Monkey(k)ing Around

I got The Monkey King 2 (2016) because I definitely saw the first one - although I'm not sure if I saw it more than once. That one has Donnie Yen as Monkey, this one has Aaron Kwok, but it's still a bit of an upgrade.

Buddhist monk Feng Shaofeng is travelling to the West to bring some scriptures back to China. He is attacked by a tiger and goes to hide in a cave. There he finds Monkey buried under the mountain, and is convinced to remove the curse that is holding him there. But Monkey finds that he is not free: Buddha Guanyin wants him to accompany Feng on his journey and protect him. He has to wear a golden circlet that will cause him pain when he tries to disobey Feng.

Soon they meet up with a vain pig demon and a blue warrior demon, who also join the quest. These protectors fight a dragon and turn it into a white horse. And they are off.

The land they are approaching is under the threat of the White Boned Demon (Gong Li), who steals little girls. Li is due to be reincarnated soon, but wants to live forever as a demon, and she thinks that eating the innocent will allow this. While Feng and friends are passing through, they will need to contend with her, and a few other perils. 

If you like Chinese fantasy, you should like this. The special effects are better that Monkey King 1, and Kwok's Monkey is maybe better than Yen's. In both cases, they do a lot of monkey business - how they walk, hold their elbows, touch their faces, generally acting like a stereotyped monkey. It doesn't always come off, but I think Kwok was a bit more natural.

But of course, the main reason I enjoyed this was the Buddhist message. If you don't mind me spoiling the end, Feng and crew do not destroy Li. While they defeat her, and Guanyin is prepared to cause her to cease existence, Feng begs that she be allowed to reincarnate one more time, for the chance that she may reform. He does this at the cost of his own life. It's very touching. 

But will they ever get those pesky scriptures to China? I guess I'll find out in Monkey King 3.