''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 refer ...

fantasy adventure film directed by Tian Xiaopeng as his

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

. 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 fi ...

'' and ''

Kung Fu Panda 3 ''Kung Fu Panda 3'' is a 2016 computer-animated martial arts comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the third installment in the ''Kung Fu Panda'' franchise and the sequel to ''Kung Fu Panda 2 ...

''.

Plot

The all-powerful

Monkey King The Monkey King, also known as Sun Wukong ( zh, t=孫悟空, s=孙悟空, first=t) in Mandarin Chinese, is a legendary mythical figure best known as one of the main characters in the 16th-century Chinese novel '' Journey to the West'' ( zh, ...

, Sun Wukong, is imprisoned by the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a 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 born in L ...

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 mon ...

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 2022 ...

($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 ''Monster Hunt'' () is a 2015 mainland Chinese-Hong Kong 3D fantasy action comedy adventure film directed by Raman Hui (in his feature directorial debut). The film was released in China on 16 July 2015 in 3D and IMAX 3D. Upon release, it became ...

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

and

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 i ...

, developed by

HexaDrive is an independent video game developer based in Osaka, Japan. Founded by former Capcom is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. It has created a number of multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially succes ...

with assistance from Japan Studio and published by

Sony Interactive Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...

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 se ...

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 th ...

's greatest warriors,

Nezha Nezha ( 哪吒) is a protection deity in Chinese folk religion. His official Taoist name is "Marshal of the Central Altar" (). He was then given the title "Third Lotus Prince" () after he became a deity. Origins According to Meir Shahar, Nez ...

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 Erlang Shen () or Erlang, also known as the Lord of Sichuan (), is a Chinese god with a third truth-seeing eye in the middle of his forehead. Erlang Shen may be a deified version of several semi-mythical folk heroes who helped regulate China ...

. The film crosses over with other animated films such as ''Ne Zha'' and ''Jiang Ziya'' in various commercials.

Awards and nominations

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