''Monkey King: Hero Is Back'' () is a 2015 Chinese
computer-animated
Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes ( still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refe ...
fantasy adventure film directed by Tian Xiaopeng as his
directorial debut. The film was released on 10 July 2015. The film was the
highest-grossing animated film in China until it was surpassed by the 2016 films ''
Zootopia
''Zootopia'' (titled ''Zootropolis'' in various regions) is a 2016 American computer-animated buddy cop action comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 55th Disney animated feature film, ...
'' and ''
Kung Fu Panda 3''.
Plot
The all-powerful
Monkey King, Sun Wukong, is imprisoned by the
Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...
within an ice cage deep within the mountains for rebelling against heaven.
500 years later, Mountain Trolls attack a group of travelers, all except for a baby boy named Liuer are killed, and Liuer is adopted by a monk. Several years later, the same trolls invade a small village and kidnap 49 young children. Liuer saves one of the baby girls and is chased by the trolls for doing so. He stumbles into the cave where the Monkey King was imprisoned, and unknowingly releases him from his curse. Sun Wukong defeats the trolls, although he is only able to use physical attacks, since a remnant of Buddha's seal prevents him from regaining his magical powers, causing him pain whenever he tries to harness his magic.
Wukong attempts to break the Buddha's seal to no avail. Liuer and the girl enthusiastically greet Wukong, not knowing he has lost his powers. Annoyed, Wukong attempts to avoid the two, but is unable to evade them. A stone monster, created by the Buddha to keep Wukong imprisoned, attacks the three. Liuer manages to undo the spell on the monster, but falls off a cliff in the process. When he awakes, he finds out Wukong has saved him.
The three come upon Pigsy, a war god that Wukong defeated in a battle 500 years ago, now reincarnated into a pig demon. Though Wukong is again hesitant, Pigsy joins the group as well. They stay overnight at an inn, but its owners turn out to be Trolls in disguise, who try to kidnap the baby. More trolls arrive and Wukong fights them off. The leader of the monsters, Hun Dun, appears, defeating Wukong and capturing the girl. After Wukong refuses to pursue them, Liuer goes ahead to save them on his own.
Hun Dun reveals his plan to sacrifice all the children they have kidnapped in order to gain magical powers. Liuer meets with his mentor, Fa Ming, to try to rescue them but nearly get captured. Wukong finds a doll of himself that Liuer had and realises how important of a figure he is. He and Pigsy go to help Liuer. Saving Liuer and the 49 children, Wukong defeats the monsters. However, a
solar eclipse
A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six month ...
occurs, and Hun Dun turns into a giant monstrous beast. Liuer is seemingly crushed by the rubble from Hun Dun's rampage. Upon seeing the boy's apparent death, Sun Wukong is devastated. Full of fury, he forcibly breaks Buddha's Seal with sheer brute force, regaining his original supernatural powers, and easily defeats Hun Dun. In the end, Liuer is shown to have survived Hun Dun's rampage, and they return the abducted children to their families.
Cast
Crowdfunding
7.8 million yuan ($1.23 million) of the film's marketing costs was raised through crowdfunding, in exchange for listing of the 109 financiers (many of whom are children) in the film's credits.
Reception
Box Office
The film grossed $17.99 million
CNY
The renminbi (; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth most traded currency in the world as of April 202 ...
($2.85 million USD) on its opening day, placing third at the Chinese box office. With positive reviews and word of mouth, the film's box office reception steadily increased, peaking at $65.87 million CNY ($10.44 million USD) a day, and first at the box office. The film began to drop due to competition from
Monster Hunt and finished its run with a gross of $957 million CNY ($153 million USD). The film became the
seventh highest grossing film in China of 2015 and the highest grossing animated film in China until being surpassed by
Zootopia
''Zootopia'' (titled ''Zootropolis'' in various regions) is a 2016 American computer-animated buddy cop action comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 55th Disney animated feature film, ...
and
Kung Fu Panda 3 the following year.
Other media
On October 17, 2019, a video game based on the film was released on
PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
, developed by
HexaDrive
is an independent video game developer based in Osaka, Japan. Founded by former Capcom programmer Masakazu Matsushita in 2007, HexaDrive has worked on different titles for various systems, notably ''Rez HD'', a HD remastering of the title '' ...
with assistance from
Japan Studio
Japan Studio was a Japanese video game developer based in Tokyo. A first-party studio for Sony Interactive Entertainment (formerly Sony Computer Entertainment), it was best known for the ''Ape Escape'', ''LocoRoco'', '' Patapon'', ''Gravity Ru ...
and published by
Sony Interactive Entertainment
Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game industry, video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is ma ...
in Asia and
THQ Nordic
THQ Nordic GmbH (formerly Nordic Games GmbH) is an Austrian video game publisher based in Vienna. Formed in 2011, it is a publishing subsidiary of Embracer Group. Originally named Nordic Games, as was the parent company, both companies were re ...
internationally; a
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
port published by Oasis Games was also released on the same day.
As Sun Wukong (renamed Dasheng in the English dub), players guide Liuer and Pigsy (Zhu Bajie) to fight off Mountain Trolls and other monsters to save the kidnapped children from the clutches of the demon king Hun Dun, use statues of
Guanyin
Guanyin () is a Bodhisattva associated with compassion. She is the East Asian representation of Avalokiteśvara ( sa, अवलोकितेश्वर) and has been adopted by other Eastern religions, including Chinese folk religion. She ...
to unlock spells to enhance skills and use various weapons to battle enemies. Two DLCs were available: ''Mind Palace'', which is set within Sun Wukong's mind sealed inside the Buddha's crystal, where he trains himself in a series of obstacles and traps between different biomes, and Uproar in Heaven, which is set before the main story where the monkey king duels against three of the
Jade Emperor
The Jade Emperor or Yudi ( or , ') in Chinese culture, traditional religions and myth is one of the representations of the first god ( '). In Daoist theology he is the assistant of Yuanshi Tianzun, who is one of the Three Pure Ones, the three ...
's greatest warriors,
Nezha,
Juling Shen
Juling Shen () is a gigantic river god in Chinese mythology. He is usually associated with the Yellow River.
Splitting Mount Hua
It is said that Juling Shen split Mount Hua into two halves with his hands and feet so that the Yellow River could ...
and the Jade Emperor's nephew
Erlang Shen.
The film
crosses over with other animated films such as
''Ne Zha'' and
''Jiang Ziya'' in various commercials.
Awards and nominations
See also
*
''Deep Sea''
References
External links
*
{{Golden Rooster Award Best Animation
2010s Mandarin-language films
Chinese animated films
2015 computer-animated films
2015 animated films
2015 films
Films based on Journey to the West
Chinese computer-animated films
2015 directorial debut films
Sony Interactive Entertainment games
Japan Studio games
HexaDrive games
THQ Nordic games
PlayStation 4 games
Windows games
Films based on Chinese novels