initial battle between Monkey King and the celestial warriors, the second continuing with the peach orchard episode and second battle – the original film has since 1978 been known in the West as a single movie called Uproar in Heaven, with an English commentary overlaying the Mandarin dialogue. The 2012 version not only expands the original’s screen ratio from 1.33 to 1.85:1 (by widening the backgrounds with additional drawings rather than re-cropping) but also features a new arrangement and recording by Shi Jiayang 施佳阳 of the original mono score by Wu Yingju 吴应炬, has a new, big-name voice cast and – most contentiously – condenses the original from 110 to 86 minutes (plus six minutes of new end credits).

Collectors, therefore, should not throw away their treasured copies of the original, with its jerkier look and weaker colours. But it’s hard to argue too much with this radical refurbishment which, though losing some of the naive charm of the 1960s version, looks like a newly minted coin with its rich colours, supported by an equally rich voice cast. Directors Chen Kaige 陈凯歌 and Feng Xiaogang 冯小刚 make a wonderfully grumpy dragon king of the Eastern Sea and gnarly lord Lao Zi, while actor Chen Daoming 陈道明 essays a suitably woozy Celestial Jade Emperor and Li Yang 李扬 an egotistical Monkey King. Other names like veteran actress Liu Xiaoqing 刘晓庆 as the Empress Queen Mother, comedienne Yao Chen 姚晨 as a court fairy, and actors Zhang Guoli 张国立 and Liu Ye 刘烨 are strewn across the celebrity-heavy line-up.

Aside from occasional in-your-face effects (specially drawn), mostly for Monkey King’s use of his magic cudgel, most of the DCP 3-D simply gives a feeling of slight depth – through the huge job of separating and layering the characters and backgrounds into dozen of levels. This comes into its own in the two huge battles that dominate the film, and the displays of martial arts. Though the missing minutes in the story condensation are regrettable, they’re not especially noticeable and, to be fair, the film has been available in several versions since its initial release. As a whole, it still drags a little in the dialogue sequences between the action. This is largely because the plot is little more than a series of variations on a single joke: the continual besting of the celestial hierarchy (representing feudal government) by the indestructible, pesky and endlessly resourceful Monkey King (representing the ordinary Chinese people).

The loving care with which the whole project has been undertaken by co-directors Su Da 速达 (a TV animator best known for the still-running Dear Tutu 大耳朵图图 series) and Chen Zhihong 陈志宏 (TV drama series Qin’s Moon 秦时明月之笑闯江湖) is movingly demonstrated in the new end titles, which include B&W pictures of Wan and his team at work on the original.

CREDITS

Presented by Shanghai Film Group (CN), Shanghai Animation Film Studio (CN). Produced by Shanghai Animation Film Studio (CN).

Music arrangements: Shi Jiayang. Sound: Liang Yingjun. Restoration: Tom Burton. 3-D conversion director: Pierre Routhier. 3-D conversion executive producer: Chris Del Conte.

Voices: Li Yang (Sun Wukong/Monkey King), Chen Daoming (Celestial Jade Emperor), Chen Kaige (dragon king of the Eastern Sea), Feng Xiaogang (lord Lao Zi, founder of Daoism), Zhang Guoli (god of the Great White Star), Liu Ye (Heavenly King Li), Chen Peisi (Local Guardian God), Yao Chen (eldest of the Seven Fairies), He Ling (Nezha, son of Heavenly King Li), Liu Xiaoqing (Empress Queen Mother), Zhou Libo (lord of the imperial stables).

Release: China, 12 Jan 2012.

(Review first published on Film Business Asia, 28 Feb 2012.)

_________________________________________________

ORIGINAL VERSIONS:

Uproar in Heaven (Part One)

大闹天空 (上集)

Director: Wan Laiming 万籁鸣.

Associate director: Tang Cheng 唐澄.

China, 1962, colour, 1.33:1, c. 40 mins.

International premiere: Karlovy Vary Film Festival (short films), Jun 1962.

Produced by Shanghai Animation Studio (CN).

Script: Li Kerou, Wan Laiming. Novel: Wu Cheng’en. Photography: Wang Shirong, Duan Xiaoxuan. Editing: Xu Zhenzhu. Music: Wu Yingju. Musical direction: Chen Chuanzhao, Zhang Xinhai. Art direction: Zhang Guangyu, Zhang Zhengyu. Animation design: Yan Dingxian, Duan Jun, Pu Jiaxiang, Lu Qing, Lin Wenxiao, Ge Guiyun. Backgrounds: Fang Pengnian, Gao Yang, Qin Yizhen, Liang Like.

__________________________________________________

Uproar in Heaven (Part Two)

大闹天空 (下集)

Directors: Wan Laiming 万籁鸣, Tang Cheng 唐澄.

China, 1965, colour, 1.33:1, c. 67 mins.

International premiere: Locarno Film Festival, Jul 1965.

Produced by Shanghai Animation Studio (CN).

Script: Li Kerou, Wan Laiming. Novel: Wu Cheng’en. Photography: Duan Xiaoxuan. Editing: Xu Zhenzhu. Music: Wu Yingju. Music: Wu Yingju. Musical direction: Chen Chuanzhao, Zhang Xinhai. Art direction: Zhang Guangyu, Zhang Zhengyu. Animation design: Yan Dingxian, Duan Jun, Pu Jiaxiang, Lu Qing, Lin Wenxiao, Ge Guiyun. Backgrounds: Fang Pengnian, Gao Yang, Qin Yizhen, Liang Like.