If you don't know who the monkey king is, he is basically one of the Chinese mythology heroes. In fact, he does not possess the quality of heroes if I say so myself. Since the movie shows what happen after the monkey was imprisoned, I will tell a bit of the origin story so if any of you guys want to watch it, you can better understand it. Though, the translation is kind of shitty and so not on par with the Mandarin meaning. Hopefully, they come out with a better sub for the movie.
So basically, Monkey King which is also known as Sun Wu Kong (孙悟空) is a monkey who was born out of a magic stone. The stone sat on top of the mountain and have been receiving the power of the heavens and the earth. This causes it to turn into a womb and a stone egg which, BAM, out came of the special monkey. There is a video I will put down so that you better understand his story .
I said that he does not have the quality of a hero because he is arrogant and rude, he challenge people to prove how strong he is and he is playful just like a kid. That is why, many people find him interesting. He is not righteous, heck, most of times he does what he want and what benefit him.
It is noted that the movie is not accurate to the books after all, it is a kid movie but I do find it enjoyable. The animation was nice and smooth. I, being a very picky person, can hardly stand animation that is too choppy or lacking to say the least. Things that shows how fake it is bores me but but this movie did not showcase it. China's animation studio really did a good job.
The synopsis of the story is that a kid called Jiang Liuer, broke Wu Kong from his imprisonment and kinda annoy him for half of the movie and somehow, Wu Kong being a brat learn to like the kid and eventually care for the kid. The story is not complicated, it is simple for a nice an hour and half of pure entertaining and relaxing.
There is humor and a sad part at the end so a good balance I guess. Plus, the kid is super adorable and Wu Kong doesn't look too bad.
The movie do really show the character development of Sun Wu Kong. He went from this no shit given, egoist monkey to someone who actually cares and want to help someone. If that is not character development, I don't know what is. (Maybe I really don't know stuff)
P.S It is a kid's movie so keep an open mind and don't think too much of it.
P.S.S For some damn reason, I can't find the English Sub trailer from the Youtube section of blogger so if you want the english Trailer, just youtube "Monkey King: Hero is Back (西游记之大圣归来) 2015 English Trailer". You can find it.
