#King of heroes in japanese movie

With the help of this special child, the Monkey King fights with the evil monsters that attack his village. This child will later become the famous Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang. Imprisoned deep within the Marble Mountains, the Monkey King meets an innocent child who releases him from his curse. The plot of the movie, too, is quite original. This Monkey King is also completely different from the various existing visual images of Sun Wukong. His magical Gold-banded Cudgel is so huge that it is visibly unwieldy (Fig. An embodiment of modern nihilism, the Monkey King's face is utterly expressionless, and the only emotions he strongly feels are frustration and defiance. He is a tall, powerfully built creature clad in leather armor, with the long thin face of a monkey. The question is whether this one work will be able to trigger a renaissance in the world of animation creation in mainland China.Īlthough the film is titled Monkey King: Hero is Back, essentially it should be viewed as the emergence of an entirely new Monkey King, a character without precedent in the world of animation.

#King of heroes in japanese movie

In a way, the movie appears to be a vivid self-portrait of the rise and fall of Chinese animation. After being imprisoned within an ice cage deep in the Marble Mountains for 500 years, he returns as a true hero. Will Monkey King: Hero is Back trigger a renaissance for Chinese animation?Ĭreated over a period of eight years, the animation tells the story of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King.

1: Poster of the movie Monkey King: Hero is Back Critics claim that this single movie has restored the confidence of the Chinese animation industry, which had been in stagnation for quite some time.įig. The movie is still showing in theatres, so ultimately it is projected to gross more than 1 billion yuan, generating huge media buzz. The Chinese 3D animated film called Monkey King: Hero is Back was released on July 10 and in just over three weeks grossed some 800 million yuan (approximately 16 billion yen*), breaking the records for box office profits for an animated film in China. This summer, a new animation featuring Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, as the main character, became a huge hit in China. Qin Gang (Professor, Beijing Center for Japanese Studies, Beijing Foreign Studies University)