Young demon hunter Xuan Zang is looking for the Greater Love in a world plagued by Demons.  His only weapon is a book of 300 Nursery Rhymes and his ability to face the demons no matter what the odds.   He gains the attention of a female demon hunter who wants to marry him and have his children.   He rebuffs her advances as he strikes out to stop the Pig Demon and gain the knowledge from the trickster Monkey King to stop the demon.    Along the way, he also has to face the egos of rival demon hunters who are more interested in being the best demon hunter instead of stopping the demons.

 

JOURNEY TO THE WEST is a funny and exciting action adventure which manages to blend the values of Buddhism with action sequences, romance, and humor (with the bit of an important handsome demon hunter calling himself impotent by accident being one of the funnier moments).   The movie manages to develop the characters of the male and female demon hunters with the other demon hunters and demons being great supporting characters.  The description on the back of the blu-ray is misleading as it promises a different movie than what you will watch since it gives away the outcome of the movie and what could be great plot for a sequel.   So throwaway your notions of what the movie could be and enjoy the martial arts fantasy action comedy that Stephen Chow has crafted.

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

STUNTS & SPECIAL EFFECTS, CAST & CHARACTERS, DIRECTOR STEPHEN CHOW, THE LAUGHS, PRODUCTION DEISGN, and CHOREOGRAPHY are twelve minutes of promotional featurettes which combine interviews with cast and the director with brief moments of behind-the-scenes footage and clips from the movie.   The featurettes don’t give any major depth on the making of the movie.

 

Rounding out the extras are the theatrical trailer and previews for STAGE FRIGHT and ALAN PARTRIDGE.

 

FINAL ANALYSIS:   JOURNEY TO THE WEST is a fantastic blend of action, humor, and romance.  I do wish the disc had more extensive making-of extras instead of promotional fluff.

 

This review is ©5-30-2014 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

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